[1] Group 2 - Military Base

[Burter]

9. Cell - Leader
10. Android 18
11. Bojack
12. Trunks
13. Raditzu
14. Goten
15. Gohan
16. Bra

Cell has the map, and the objective, which is to find the clue inside the abandoned military base. Head towards it, and enter it. Don't try to rush things, move at your own pace.

Remember, you can do things as you wish. You don't have to stick with the same leader, or even the same group.

As things happen, I will roleplay with the heading 'EVENT' to progress things. Events can be good...or horrible.

You have until Thursday Afternoon USA Central Time. The maximum times you can rp this round is 3.

[Android-18]

Her nose wrinkled and her eyes squinted. The greasy food was hardly healthy, but she could not be picky. The android ate some pizza that oozed its contents down her fingers and she had to chew the cheese as if it were gum. Once finished, she also ate a hotdog that was overly covered with ketchup, but was eatable. She drank a carbonated drink, and felt slightly happier with the food in her stomach. She was partly human; after all, she did have to eat sometimes. With that necessity out of the way she found herself wandering back toward the arena Raditzu had been in. It was now surrounded by screaming tournament junkies and other fighters. This was the last round, the finals, who would win? Her eyes were immediately drawn to the warriors, and to her horror the long haired Saiya-Jin was not being his usual self. She watched as he attacked a creature she knew very well?But, wasn?t he dead? Her mouth dropped ajar and she could not even think. Raditzu was going to kill him, and destroy his chances of winning.

Everything happened so fast, but the blond had found her voice and called to him. It was not worth the loss of his possible victory. There would be many chances to kill Cell, but today was not the day. Things began to smooth over, and he returned to himself. The tournament grew loud again and the fight was to begin, although Raditzu had been close to being disqualified. The android felt exhausted and fell back out of the crowd. How much she wished to clean up and change out of her ruined clothing. She wouldn?t be that long, would he notice? She believed he could win, easily. She grew conscious of the staring men, and women, so her need to leave felt prominent. She ducked through the arena and decided he would understand, it?s not like he needed her here anyway. With that though in mind, she exited the tournament grounds.

The Headquarters became life-size as the capsule puffed on the ground. She had gone a good distance from civilization, so as to have the building in privacy. It was amazing how it could be put into such a small device, but that wasn?t important. The android entered, proving she was indeed herself, and not some imposter, it unlocked. It was cool, and quiet. She located her room and selected a simple outfit to replace the shreds she wore. The great thing about being alone was that she did not have to be careful of her nudity. She striped off her damaged attire and walked butt-naked to the bathroom. She left the door open; the steam that the shower created was often annoying at times.

The water poured down, and she found it heavenly. The shower sent water cascading against her contours, and slipping down her body toward the drain. She scrubbed the dirt from her body, and lathered her hair was hair products. How good it felt to be clean, to wash the filth from her body. The hot water was soothing; it had been so long since she had had a good shower. Before she could lose herself in the wonderful feeling of washing herself, she remembered the tournament. Quickly she turned off the water and dried herself with a fluffy towel. Her clothing fit nice and tight to her body, which was a nice feeling. She brushed out her long golden hair, parting it as she usually did and tucking one side behind an ear. One more careful look at herself and she dashed from the room. She would clean up later; there would be time for that.

She had thought so, anyway. As Android 18 flew through the sky, hurrying to see the last of Raditzu?s fight, she suddenly felt a faint feeling wash over her. The last thing she remembered was blaming the greasy pizza and falling from the sky.

Blacking in, and out, finally she felt stable. It was weird, so many people stood around, the same looks upon their faces. The android rubbed her temples, feeling a headache surfacing from the back of her mind. Some people talked, others backed away, while she simply found support with a wall of the cabin. Cold air pressed against her face. Her hair was dry, so how much time had passed? It was then that she decided to search for Raditzu. She recalled seeing him, and Trunks?Cell was there too. What the hell was going on? Before she could search for the long haired warrior, a voice broke the hushed silence.

Was this some kind of joke? A scavenger hunt of some kind, why was she here? Some people looked eager to try this little game. True, they would die, but not really. Then why did she have ill feelings toward the three figures that had shown themselves? She remembered that female?She had ruthlessly beaten the android down. The female stayed away from the front of the crowd and moved to find her friend, her companion. It was then that his voice broke out in question, and she could hear the tone of slight excitement in it. A shiver worked its way down her spine, was he looking forward to this strange event? As she saw him through the crowd, she did not care. Emotions flared and she found herself pushing through the people toward his direction. The man, Brim, had responded but she cared little to the question or the answer. She gave a cry of Raditzu?s name and immediately clung to his torso, wanting nothing but comfort. She had only just returned from her horrid experience on Namek-Sei, now she was finding herself flung into some strange game. She needed him now, more than ever.

OOC: Heyo ^.^ thought I?d find Rad and be the wimp that I am.

[Raditzu]

Being a teleporter, Raditzu had grown rather accustomed to randomly blinking from one place to another. He could even recall some of his first attempts at honing his technique. Though most of the time things went ok enough, he could recall, with shocking detail, a time when he had found his head stuck in the ground. Not many people walked away with a mouth full of sod without learning a lesson. After that he had had very few problems jumping from one point to another. He had heard others complain about the feeling when he took them some place, but the long-haired warrior had long since grown numb to it; he even enjoyed a good snicker or two behind the backs of those who claimed nausea from teleporting: something he would never do again.

In the back of his mind, Rad swore that Cell was one of the luckiest beings he had ever met. One second he had been ready to pound the bio-android?s face in, and the next he was strapped up in chains. Not that he was overly opposed to chains -- he liked to think he was open-minded about such things -- but coming straight from a tournament, he wasn?t really in the mood. In the front of his mind, Rad was wondering where exactly he had landed himself. Several scenarios played through the warrior?s head. It was possible that his teleportation had gone on the fritz ? wouldn?t be the first time ? but landing perfectly into a set of restraints was a little too coincidental for Rad?s taste. Second choice had to do with the tournament being rigging. Possible, considering who the fiesta was in honor to, but Raditzu was fairly certain he would have noticed something off-kilter. The third option had to do with someone out to get the saiyan. Sadly, this one stood out like a pancake in a Waffle House.

Most likely, Raditzu would have gone on to extrapolate, in his own mind, about just what kind of treatment he would give that wayward pancake, but someone seemed to have a different idea. Unfortunately, it was one that involved some kind of weird capsules and an annoyingly potent sleeping gas. A soft clank made its way to Rad?s ears before he completely lost consciousness. A dreamless sleep was more than ready for the warrior. Well, not dreamless, per se, but Rad didn?t have any other dreams of his own. Other thoughts, other consciousnesses drifted through the warrior?s mind: a side effect of his attempt to work out the kinks of his telepathy. He could feel new thoughts appear, most of them confused, then stop, while others were simply rambling on, probably caught in the same sort of unwanted slumber as Rad found himself in. Eventually he would be awakened and have time to sift through those thoughts and feelings, but that wouldn?t be for quite some time.

--------------

Through means Rad didn?t remember ? probably an after effect of the sleeping gas ? the saiya-jin found himself walking around some weird cabin and in possession of a brand new collar. Why did freaky kidnappers always have to go with collars? It got kind of annoying after a while. What about a belt, or an anklet, or possibly a tasteful set of bracelets? A little bit of creativity wasn?t really too much to ask. Since the method of restraint was so painfully clich? and over-done, Rad assumed that it would either make him ridiculously weak, or could be triggered to kill him instantly. A quick test of his power made him suspect that it was some kind of mind-boggelingly complex device that could instantly and effective make him one of the living-impared. Oh the woes of being an insanely strong, ridiculously handsome, all-powerful Super Saiyan. The extra titles made Rad feel better about the collar.

Without much fanfare, some guy instructed a bunch of people to come outside. Rad had noticed a bunch of power levels, some familiar some not, but hadn?t really given it much thought. Only one or two of them posed any sort of real threat to the majesty that was Raditzu, while the rest weren?t quite worthy of his notice. One person he failed to notice, through no fault of his own, was Android 18. Raditzu continued to hope that she had been kidnapped and chained up? kind of. He would simply have to look for her the old-fashioned way at some point. In the meantime, ?some guy? was talking. With a yawn, Rad gave ?some guy? his mostly undivided attention. He had probably introduced himself, but the saiyan wasn?t paying much attention. Whatever planet they were on wasn?t a huge one. Power levels sprinkled its surface, both strong and weak. The warrior?s had gathered outside, most of them behind the saiya-jin. Rad had been outside when Stumpy (?some guy?s? two metallic legs had given Rad the brilliant idea for a nickname) had gathered everyone, so he had snagged himself a front row seat.

??of the hit television series. Friend or Foe II." Stumpy seemed quite impressed with himself.

?Eh? Never heard of it? Raditzu wasn?t.

"No," Brim answered. "You wouldn't have. It's a secret?? Was all Rad caught before his mind wandered off again.

How could a secret be a hit television series? Didn?t people have to actually watch it for it to be a hit? Did that mean people were going to be watching this ?episode?? Was Rad going to be on TV? That would be a change. Though the warrior possessed earth-shattering power, not too many people were overly aware of how dashing, debonair, striking, sensual, daring, brave, bold, ruggedly handsome, and flat-out XTREME the saiyan actually was. This would be a perfect opportunity for Rad to get some serious publicity. Perhaps Stumpy was unwittingly doing Raditzu a favor. Then again, maybe Rad would be doing him the favor. What better way to pick up the floundering ratings of this ?secret? show than to have someone as amazing as Raditzu in the cast? It really was a genius move on Stumpy?s part. Bra?s voice cut through Rad?s thought?s just as he was working through the various commercial opportunities he was sure to be presented with.

"Fine." Oh great, Rad had missed the question. "Your groups will all have a similar goal. Find a particular clue that will aid you in finding out what brought out the problems of the Kala Civil War, and unlocking the many mysteries of this asteroid."

So they were looking for clues to help them on some evil History test? And this was supposed to be a hit show?


"How will we know the clues when we see it?" An absent minded question brought on by the saiyan?s rather absent mind.

"Just trust me," he told him. "You will."

Glowing neon signs were probably a bit too much to ask for, but Stumpy seemed confident that they?d figure it out. As Stumpy, Stumpy Jr., and required sex-appeal left the scene, Rad took a second to try reading their ki. Jr. was the first one that caught his attention and was quickly filed away under ?potential threat,? while Stumpy and the sex kitten were rather disappointing. She gave off no more ki than your average human, while He was nothing worth mention? though the scars he bore made the long-haired warrior a bit suspicious. Rad would have a moment to scan the woman a couple more times, but he was interrupted by the bounding leap of one excited androidess. The saiyan could recall many attempts on his life that had been less effective than 18?s over zealous lunge. Reacting quickly, Raditzu had been able to throwing his weight against 18 and brace his feet. He managed to stay standing upright, but was staggered nonetheless.

?Good to see you too, babe.?

18 obviously needed some comforting, and Rad was happy to oblige. This would also be a good opportunity to scout out some of the competition. First and foremost were Vegeta, Koola and Furiza. Rad had gotten in their way more often than he cared to count. It was likely that they were itching to do the same. Next on the list was probably?Reijin, the kid struck Rad as the crafty kind one shouldn?t turn one?s back on. A close fourth to Reijin was Cell. Though not really a ?threat? Rad didn?t like the idea of the bio-android trying to suck up his girlfriend for a second time. Luckily, the list of possible allies was a lot longer: Goku, Gohan, Bardock, Trunks, Kami, Burter, Bra, Uub, and Burter Jr. could probably all be persuaded to help the saiyan if he really asked for it. The rest of the characters present were generally not worth a second thought. With that quick mental inventory taken care of, Rad looked down at 18, who was still nestled tightly against him, and gently ran a hand through her hair. Rad looked to a staff member as names were announced and maps were given out. A smile crossed the saiyan?s face when he heard that he and 18 were assigned to the same group, but was quickly turned upside down when he saw the staffer give their map to non other than the speckled green bio-android.

?Come on, babe,? Rad pried 18 off of him and motioned for her to follow, ?we gotta game show to win.?

Cell was studying the map, no doubt pleased to one extent or another, that he had been given the responsibility of holding it. Sadly, that responsibility was cut pretty short. The map vanished from his hands before he realized it. He looked up to see Rad eagerly engaged in whatever secrets the map held. Some instructions along with a group list and number had been included with the map, but Rad didn?t care. If people from this group came along to help him, all the better; if they didn?t, he wouldn?t be losing sleep over it. This was perfect. Their clue was supposed to be hidden in some military base. Hopefully there would actually be some military and hopefully they would try and get in the saiyan?s way. Eviscerating an entire army would be the perfect way to score some big PR points and get things moving his favor. That?s when Stumpy?s words about ruins and equally boring things popped into his head. With his luck, it would just be some run-down old stones not worth a second thought.

Rad?s map-questing was interrupted by the departure of two significant ki signatures. Kami and Goku were already one the move. Just great, now he was already running behind the pack and that just wouldn?t do. Luckily enough, their power levels were easy to track. He would be able to follow them to their clue without actually having to follow them. This was going to be way to easy. Rad only hoped that Stumpy had some other games in store for the warriors. Something that would show off the saiya-jin?s best assets while also being a sure victory. Like a hair contest. There was no way he could lose one of those.

?Ok, time to get down to business.? Rad shot a reassuring grin to 18, then looked towards the general group of fighters. ?Alright, Group?uh?? Rad had to consult the map for the group number that he was actually a part of. ?2! Group 2 listen up! I got the map.? Rad had to jerk away from Cell?s hand as the android attempted to reclaim the map. ?Anyone who thinks they can keep up can follow.? Taking a running start, Rad left the soil in ruins as he burst into the air at top speed, his destination, the military base. This would be a piece of cake.

[Burter]

EVENT

Raditzu could see the other six members of his group entering through the same entrance he had come in with the lovely Android Eighteen. He had been looking through a box at the time of their entrance, mainly out of curiousity. He had yet to see anything of interest; just some broken down vehicles. Here he was hoping that he'd find some dead bodies or something.

"Sure took you long enough," He grinned, standing up to see them. Trunks was behind Cell, though clearly didn't want to be. He moved closer to Rad when they all got together.

"Find anything?" Cell asked, unamused.

The long-haired saiyan shrugged. "No. This place is boring."

"Let's go deeper," the young Bra suggested. She recalled what Cell said about the more important things being farther underground.

-----

The soldier's quarters gave Raditzu a little more to ponder. Android Eighteen was the first to spot it, though she wasn't in any mood to stay very long to examine it. The soldiers were still there, but that had long passed away. Their bodies were thrown on top of one another, showing they hadn't actually died there.

"Looks like someone went through a lot of trouble to clean this place up," Gohan noted. "I don't see any blood anywhere. Not even on them."

This is where things got wierd.

From the room down the corridor, the cafeteria, a scream was heard. Guns fell from the roof, attached to it, and immediately began firing on Goten, Bra, and Android Eighteen. The Android was quick enough to notice, but the kids took some ki shots before running. An alarm began ringing, shouting 'Intruder, Intruder!'

"This is just lovely," Rad commented, kicking his way into the hall. More guns and other traps were now coming out.

"The entire building is a weapon!" Trunks told them, leading them onwards. "We have to go deeper!"

(The entire building is a deathtrap. Explosives, guns, you name it. Have fun!)

[Raz]

"Just trust me," Brim said to the longhaired warrior. "You will."

"I bet we will." The hybrid muttered under his breath, the beginning of this television show had begun and he had been tossed in as an extra. Before he could gather his thoughts there was a rushing of weight as the groups dispersed from the producer's speech, moving as if they knew were to go. On impulse, the Saiya-jin cut to the chase by venturing off on his own. For one reason or another he didn't want to be seen walking next to his elder brother as some sort of lost child sticking with big brother who knew just were to go. But then again, there was that feeling of wanting to be nearby Gohan when the action started which would be an advantage to either of them; each having the other's back when the punches began to fly.

In any case this new ground was something of a new location for exploration, lands of different caliber then what he had been used to on any other planet. For some reason, this asteroid bore a strange quality to it... probably the only reason the hybrid had been noting it as it had been a while since he had been thrown into something like this and his senses were almost sparkling with the anticipation that came along with all of the tension.

Over to his right he noticed the green bug he had fought against in the tournament back on Earth had been pinned with a piece of paper, most likely holding the instructions to all of this mess. Instead of making a mad dash towards the android, Goten thought it best to get a glance over the few that had been assigned to the group he had been in. Surprisingly, he couldn't find Goku. Usually he thought his father would be right next to Gohan and himself but the elder Saiya-jin was no where to be found... only the one whom he had met that had said he knew Goku, only known to Goten by the name "Rad". The hybrid snuffed a smirk as he thought how quickly all these loose ends were coming together from what had happened during the DA tournament. Of course there were others to be interested in as well.

A blonde female seem to had made herself at home with the long haired warrior as she fit into place next to him, Goten turned his head to study the others a little better. Bojack was here, surprisingly he found himself almost laughing at this little incident... during the tournament he had done everything he could to try and kill the pirate were here he would be performing tasks almost hand in hand with the Ader. The halfling turned his attention away again as he scratched the side of his jaw slightly from some sort of irritation of having the damned collar on his neck again... Again he noticed someone who he hadn't seen in years, the Saiyan he had played lackey to during his early childhood, Trunks. As with everyone, the lavender haired hybrid had changed substantially since whenever they used to know each other... way back when. Guessing he knew Rad as they seem not to even notice the other walking by.

Then, of course, there was Gohan. The elder sibling whom he'd only fought with a few times but felt safe with... just because they were related, also that Goten felt that he could trust his brother no matter what the cause. Another turn and there was the second female to the group, Bra. Still probably a little on edge from the tournament, so the halfling thought it best just to speak if spoken to.

A certain extent of the time was spent figuring classes and groups out from the bunker cover, which was more then boring news to the Saiya-jin. He had caught a glimpse of the map held by the bio-android as Raditzu's quick action hand made quick work of instantly appointing himself as head of the group, naturally a type A as it seemed he felt most comfortable in the leader's chair. Thing was, the hybrid himself had always wanted a little taste of that since his little interaction to rally Earth's defenses back when the fight had been head to head for the very existence of a planet itself. As the halfling realized, he had wandered his way the distance over to which the base lay in... the longhaired Saiya-jin being there to meet the group from his highly above average skills in the speed category.

All of this, to the youth, was very awkward considering in one way or another every one person in the group had a connection with another. Had it been a past they shared or simply being related through blood. In any case, Goten gave this less then a second's worth of his time before turning about to where they had accumulated near... a good hundred yards or so from the stand point of the group was a building jettisoned up from the ground, standing on the surface of the planet as a point of attention to the rest of the environment that surrounded it. Though, for one reason or another, there was no environment for it to slander as the trees, dirt, and even the sky held a dead appeal to it. It seem that it was inevitable to avoid going in as it seemed the point of action in this scavenger hunt would be behind those dead gray walls.

Cell branched off on his own, taking heed that he and Bojack would be grouping up from the obvious combination of talent and trust the two shared together. The full Saiya-jin venturing on in search of something to amuse himself with as he had been the first to take step into the building.
"Find anything?" Cell asked in a dull voice, unexcited by the whole happenings up to this point.
Raditz did little more then shrug as he turned with an answer. "No. This place is boring."
"Let's go deeper," Bra suggested. Goten, feeling more at home for some reason with the hybrid opposed to the others followed the female fighter into what appeared to be a mess hall of sorts. Tables in unkempt lines along the center of the room while at the far end was a gap where the kitchen staff stood to deliver whatever the hell it was to eat. About the ground though seem to be a strange mixture, a combination of both a dark maroon substance and various chunks of some type of food, the halfling could've been just guessing to cover up any other more... grotesque assumptions. "Hold on... You hear that?"

Bra's words halted made a quick halt on the hybrid's movements, either of them standing at opposite ends of the room for a moment... something was moving... either Saiya-jin looked to each other as if the other knew what to make of the strange noises. Suddenly the two acted in unison, one leg coming down on to the bench which had been attached to the table in front of them to send it up on it's side; both spinning about to send a kick to the upright surface of the board to send it flying in the opposite direction. An instant after the pieces of furniture became airborne the droning of a spinning cylinder began as energy began flying rapidly out of chambers belonging to turrets hung from the roof. The tables wasn't enough as the guns now trained themselves upon the group residing in the cafeteria, the female android had made a quick move to the door they had walked through as she had been the first to note the sudden barrage of fire from above.

"Hey!" Only then Goten remembered he didn't know the android's name as he watched he vacate into the hallway again, Bra had been holding her own but these shots hadn't been from any conventional weapon like what was used last time... these guns had been amped with energy and now flaunted it like a firefly at midnight. Ducking behind a now torn to pieces table, Goten attempted the same movements he had seen from the android as he stood to make a run for it. Darting across the tiled floor as his arms and legs pumped as much as he could only to receive a heavier burden, another turret dropped down just in front of the exit as he approached the doorway.
"Son of a bi-" Was all that escaped the Saiya-jin's mouth before a hail of power forced itself upon him, Goten's forearms raising as he focused a shielding around the outside of his arms as a form of protection.

Step after step he began to be pushed backwards, pounding on the other side of his meager thing of a shield sent waves of air infused with energy over his body from attempting to withstand the blasts. Finally hitting paydirt when the teen's legs felt the wall yet his back was left to the air, but by now the guns that had been trained on the retreating 18 had turned to take up the slack that was lacking in those that were chipping away at the Siaya-jin's defenses who remained in the room. The added power forced Goten back, falling head over heels back into the kitchen behind him in the next room. With less then a second to spare, the free roaming turrents took a court marshall position in a single horizontal line across from where the hybrid had fell in... and at once a ringing had begun, the gun's muzzles firing away as everything residing in the small room was torn to shreds time and time again. Walls breaking away as the holes they bore became too much to hold, Goten flat on his back as he watched the blazing shots shatter against the items above him.

"..." Turning his head, for some reason, he couldn't sense anyone else in the mess hall anymore. Hoping it didn't mean as the Saiyan rolled over on his stomach to begin inching his way over to the door leading back into the cafeteria as the thought of making a surprise rush to the exit sounded like a plan, it would be only a few quick steps before making a jump for the door. Out of the corner of his eye, hidden in the shadows, a beeping red light began to flash slowly... speeding up, faster and faster as the sound it made became louder and louder till Goten realized what it was. "Shit!" Jumping up, the hybrid ran across the open range as blasts of energy pelted against his arm and side before pulling his shoulder down to slam himself against the wall. It gave way just as a signaling long ring sounded from the small device, the youth crashing into the hallway adjacent to where the group had begun in.

Somewhere down the way another crashing echoed as someone broke through into the hall.
"The entire building is a weapon!" Trunks shouted aloud to those who could hear him over the sound of the screaming turrents as he tried to lead them onwards. "We have to go deeper!"

Without a moment's hesitation Goten began up, jerking back to look where he had bound from to catch the sight of the hovering metallic gunmen entering into the kitchen and turning in his direction. Kicking off the ground with a renewed vigor in step, the halfling began to run just as the shots fired behind him. Lights above began to flicker as the mass amount of energy being used became largely dependant on the use of the base's weapons rather then the use of things such as lighting or even venting of the area... a thick smog began to lift out of the main rooms to which the turrents began their assaults in, almost immediately eliminating the ability to see with a common eye.
"Targeting!" Goten yelled, his eyes flaring crimson as crosshairs rose to capture the group's ki signatures thanks to his scouter, resting upon each of their bodies as the hybrid turned a corner at the tail end of the group... Darkness had taken the lower portions of the base now as all power had been diverted to the main floor where the intruders had been. Though seeing wasn't too much of a problem for the youth, he knew he wouldn't be able to get anywhere if the base had powered locks on the doors. A minor problem.

[Drake]

Trunks leaned back until an audible crack could be heard as his spine slipped into its correct position, and followed it with a loud sound of relief. ?Ah! I?m alive again?! He announced loudly, with a bit of a chipper voice now that the pain was gone, being whipped around like someone?s bitch by a metal rope around your waist was never a pleasant experience.

Everyone there appeared to have a grim look about their face, which were quite a few faces from what the hybrid could see. Thirty-two fighters in all from his count, and every one of them just oozing oodles of power, and all very tense as they focused on what was being said by some freak with metallic legs and a scarred body. Brim was his name, and he was saying something important from what Trunks could gather, but he quickly tuned the man out after he got around to talking about some kind of civil war; that was history which the lavender haired boy found rather boring. Especially when he was interrupted during a fight, the last thing Trunks wanted was to listen to some boring lecture.

?So boring!? He groaned under his breath before squatting down to pick at the grass, sniffing a blade or two while Brim droned on and on about friends and foes- whatever the hell that meant. The only thing Trunks was interested in has been finishing off the tournament that he and Raditsu were in before being teleported to some far off asteroid to get a lesson about some war that no one could really care about.

This continued until Brim finished droning on about his history lesson, and a sizable piece of ground had been picked bald by the impatient saiyajin. By now people had begun to split into groups like the strange man with metal legs had told them to, Trunks wasn?t sure which group he belonged to, so he simply followed Raditsu and his blonde haired girlfriend as they came together with a group of other recognizable people. One of them was his ?sister?, the blue haired walking time bomb that had knocked him into a mountain when he failed to recognize her on the spot- it wasn?t his fault, he was still sorting through all the memories of his previous lives. The two he and Rad were beating senseless- from his point of view- were also there in all their freaky glory, and two others that were vaguely familiar but he couldn?t quite place them. Given his current situation, Trunks opted to stick close to Android 18 and long hair since he knew them the best, and since his only other option was a psychotic sibling whom he didn?t remember.

?Group 2, listen up! I got the map.? The saiyajin halfling had managed to hear once he got closer to the group, also got to see the big green freaky thing with the tail fight Raditsu over the map and sub sequentially lose. ?Anyone who thinks they can keep up can follow.?

Just as he?d arrived, they were already leaving. Trunks huffed frustrated, but he was in truth somewhat relieved at the fast ?less boring- pace they were now taking. Since it seemed like the group was in a rush, he decided on whipping out a nice fast way of travel, which just so happened to be his sword, sort of. The lavender haired saiyajin took off into a quick sprint like Raditsu had before him, but instead of immediately jumping into the air, he pulled out that ridiculously large sword of his and hurtled it upward while continuing to run. As it soared its form began to ripple and change, the hilt melted back into the blade and its width increased and the once sharp edges dulled until it was hardly recognizable as a sword. At this point Trunks, who?d been running the entire the sword had been changing, leapt into the air and rocketed towards it till he was floating perpendicular to the hunk of metal before placing his feet upon its surface and getting locked into place by newly formed metal braces.

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the roaring wind as he freefell, it was kind of exhilarating to just plummet like that without a care in the world, and understood why regular people were so interested in jumping out of planes when they couldn?t fly.

But that was a short lived joy, they had something important to do, or at least that?s what he assumed given his long haired friend?s urgency to get the ball rolling. ?Okay,? Trunks muttered with closed eyes. ?Let?s get this ball rolling shall we.? The half-breed had never attempted this before, but given his newly acquired energy sensing skills, he figured it would be a piece of cake.

Using the techniques he learned on Kaiousama?s planet, and coupling it with his enhanced spidey- er ki sense, he envisioned the energy radiating from everything currently on the floating chunk or space rock and was quite surprised to find it had a lot more energy then he had expected; even if one factored in all of the warriors currently on the asteroid. That made what he was about to do all the more easy, Trunks slowly picked away at that free floating and usually wasted energy and began to focus it into one point in much the same way he would use the Genki Dama, of course that much power was hardly necessary. Gradually small ripples of bluish energy began to form a cloud like cushion beneath his sword, slowing his decent.

?Okay, let?s get this party started!? Trunks whipped out a pair of goggles and slapped them on, before turning himself right side up. The blue energy beneath his board became more turbulent, ripples forming within it and its outside edge becoming stunningly bright. ?GO!? At first nothing happened, but without warning a shockwave of energy exploded from beneath the hybrid and his slab of metal, hurtling them forward at an insane pace as well as leaving behind an incandescent blue trail behind him. Aside from being surprised that he was able to pull of this move, Trunks was also having fun carving a trail in the sky propelled by a wave of ki that put him at speeds he wouldn?t be able to normally obtain without using kaioken or going super saiyajin.

Even though his saiyajin friend was somewhat urgent in his desire to go to the place indicated on the map, the young hybrid couldn?t resist the urge to play around a bit in the cool night sky. A barrel roll here, a loop-de-loop there, and a short burst through a nearby cloud was enough to sate his hunger for fun before returning back to Raditsu?s plan.

Eventually the entire group found their way to some abandoned Military base devoid of all life, and barely standing from what Trunks could see. Somehow he managed to get behind the freaky green guy with the super long tail, that didn?t last very long though, as he was quickly back to Eighteen and Raditsu?s side. Upon entering deeper into the foreboding building, the group and Trunks eventually ran into a pile of corpses, there had been indeed life here at one point, not that it mattered much as the lavender haired saiyajin was busy poking the pile of corpses with a nearby stick.

That?s when everything went to shit.

First there was a scream, and then the howl of guns powering up and letting out a barrage of fire on the group. Somehow something about this seemed very familiar to Trunks, almost like deja-vu; instinctually he could tell that the entire place was rigged with booby traps. ?Heh, booby traps? boobs.? Trunks laughed to himself for a brief moment before announcing his wondrous observation. ?This entire building is a weapon, we have to go deeper!?

Trunks charged forward, the sword underneath his arm shattered into a million flakes of metal and swirled around the hybrid as he charged through- barely avoiding fire. His power level rapidly soared, followed by tell-tale emerald eyes and hair that stood on end though it didn?t display the normal golden locks other saiyajins would and kept its lavender color; similarly his power level didn?t pique where one would expect it too. After entering his transformed state the floating pieces of metal that had been orbiting Trunks? body started to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle on his body, slowly covering him in an exotic and futuristic suit of armor until he was fully concealed in the Katchin alloy. He was now a mostly unstoppable juggernaut, smashing through various walls and letting the beams of energy shot from the ki rifles to bounce effortlessly of his metallic skin, though he somehow doubted these pea shooters would be the only thing in this place.

?Hey,? he said looking back at Raditsu. ?Anything about this seem strangely familiar??

[Raditzu]

Rad had seen things go to hell in a hand-basket, but rarely had they done so with such speed and efficiency. The long-haired warrior had to hand it to Stumpy, he sure knew how to get things rolling. A thought crossed the saiyan?s mind that their host must throw some killer parties. Now, here he was, hovering over the ground and trying to keep a giant, spiked, and very solid ceiling from crushing his ?group.? Rad had found himself barking orders at people without even thinking about it. He didn?t really want to be a leader, and he would never consider himself one, but he had always prided himself on his battle-field instincts; these were instincts born from the many battles he had waged and the ridiculously intensive training the Vegeta-sei army had decided he should be put through. It had saved his ass more than once, though, so he tried to forget some of his more bitter memories. Sadly, there weren?t many options, regardless of training, that someone had when a ceiling was trying to crush them. The Super Saiyan thought back to what had gotten them there.

With his admittedly abnormal speed, not to mention the head-start he had given himself, Rad had been the first to this military installation. As far as creepy deserted places went, this one was top-notch. Not a person in sight, and nary a ki to pick up on, not counting those that were trying to catch up with the long-haired one. 18 was the first to join Rad, followed quickly by Trunks, and then by Bra, Bojack and Cell. Goten also made his way to the military base, but he looked like he had other things on his mind. Rad had been thinking about how they were going to go about looking for this ?clue? when Cell spoke up.

?Hmm,? sighed Cell. ?We?ll use the hanger entrance to the rear of the installation. It?s a ramp that goes straight to the First Basement floor to the motor pool. We?ll work our way down from there. Military installations are set up with the most important things built deeper in the ground. It?s just a rule of thumb? Let?s move out.?

?Tch?? Rad mouthed the words ?let?s move out? in a mocking manner. Of course anything important would be kept underground, a quick look at the facility would tell anyone that. It was only a couple of stories high above ground. What was most noteworthy was the fact that they weren?t looking for ?important things? they were looking for a clue about a civil war. The only thing Stumpy told them was that they?d know it when they saw it.

So they all entered the facility. Something happened next? but Rad was having trouble remembering exactly what it had been. Some mindless searching for their elusive clue, then 18 found something. Rad remembered being excited about being able to move on to the next part of this little game, but it wasn?t anything worth notice. Just some dead bodies. Gohan commented that someone had done some serious work, but Rad doubted that. If it had been him, he would have been waiting until everyone had turned in for the night, then gassed the room. No muss, no fuss. Why they were in a big pile, however, was a little more mysterious. Someone had probably been searching for something? or maybe they just licked big piles of dead bodies. Rad would never again make the mistake of underestimating weird fetishes.

That was when the commotion started. 18?s cry rang out through the fairly empty base, causing Rad?s stomach to knot. When he found out it was just some lame security device he relaxed. Then the knot came back. It wasn?t a couple of devices, it was the whole freaking ceiling. Countless guns dropped down and opened fire. Rad pulled 18 by the wrist and took off down a corridor. At the very least, any new guns that popped up would have to take the time to recognize them as threats, acquire their target, and warm up before firing. Those few second could make a world of difference to someone with reflexes like Rad?s. And, of course, that?s when the other traps popped up.

Somewhere in the background, a massive explosion rang out; someone came tumbling through the wall, probably as a result. Rad scooped them up and put them right on their feet before moving along. As the saiya-jin continued on his way, he saw the floor in front of him open up, an easy trap to avoid. What he didn?t see, however, were the flamethrowers on either side of the pit he was now leaping over. The flames licked at his body as he leapt through the air. A couple of well-placed ki blasts disposed of that particular trap. Everyone continued on.

?Wait a second.? Raditzu said to himself as he continued to struggle against the spiked ceiling. He played back the memory.

Rad leapt over the pit. The flamethrowers turned on. A spin and two precise blasts took care of them. And there it was, but he had only seen it for a second. He replayed the memory once again. Raditzu leapt, spun and fired.

?There!? He exclaimed to no one.

During his spin. Something on the wall stood out. Or he made it stand out, one of the two. It was a map. A big star showed the saiyan where he was. There was a long corridor? the one they had come running down. The large room they were in now. There was something under it. Directly under it.

?Can?t be any worse than this.? Rad said.

Flipping head over heels, the golden haired super power kicked off of the ceiling with his feet and dove straight for the floor. With his fist extended, Rad braced himself for the impact, hoping it wouldn?t hurt too much. The floor shattered under the weight of the saiyan?s attack and gave way to another large room, though not nearly as large as the one Rad had just escaped from. Raditzu hit the ground with a thud, unable to slow himself after coming through the ceiling. He coughed up blood as he stood up; he would have to check for any serious injuries later. He kicked off the ground and stuck his head through the hole he had made.

?Come on! Get out of there!?

Though the saiyan?s comments were only towards a couple warrior?s, everyone seemed to take notice. Most of them shot towards the hole Rad?s head was disappearing from, but a couple simply made their own entrances. 18 was the first to join the long haired saiyan, and was quick to fuss over the blood dripping from his mouth. Rad wiped it away, told her not to worry, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Or tried to. The android intercepted his lips with her own and let the moment linger. Rad pulled away, smiled, then turned to see who else was present. Gohan, Cell, Bojack, Trunks, Bra, and Goten. Looked like everyone had made it.

?Don?t know about you guy, but I?m going to take a quick breather.? Rad threw himself against the nearest wall and folded his arms across his chest.

?You think this place is any safer than that room?? Trunks hooked his thumb towards the whole Rad had made.

?I don?t really think any room in this place is safe. I do know that there?s nothing attacking me now, so I?m going to take advantage of it.? Rad took in a deep breath and noticed a sharp pain in his side. Wonderful? he probably broke a rib. Did those damned things do anything other than break? ?Hey, Trunks, you notice, anything about those spikes back there?? Rad asked the youth, after composing himself.

?Couldn?t do anything to ?em.? Trunks answered as he reformed his sword.

?What do you mean?? 18 asked

?Lord Vine?s technique didn?t work,? Rad clarified. ?Same with the door. That?s not very comforting.? A question Trunks had asked earlier played back. ?Mysterious collars, some kind of military facility, and us randomly being attacked? yeah, I?m definitely getting some deja-vu here.?

Before Trunks could say anything, Bojack approached the group. He reached into the folds of his clothing and produced a cigar. His words came out somewhat muffled, but still clear.

?That was some quick thinkin?, Raditzu.? Bojack had heard the saiyan?s name at least once during their tournament bout. ?How did you know this room would be here??

?I didn?t,? Rad answered The Ader. ?Probably would have broken my neck if that ground had been solid.? It was a serious statement, but Rad said it as easily as he proclaimed his love for waffles.

?Wouldn?t that be a shame.? Jack smirked at Rad, then patted at his clothes. ?Hmm? I don?t suppose you got a light.? A thin beam of ki shot through the end of the cigar that was sticking out of the pirate?s mouth. Bojack jerked back in surprise, but when he realized that Rad had simply lit his cigar, he took a nice, long puff. ?Care for one??

?Actually?? Rad began to accept, but a questioning look from 18 said otherwise. ?I?ll take a rain check. Looks like you spent a pretty penny on those things.? Bojack simply grinned. ?Well, that?s enough of a rest for me. I?m gonna go look for that clue.?

Before actually walking off, Rad bent down and picked up a small piece of burned debris. It was probably from when the super saiyan had come crashing through the ceiling, since it was still hot. At the same time, Rad reached under his hair and produced the group 2 map. He opened it up and inspected it quickly. Where it said "group 2" he ran the charcoal over the paper. With the "2" now crossed out, Rad quickly inscribed "XTREME." He blew off the larger bits of charcoal, then inspected his creation. He had to admit he was pleased with the result.

"Group XTREME, let's move out." He cast a smug grin at the bio-android he had just mocked.

Trunks and 18 were the only ones to follow immediately. The Ader hesitated a moment before falling in behind the group. Rad didn?t wait to see what the others did, he was already out the door and down the hall.

[Bra]

OOC: Takes place before Cell?s latest post

The girl was furious. She was just finishing up a rather frustrating test of skill with Yamu, who had turned out to be far more capable than she had previously assumed, and now, not only had she been teleported against her will for a second time this week, but she had discovered that she was yet again part of Brim?s twisted design. Brim, a man who Goku had swore was dead. Bra trusted the word of charcoal-eyed saiyan, and was surprised to see he hadn?t spoken the truth. Brim, the hideous green monstrosity of flesh and metal he now was, had caused the girl more grief and suffering than anyone else she had ever met. The cyan haired girl literally died at his hand. She was given time to gaze into Brim?s eyes, which were filled with an infernal hate which refused to lose intensity as her life slipped away from her. His eyes danced with insane delight as he took the heiress? life in the name of better ratings for his intergalactic television show. Even after Bra?s threat had made it to Brim?s ears, the intensity of his demonic aura refused to wane. The horror that were Brim?s eyes burned into her until she finally passed away, leaving only Goku and his sons to fend for themselves against the living atrocity that the producer of Friend or Foe had proven to be.

Life hadn?t taken a turn for the better in the moments after discovering she was now a part of the game show?s latest iteration. To her dismay, she had been separated from Burter and the others, and the long haired saiyan Raditzu had taken charge of her group.

Now she rested after having escaped motion sensing ki turrets, the explosions caused by her partners? ki blasts, as well as a spiked ceiling which Raditzu had saved them from. Her estranged brother and the blonde android gathered around the indomitable saiyan, while the two sons of Goku appeared to form an impromptu duo. Bojack and Cell would likely have done the same, had it not been for the fact that both did their best to appear uncaring of anyone else. The cyan haired Bra may have found this amusing, had she not been consumed with thoughts and emotion. Anger and frustration easily overpowered any other feelings, but old wounds had been opened at the thought of this disgusting tournament. An intense feeling of dread and sadness was all that stood between the princess and a frighteningly violent episode of rage.

?Cell.? the youth greeted, while waving to Gohan and Goten with a half-hearted smile as she passed them by. Bra was still astounded by the black-speckled creature?s dramatic change in physical appearance, but his barbed appendage, skin coloration, and offensive personality all made his identification unmistakable.

?What do you want, child?? he rumbled, his voice a far cry from the menacing hiss it once was. The demi saiyan crossed her arms with a slight frown.

?Oh, drop the act already.? she demanded.

?There is no act, you idiot. Either tell me what you want, or leave me be!!? the genetic abomination rose to his full height, glaring down at the much shorter halfling who stood before him.

?Would you shut up for a second?? Bra retorted, ?I?ve been in this fucking game show once before. I?d rather not go it alone... people...? she turned away from the creature for a moment, ?People die.?

?Your point? If what that announcer said was true, death is essentially inconsequential anyway.? Cell stated, his condescending tones showing his disdain for the youth?s unchecked display of emotion.

?You don?t get it. He uses people, kidnaps them. Even if you win this thing, you?ll still lose in the end.?

?I?ll simply kill the fool if he decides to do something cowardly.? the bio-android quipped. Bra growled.

?You don?t get it!! Brim?s fucking strong!! He killed me as a super saiyan, and he even took out Kami!? the half blood nearly shouted, squeezing her hands into fists as her frustration inflated.

?Hm?? Raditzu allowed upon overhearing the words of the fiery hybrid. The long haired warrior was well aware of Kami?s power, and what would be necessary to defeat such a force.

?Is that supposed to mean anything to me?? Cell glared at the cyan haired girl.

?Kami could smoke you without a second thought. So yeah, it?s supposed to mean something to you.? Bra growled, recalling sensing the death of the proud namek and the horror that shortly ensued.

?Group XTREME, let?s move out.? the disgustingly powerful saiyan interrupted, casting a rather obnoxious look at the triumph over nature that was Cell. Both he and his petite opponent decided to quell their debate for the time being, and followed Raditzu and the others down a long, well-lit corridor.

?Wow. Another hallway, huh? I bet this one will have a big robot dragon or something. Or maybe even the robot security guards from Chrono Trigger.?the lavender haired hybrid announced, expressing his obvious boredom- or perhaps displeasure- with the group?s newest venture. It was difficult to read Trunks? attitude, even for Bra. Truly, it seemed, that Trunks had evolved into a completely different person. The girl still lamented the fact that he had somehow forgotten who she was.

* * * * *

Great. Just great. Now Cell?s going off on his own!?

?I bid you all adieu. Perhaps we?ll meet again soon.? the creature spoke, stepping into the lift. The door slid behind him silently, effectively removing him from the group and making the others? odds that much more dismal.

?Cell, you fucking idiot!!? the slender princess cursed, brutally slamming her fist into the metallic entrance, shaking her head in a mix of anger and fear. Fear? Did Bra honestly worry for the sake of that wretched monster? No, impossible. That would be completely at odds with her personality...

?So, does anyone know how to open this door, or is everyone waiting for me to blow it up or something?? Raditzu inquired, flashing another of his stupid grins. The halfling scowled at the oafish display.

?You?re so full of yourself, you know that?? she snapped, pushing past him as though he were nothing more than a common soldier, though she secretly feared any form of reprisal from the ludicrously powerful man, ?There?s a keypad here for a reason,? she stated arrogantly, lowering her voice to a whisper, ?Idiot.?

The demi saiyan failed several times to enter an acceptable password, and then paused for a moment. She was completely unaware of how many digits the code had, as well as wether it was a word or a series of numbers.

?Kid, are you done yet?? Bojack inquired just prior to taking a long pull from his cigar, savoring in the rich flavor that filled his mouth, until finally, in an almost saddening action, he was forced to exhale, allowing the aroma of the thick smoke to radiate through the hall.

?Just... one more...? she requested, desperately trying to evade the embarrassment of failure. She deftly hit four keys, followed by the ?Accept? key, which was written in green, as opposed to black like the other keys. The words ?Access Granted? appeared on the tiny LCD, and then the panel went blank, ?It accepted! ...I think.?

?...So?? Android 18 said, as she waited for something to happen. The tall saiyan began to form the words to a sentence just as he was interrupted by a loud whir as the blast door sank into the floor, revealing another hall which continued the downward slope before leveling out far behind the doorway.

?Well? What was the password?? the older of the two hybrids demanded as Raditzu already took the lead into the unknown.

?...It was ?Cell?.? Trunks? sister replied, heading through the doors after the others. The lavender haired warrior made a comment about unoriginality or some such, but Bra was more concerned with what was to become of the android who had assisted her during the great war on Earth.

?Look out!!? came a shout from behind and beside the girl. Then a body collided with her, forcing her into the wall as a massive flying pillar of metal sailed past the two, smashing into the sloping floor behind them, shattering it as though it were glass. Cracks spread out and up the walls in all directions outward from the pillar?s resting place. Bra opened her eyes to see Goten right in front of her, still pressing her into the wall.

?...Thank you, Goten.? she weakly offered as the raven haired boy backed away from her. Another pillar rocketed past, forcing Gohan and Bojack to leap through the air to avoid it. The column crashing into the floor next to the first one, further obliterating the surface.

?Geez, where are these things coming from!?? demanded Raditzu as he leapt backward, evading a third pillar. Several more sailed past, prompting the warrior to tackle the beautiful android to the floor just as one of the immense objects thundered overhead.

Bra managed to leap away from one, landing directly in front of Goku?s oldest son, but wasn?t quick enough to dodge the next one, which Gohan managed to duck beneath which the girl took the wildly fast-moving object in the chest. It was a vicious impact, but nothing compared to the moment it drove her into the gradient of the floor, forcing her deep into the steel-and-concrete surface. She gasped in agony, a scarlet spray painting the column which had pinned her into the floor. With great strain, she managed to throw the deadly pillar onto the ground, freeing her from the intense pressure it had placed on her rib cage. Her breaths had become labored from the immense pain which continually stabbed at her chest, from but a single blow.

?What a stupid trap.? she managed to state, though the volume of her voice was pitiful at best. She watched as her brother deftly evaded a trio of mighty pillars, all of which impacted near Bra with three deafening crashes. She shrieked, leaping off the floor and away from the debris. Goten leaped on top of one of the columns, throwing himself off and over another as his older brother followed suit. Bojack managed to bob right, narrowly missing one of the incredibly heavy missiles, while 18 was fortunate enough to shoulder check Raditzu into the wall, forcing him out of the way of one of the deadly pillars, effectively returning the favor.

?We?ve got to get past this insanity!!? Gohan roared, leaping onto the wall and propelling himself off of it in an elaborate maneuver. The group seemed to take heed of the halfling?s words without reply, pressing forward against the seemingly endless stream of ridiculously large projectiles, ignoring the thunderous crashes behind them as the continued down the corridor.

?Ho-!! Isn?t that the biggest cannon you ever saw??? Trunks shouted, pointing at the four immense barrels protruding from an even larger machine of some sort. It was absurdly loud, but it was, in fact, the source of the absurd booby trap.

?Let?s go!? Bra ordered, catapulting herself forward, her palms already shimmering from the collection of energy. Trunks rushed forth in tandem with the sister he didn?t know he had, his hands in front of him. The two halflings released their energy, watching as two beams lanced out toward their target, completely decimating the machine. Several monstrous explosions rang out, one after the other, but the missiles stopped coming.

?Good.? the girl managed, collapsing to her knees, one hand on her chest, and the other on the floor, ?C-Could we... maybe just for a minute or so... take a breather... please?? she pleaded, loathing the thought of an arrogant comment from the long haired bastard.

[Burter]

EVENT

What a crazy trap. The long-haired warrior thought as he looked around the newly dubbed ?Group XTREME.? The disappearance of Cell was comforting, to say the least. Regardless of what the bio-android claimed, Rad still considered him a threat to 18. The chance to punch another whole through his speckled carapace was a morbidly comforting one. Everyone seemed to be ok. Well? almost everyone. Rad followed Bra?s descent to the floor, somewhat surprised at the girl. He shouldn?t really have been surprised; no matter how tough a little girl acted, she was still a little girl. That thought passed through the saiyan?s mind without the least bit of contempt or degradation. In all honesty, 18?s body-check had renewed the stinging pain in his ribs, even though it had saved him from the fate Bra had suffered. He reached into a small pouch at his belt and produced a senzu bean. With a small crack the bean snapped in half.

?Here, this should help.?

Raditzu spoke as he dropped down to one knee, placing him at eye level with the cyan-haired princess. He extended an open hand containing the senzu bean. Bra looked down at the hand, then at Raditzu. Though she wore an expression of incredulity, she accepted the offering. As she crunched the bean, Rad popped his half into his mouth. As he stood up, he looked around at the rest of the group. Rad felt even better about his chances of pulling out an easy victory now that Cell wasn?t part of the equation. The feeling was helped by the fact that whatever pain he had been feeling was taken care of by the magic of the senzu bean.

?Unless there are any objections, I think we can get moving.?

-----

"Well what do ya know," Raditzu grinned, the first to walk through the door. "Cell was right; the important things are deeper."

Most of them let out a gasp, stepping down the stairway. They were now underground, as if in a huge cave. They were walking across a large platform bridge, though under it was a fiery chasm. "We're definetly in an asteroid," Gohan noted as he looked down, gulping.

Raditzu continued to lead them, looking down at the huge machine under the headquarters. The large building, the HQ, was built a top an amazingly large machine that seemed to have many funtions, the most obvious being a sturdy holder for the many platforms, bridges, and buildings in this underground cavern beneath the military base. "Looks like more then your average army base," Bra told them.

The bridge extended into the control center. Eighteen took a seat at the panel to observe where they were. "Looks like this is where the important people live on the base," Rad told them all. "Let's take a break and relax while Eighteen figures this out.

Trunks peeked into the room labeled 'Bedroom 3' but immediately shut it. "More dead people." He explained. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the room for living people."

Raditzu made a mental note to check out the corpses later, after he figured out if the fridge had any decent beverages, like a beer. Worst case scenerio was he'd settle for the coffee machine, but only if he could hunt down two sugars. He wasn't picky, he was just...ok, he was picky.

"Uh, Rad..." Eighteen looked over his shoulder, gulping."

"What's up?" He moved forward to check out the complicated control station.

"Well, I don't know how to say this. That huge machine under this building, well...it's a bomb. A nuclear bomb."

"How nuclear?" Came the dumb question she was waiting for.

"The kind of nuclear that kills everything." She looked up at him. "The kind that could probably kill us where we don't come back."

[Android-18]

The dark sky loomed with dominance above them. Raindrops splattered cruelly as if to slow the progress of their travel. The wet substance pelted their bodies, but the flight they took did not slow in any way, they simply ignored the annoying drops that dampened their bodies. Android 18 found it somewhat soothing. The cool water touched her arms, face, and hands. There was no time for thought, or opinions. The seed of competition was buried into all of their minds, slowly growing, blossoming, becoming some thing that fed off the growing ambitions that flooded through their craniums. Yet the cold rain did calm her inner turmoil, made the sudden fear of death or pain become something distant. All she could simply do was follow the lead of her companion, and her allies, and hope that each of them knew what they were to face. Inside, the android knew, she would have to do things she did not want to contemplate. This ?Brim? person would twist them around, and inside out, exploit them and create such drama. The way Raditzu was becoming so caught up in the whole game, she feared that soon he would turn on her?likely; they would all end up that way. As previously stated, there was no time for thought, as just then they had reached their destination.

This whole place was depressing. A shell of some existence, long departed of life. Wisps of dust spiraled into the air to touch the underbellies of the bloated clouds. Dead plants withered from time and some other source of decay, they simply stood as skeletons of the past. What had happened to this place? For one, the android had never heard of Kala, but it was obviously real. She could smell of putrid stench of rot and dirt. The feeling of the rain had been real, although in this area it had not yet fallen. The imagery was perfectly real to her eyes. So, then, what happened? What had destroyed the life of this planet? Well, her thoughts were pushed away for the moment as everyone finally gathered and headed toward the looming, void, building. The sense of spirits pressed against her, causing a shiver to run along her spine. The android pressed close to the longhaired Saiya-Jin, but he seemed hardly aware of anything supernatural. Perhaps she was simply being ?girly? and for a moment she found herself feeling silly. Yet, the feeling was there, it could not be ignored; there was something here that she did not want to uncover?

They entered, and most of the group ignored the green bio-androids words. Raditzu led them with a sense of all-knowing, or was it more of a ?I don?t care? attitude? He was not afraid of anything here, or anywhere, except perhaps the sudden depletion of waffles worldwide, which would never happen. Android-18 let out a sudden sigh and wandered along the dead halls of the military base. The smell of old remains tickled her nose, and caused her to scrunch her face in annoyance. It was then that they happened upon the corpses. It would not have been so weird, for the fact that they were piled upon each other on purpose. Their bodies were naught but bones and flesh, and they had long been dead. How had they died? If they had been more recently discovered, she would have tried to find the source of their misfortune, but they were too far gone to be examined. She separated from the group to join some of the others in exploring the cafeteria and the kitchen.

Rotten meals and dried beverages sat with dust collecting upon them. This whole ordeal must have occurred long ago, but the girl did not bother to try and guess exactly how long. She poked around the area, trying to find something about their ?mission?. Frankly, it all felt like some rat race. She did not feel the competitive edge they all did, she was simply playing along until she could get out. At least Raditzu was close by, but for how long? As her thoughts carried on, she found herself standing face to face with a rather nasty looking weapon. It had lowered from the ceiling, red lights flashing upon her, and energy charging within. Startled, a scream escaped her lips and her instincts kicked in. Before she could be hit she found herself twisting and dodging out of the room. Energy blasted toward the others, more weapons adding to the fray. The android cunningly made her way down a hall, until Raditzu had happened upon them. Trunks exclaimed a theory, that the whole place was a weapon. That seemed slightly preposterous, it was simply on alert, they were intruders. They had been caught off guard, but now they regrouped and took off.

Deeper, in reality, that sounded unsafe. This was a game, and reality meant nothing. They had to find their clue, so deeper they had to go. She was led by the wrist, until Raditzu found himself leaping over some kind of flame throwing weapon. She could follow from there, and did, until they found themselves within some kind of large area. It could not be helped; she turned on their supposed leader. ?Where did you take us, you putz?? She tried to add some humor to her tone, but she also wondered if he knew exactly where they were. He made some joke to her question, and before she could reply something transpired a round them. It would seem that they had been unwittingly into a death trap, she felt a groan in her throat.

They worked together, as a group. Raditzu strained to hold the wall up, as they all added their own help. Android 18 followed suit, her power flooding through her, her hands pushing between a deadly spikes. She felt the cold metal, felt the threat of death looming over her, literally. They all exclaimed one thing or another, until through some freak luck, Raditzu found their way to freedom. He had flip over and sent a crushing punch through the floor. Concrete and debris flooded downward and the android gasped at the realization that the Saiya-Jin could have hurt himself badly. He popped up them, telling them to get out of the room they were in. She dashed with vigor toward the hole and slid through. Her feet touched the floor, and she immediately noticed the blood that had dribbled down the Saiya-Jin?s bottom lip. He waved off her worry, and made to kiss her cheek. Instead, she bypassed him and managed a kiss upon his mouth, which he let her do for the moment, and then pulled away. Might as well have some fun, right? She smiled to herself.

Conversation floated throughout the new room, they were safe for the moment. They mentioned the metal, which confused 18 somewhat, until Lord Vine was mentioned. She, too, could manipulate metal in some way or another. She had had no time to bother, but she could do it. She had not thought to try, but now she had no need too, it would be a pointless effort. As Raditzu was offered a cigar from the large man named Bojack, she gave him a weary look, and he declined. She could put up with the warrior dying through fighting, but smoking of any kind was a bad habit she did not want to see him dying by. Finally the conversation died, and the group continued, with a new name?XTREME.


Cell did not like the idea; frankly, he didn?t seem to like anything. He did not like Raditzu, that much was very obvious, and in retort to his insult she replied. ?If you don?t like it, then you can [/I]leave[/I]. Think anyone will care?? Honestly, she just wanted him to shut up. She did not like him, but the whole tension within the group was hard enough to stand. It radiated from the insect-looking android and her companion mostly. A smart-ass comment came from him, and once more Cell and Raditzu were into an argument. Perhaps she should have kept her comment to herself. Well, the fight ended as soon as it had begun and they were tromping through the facility again. This time they made a game of it, no longer caught off guard by the traps. They destroyed them, and counted to see who had obliterated the most. The game didn?t last long, either way the long haired warrior had beat them all.

After coming upon a large door, they realized it was all downhill from here. The android kept quiet as they discussed the ?clue? they had come upon. Cell figured that one of them had to leave, in order for the rest to continue. She furrowed a brow, but continued to remain silent. There was no stopping him, even as 18 had watched the younger female Saiya-Jin try to communicate with him throughout the whole trip, he was too hard-headed to comply. She was full of emotion, which was obvious. As Cell left through the lift that had opened for one person alone, they turned to the door that blocked their way. Although she did not much like him, she hoped that Cell would be all right. The cyan-haired girl fiddled with the number pad, trying to decode it so that they could continue. She struggled to figure it out, and finally she did. When asked what the code was, her reply was simple. Cell.

Another trap, when would it end? This time it was much more vicious than blasting guns or flamethrowers. Goten flew forward as he cried out, Bra was oblivious to the threat that had come upon them. A pillar of metal sailed past and crashed behind them. The walls cracked, and as the threat had seemed momentary, another pillar came flying toward them. It was a fight to avoid being crushed by the mysterious trap. Raditzu shoved the android toward the ground, and if the situation weren?t so life threatening she might have enjoyed it. She returned the favor shortly afterward by shoulder checking him away from another of the deadly items. Bra had found herself dodging too late, and getting hurt painfully, but there could be no time for checking the girl. Before long, she and Trunks had located the absurd trap and destroyed it with deft ability. It was then that she heard the young girl ask for rest, it was obvious that they all needed one after that.

She was fine, which was amazing. The android took this time to carefully examine herself, just in case. A few scrapes and bruises, but she was all right. She watched Raditzu offer half of a senzu bean to the other girl, and they both consumed it. That was good; the bean would help them with time. They had to keep going, there was no telling what could happen if they stayed still too long. Off they were again, through the hall and toward a dim light ahead.

A gasp was heard, not only from herself but also from some of the others. It was like some large cavern, the steps led to a long walkway that stretched over bubbling hot magma. It was obvious that they were very deep below the surface. Her skin grew hot as they walked toward the center of the area. A large control center sat there, and knowing some about machines, the android took a seat. Whatever this thing was, she would figure it out. The others wandered around; more dead bodies had been discovered. The android worked hard to understand the programming and diagrams that came up through her typing. It was then that she understood, in sudden horror, what they were facing, literally. She looked away for a moment, to think, to make sure what she had read could be true. There was no other explaination, with a tight feeling in her gut, she turned.

?Uh, Rad?? She said to get the Saiya-Jin?s attention. He was poking around for something, probably waffles.

?What?s up?? He came toward her to take a look at the control station she had been working on, whether he understood or not she did not know. She gulped somewhat, and cleared her throat.

?Well, I don't know how to say this. That huge machine under this building, well...it's a bomb. A nuclear bomb.? She stared up at him from her seat. The news was not good. What would he say?

?How nuclear?? She blinked at the response, obviously he didn?t know how big of a problem this was.

?The kind of nuclear that kills everything." She looked up at him seriously, explaining in a language he would understand. ?The kind that could probably kill us where we don't come back.?

This could be bad, very bad. Was this thing active? Should she find out? Was this their clue? She was beginning to feel panic rise within her chest. Maybe Raditzu would know what to do. ?Should we leave? Or should I find out more? I don?t know when, or if this thing is going to go off, if it is I don?t think we should stick around to find out.? She awaited an answer, if he had one.

OOC: I dunno if you intended for it to be active or not, so I'll leave it up to Rad.

[Bra]

The young princess didn?t even see the long haired warrior take a knee before her, but immediately took notice to his outstretched hand, and the item which sat, cradled in the rough skin of his palm. She didn?t quite understand Raditzu?s motive, and her expression reflected her thoughts of doubt. Another stab of pain seared through her chest, forcing her to grit her teeth and squeeze her eyes shut, as if it would alleviate the suffering. She must have sustained far more grievous injuries than she had assumed.

?Here, this should help.? his position allowed him to rest at eye-level with the much more diminutive halfling, who shakily took hold of the halved senzu bean, fully aware of the fantastic properties it possessed. The long haired veteran of countless battles rose to his feet, stepping away from Bra, who bit down onto her bean, cringing at the horrible taste of the item, but swallowing it nonetheless.

?Unless there are any objections, I think we can get moving.? said Raditzu, leading the group farther, past the ravaged machination which had been propelling the ridiculously large missiles at them. The heiress hung back, allowing the others to walk past her, activating her LENS unit in secrecy. In a few moments, she had locked in on the horrendously powerful saiyan?s Q-Wave frequency, and after several long moments of deliberation, she sent him a terribly short text message.

Subject: Raditzu

Thank you. -Bra

* * * * *

The group had fanned out after discovering they had been almost literally atop an armed nuclear warhead, searching for some inkling of an idea on how to eliminate the formidable thread the weapon?s presence had become. A cry of fear intermingled with disgust echoed from behind Bra and Cell, spurring the dysfunctional pair to dash back to where the sound had came. The others had gathered there as well, and Bojack had just finished dismissing the incident.

?Wanna tell us what the hell happened, kid?? the sinister genetic anomaly demanded, his tail snapping back and forth with an air of malcontent all it?s own, the vicious quill glinting against the poor lighting in the room.

?N-Nothing. I made a mistake. ...Sorry.? Goten hastily replied, trying in vain to evade the prying eyes of the others. A few uncomfortable seconds ticked by, and the half-blood began to shift nervously.

?We got a bomb to take care of, guys. Back to what?s important, hm?? the cyan haired princess announced once she had caught on to Goten?s predicament, ?We should find out what exactly could trigger this thing. If that computer 18 was using is linked to the nuke, then maybe we can find out more about it from there. Hell, maybe we can even use it to shut it down.?

?I doubt it.? the tall androidess replied, brushing a few stray hairs out of her eyes as she spoke, ?That computer?s got more password protection than anything I?ve ever seen before. Unless one of you just happens to be a hacker.?

There weren?t any replies for a few moments, which allowed Bra?s mind to wander quite a bit. Her gaze drifted from the artificial human to Raditzu, but quickly the girl looked away, suddenly regretting the message she had sent to him.

As if he?s not already full of himself...

It was monumentally wearisome to be forced in such close contact with the man. The veritable titan in terms of sheer power was someone whom Bra loathed to be around, as she desperately feared gaining the monster?s ire, having seen what he had done to Cell and Dars when he had first achieved ascension beyond super saiyan. She could hardly fathom to what horrendous plateau of strength he commanded now, with ample time to harness the power his new form. The halfling knew her attempts at nonchalance or even arrogance were probably easily seen through by the saiyan, but neither would acknowledge it had that been the case.

?I say we kick it and see what happens.? Trunks declared, a hand on his chin as if he had spent ages coming to the revelation that was his idea. An even longer, far more uncomfortable silence fall thick over all present, and all that could be heard was the low roar of flowing magma.

?Trunks...? 18 began, unable to articulate the next part of her sentence.

?What!? It?s a great idea, and I stand by it!!? the lavender haired teen retorted, pointing his sword at the dazzling android, as if to further drive his argument home.

?Just... just no, Trunks.? the blonde answered, shaking her head. The fused warrior hefted his blade back onto his shoulder, cocking his head in confusion.

?Well if we don?t get to kick it, what can we do?? he demanded. Raditzu appeared to be forming a response, but Cell conveniently interjected just before he could begin.

?As I said earlier,? the fearsome creature used his tail to point to the bomb, ?That is a Soviet MIRV-Six. Such a weapon isn?t forward compatible with the modern equipment we found in the command center. Therefore, no amount of ?hacking? would do you any good. The software it operates with was developed in the sixties, on it?s own systems platform. It?s effectively obsolete.?

?Does this history lesson go anywhere?? Bojack demanded, removing his cigar from his mouth from a moment, so as to give the bio-android his undivided attention. Cell sniffed at the remark, offering a cold glance at the ader before continuing.

?If, in fact, this weapon is connected to an operations platform of some sort, it?ll be from the sixties. All we have to do, in that case, is find it, and... provided someone can read Russian, make our way through the command list and input a password to begin an emergency shutdown routine. Of course, we don?t know if this warhead is triggered by a timer or a trap of some sort, like motion or pressure sensors. Any number of triggers could even be used in conjunction with one another.? he gravely informed.

?So, what you?re saying is, we have to keep searching because if it?s on a timer and we just wait around, we?ll all die. But we can?t keep searching because if it?s on one of those other triggers... then we?ll all die.? Gohan replied, allowing the gravity of the situation to crash upon those who stood around him. Cell waited a moment to reply, trying to gauge what the reactions to his information had been.

?Yes, exactly.? he said, turning to face the nuclear weapon, ?Not to mention that if we do manage to find some sort of operations platform... none of us have any idea what the override password is.?

?...Can motion sensors pick up cloaked people?? Bra inquired, thinking she had managed to solve the depressing quagmire.

?No. But a heat or pressure trigger would still target you. And since this is a game show, I?m willing to bet that whatever?s set up is overly elaborate.? Raditzu interjected, his eyes sweeping about the cavern.

?So what the hell do we do now!? And why would you wait until now to tell us about this??? the cyan haired girl demanded, glaring icily at the intimidating product of biological engineering.

?It just occurred to me, actually. Would you rather scurry about and die an ignorant death like the cockroach you are?? the creature shot back, his glare every bit as venomous as the princess?.

?So,? Bojack started, pausing to take another lengthy drag from his mostly depleted cigar, ?We?re kinda fucked on this one, huh??

Goten turned back to where they had come from, his brow furrowed in thought, as he pieced together whatever it was his mind had pursued.

?Well, obviously we should be able to head back the way we came, since we?re still alive... so maybe we should back-track and see if there?s a clue or something we missed? ?Cause I?m sure there?s a few bodies we missed. But then, if we?re supposed to go ahead and we?re on a timer...?

He didn?t need to finish. Everyone was thinking it, and nobody wanted to hear it. The force of a nuclear explosion in itself may not be fatal to the stalwart collection of fighters, but the asteroid would be vaporized, and the ensuing radiation and lack of breathable air would surely cast all of them off the mortal coil without difficulty. None of them longed for death, but it appeared that none of them had an effective solution, either.

OOC: ^_^;;
Yes, I'm a heartless bastard, I know. Erm... think of overcoming this new obstacle as a challenge. ...Yeah, that's it.

[Raditzu]

Previously on Friend or Foe 2

?Stumpy sure knows how to make an impact??

Precluding the long-haired saiyan?s homage to the host of the game-show, a low whistle escaped his mouth. No wonder the trap that had nailed Bra had been so vicious. That had set off a bit of an alarm in the saiyan?s mind. All the traps up to that point had been pretty run-of-the-mill, even if there had been a lot of them. Not that any number of traps would have actually been able to stop the saiya-jin wonder that was Rad, but they got points for trying. The seven members of group XTREME were making their way across what amounted to a rope bridge. The fact that it was comprised of several metal platforms didn?t make it any less applicable to the old ?swaying bridge of doom? stereotype. Throw in the fiery chasm of potential death looming below them and you?d have a good case for copyright infringement.

?Would you cut that out?? 18 turned her head and glared at Trunks.

The youth had been taking great pleasure in trying to hurl his group-mate towards their fire-filled doom by rocking the platforms. Rad had tried to stop the shaking by applying his metal binding skill, but found these platforms just as impervious to Lord Vine?s ?amazing? technique as everything else in this base. Not really surprising, since this was a military facility. Trunks defended himself with some excuse about trying to keep everyone on their toes, but it fell on deaf ears. Up ahead, a series of connected platforms grew larger and larger. Upon these platforms, which were many times larger than the smaller versions that comprised the bridge, were several large buildings. All the buildings were only two stories tall and there weren?t any real distinguishing features between them.

?Where we headed?? Gohan asked from the rear of the group. He didn?t have as clear a view as some of the others.

?That way.? Rad pointed in the direction they were walking.

The saiyan didn?t know any more about this facility than anyone else. The small map that had led him away from the spiked ceiling trap didn?t have any sort of underground facilities on it. At least he didn?t think it did. The bridge carried through to a center platforms. As it turned out, each of the platforms the buildings sat atop was hexagonal. A slightly large platform in the middle shared one edge with each of the other platforms. There were four buildings and two bridges, all of which joining at this center point. The center platform held no building and was completely bare save a couple of computer terminals.

The small group of would-be adventurers slowed as they came to the center of the middle platform. Rad took in the surrounding area more out of boredom than intrigue. Just like all the other areas of this base, these platforms were completely devoid of any ki. So either no one had been here in a while, no one had been here alive in a while, or they had all fled at the sight of someone as amazing as Raditzu. Though the saiyan liked to think it was the latter option, it wasn?t as likely as he would have hoped. And Trunks exclamation confirmed it.

"More dead people." He explained. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the room for living people."

A theory was slowly forming in Rad?s head, but, among other things, he would need to take a look at those bodies to confirm it. He had slowly begun making his way towards the ?Bedroom 3? that Trunks had found the bodies in when 18 called for him. A call he would always be prompt in answering, no matter how many dead bodies there were to tempt him. His eyes caught the screen 18 was looking at, but he didn?t need to read it. Attached to the bottom of the very platform they were standing on was a nuclear device. Unfortunately, it was the kind that went boom. Not that there were too many that didn?t. The saiyan simply nodded at this new information. It didn?t change much, it was simply one more life-threatening device to take into consideration. Each warrior here was capable of delivering just as much devastation as a bomb.

?By the sound of things, I?d say our problems just multiplied,? Cell?s voice cut in.

Rad made a point of counting to ten before he turned to face the new voice. He had sensed the ki, but decided it was just some kind of masochistic manifestation of his loathing for the bio-android. By the time Cell actually came into view, the saiyan had quelled his initial urge to simply rip the speckled insect?s head off. The artificial creation stood, arms folded, on the bridge they had just come across. The light from the fires beneath the bridge gave Cell?s fairly monochromatic carapace a rather intriguing gradient.

?Just wonderful? as if the bomb wasn?t enough.? Though always a gentleman, Rad allowed a few choice words to escape his mouth.

The long-haired warrior sort of zoned out for a few moments after that. He decided that he would take a moment to recompose himself before making anymore genius suggestions to the rest of the group. For whatever reason Cell, decided that the best course of action was to return to a group that didn?t really want him. That didn?t sit well with the saiyan, but he would let it slide for the time being. Doing something about the bomb and getting everyone to calm down seemed a more appropriate course of action. If everyone was all panicked, and still following Raditzu around, it would make it that much harder for him to find whatever clue they were looking for a moving on to the next one.

Someone suggested they split up and look through the buildings and examine the bodies. A reasonable suggestion. With four buildings to search and eight people to do the searching, the group paired up and entered a separate building. 18 was close behind him, the two of them being an obvious pair. The building was fairly standard as far as military outfits went. Computers, some filing cabinets, and one of the larger rooms being full of desks suggested that a lot of the red-tape was handled here. Between several of the desks in the largest room was a pile of bodies. The pile was, admittedly, a bit smaller than Rad had been expecting, but that wasn?t necessarily a bad thing.

?See anything useful?? Rad looked up as 18 was shifting through the clothing of some randomly selected body.

?Not really.? She looked up as she spoke and their eyes locked.

Raditzu opened his mouth to say something. He wanted 18 to know how reassuring her presence was. He wanted to tell her how important she was. He wanted to say anything, but nothing came to mind. Not that sitting over a pile of corpses was the most appropriate place to reassure someone of your feelings, but timing had never been Rad? forte when it came to situations like these. With all these feelings and emotions slowly churning with the warrior, the most he could come up with was ?oh well.? As striking and poetic as it had been, Rad got the feeling that he had missed something. Luckily, before he could kick himself about it any further, there was some commotion outside.

The couple got outside in time to see Trunks cleaving what appeared to be a skull in half. The two halves rolled about for a couple of seconds, creating a soft metallic sound that was covered up by the words of the other warriors. Goten was reprimanded for freaking out while everyone else simply breathed a sigh of relief. Someone?s skull was nothing compared to the eminent death they thought they were facing. The group walked back to the center platform and conferred briefly. Perhaps they had been going about this the wrong way. Maybe they had missed something. Frankly, there were a lot of options, and not very much information to go off of. Even Raditzu was a bit confused about what their next move should be. And that was saying a lot.

At least Rad thought so, anyway.

Back to current events

?But then, if we?re supposed to go ahead and we?re on a timer...?

Goten?s voice dropped off and everyone filled in their own blank. Everyone but Raditzu, anyway. Through their discussion he had remained, very purposefully, silent. The fact of the matter was that the best course of action had already been suggested, they were just too busy making things more complicated to realize it. Raditzu had tried to point this out, but he had been cut short. Oh well, actions spoke louder than words anyway. Everyone jumped back as a golden aura burst to life around their self-appointed leader. The saiyan ignored the reaction and leapt into the air. His ascension took him a nice distance above the buildings, but that wasn?t really a terribly impressive feat. What came next was. Well? at the very least, it was terrible. Rad?s ki skyrocketed as his body plummeted back towards the platform he had been standing on. He threw in a couple of flips for dramatic effect, then came cascading back onto the spot he had been standing on. The result was to sway the entire facility they had been standing on. The center platform sunk towards the fires below it before swinging back upwards. The exterior platforms followed with a slight delaying, creating a sort of ripple effect. Rad powered down and waited for the swaying to stop. He smiled as the voices assaulted his ears.

?What the fuck are you doing?!?
?Are you insane?!?
?You trying to get us all killed??
?Rad!!?
?Woah??
?You bastard!?
?Well? that was fun??

They all spoke at once. At the very least they had waited for the platforms to return to their original positions. Everyone continued to elaborate on their outrage, some longer than others. It was ok with the saiyan, he could be patient when he needed to be. After a while, the yelling stopped and everyone waited for him to respond. Rad took a moment to look everyone in the eye before taking a step back and responding.

?Is it hot in here, or is it just me?? Predictably, this drew out another onslaught of insults, but it was much shorter lived than the first. Rad was given time to pull his armor over his head and drop it to the ground with a surprisingly loud thud. The katchin metal that he wore under it slid off of his body and formed a large cube next to his armor. ?Is everyone done?? Someone made a derogatory comment about Raditzu?s mother. ?Well? Anyone notice anything different?? Everyone exchanged glances.

?Nothing?s different? idiot.? Bra offered.

?Exactly. That?s wh--? Rad was interrupted by the beeping of his scouter. A short series of symbols flashed across the screen. The saiyan?s eyes darted towards Bra, and a slight smile crossed his features. Her message had an ironic sense of timing. Without actually saying anything, the warrior continued. ?That?s what I was going to say when Cell cut in with his little lesson in Russian technology. Trunks had the best idea of all you guys.? A cocky laughed erupted from the lavender-haired youth?s mouth. Rad almost instantly regretted adding that.

?Told ya..?

?Anyway, think about what we know.? The katchin metal cube melted to a puddle on the ground and split into eight pieces. Each piece slid across the floor to create a small stool for whoever wanted one. Rad dropped down into his as he spoke. ?Why are we all here??

?Because Brim?s a sick bastard.? Goten offered more as a statement of fact than as an explanation.

?His name?s Brim?? Rad shrugged and continued on. ?We?re looking for some clue about a civil war. Keyword their being ?war?.?

?And a military base would be a good place to be looking for one.? Cell added on.

?Supposedly this war wiped out whatever races was occupying this rock. Which means it was a pretty big one. It stands to reason that whatever was going on was pretty well documented by whatever army was in this base.?

?Yeah, but we haven?t seen anything that looks like a clue.? Gohan pointed out. ?We don?t even know if we?re in the right place now.?

?Or how much time we?ve got left.? The threat of a timer on the nuclear bomb was obviously present in Bojack?s mind.

?One thing at a time,? Rad responded. ?So, here we are at the bottom of some military base. And what did Cell say about important things??

?Military installations are set up with the most important things built deeper in the ground.? Cell recited, verbatim.

?And we?re not going to get much more ?deeper in the ground?.? Gohan connected the dots.

?So, we have this huge war that kills everyone and we?re at the bottom of some military complex. There?s a good chance whatever clue we?re looking for is somewhere here and we just haven?t seen it. We simply need to comb through this area more carefully.?

?And ignore the bomb we?re standing on top of?? Bra?s tone was a bit less aggressive then the one she usually reserved for Raditzu.

?No more than we?re ignoring these.? Rad tugged at his collar to emphasize his point. ?Stumpy doesn?t need a bomb to kill us, he can do that with a button. Besides, you really think he?s going to put his own life in our hands??

?The explosion of a nuclear bomb of that yield would be more than enough to destroy this whole asteroid.? Cell elaborated.

?So we don?t worry about the bomb.? Rad confirmed. ?There obviously aren?t any other alarms to worry about in this place. I would have set them off and everyone would be long dead.?

?Wait? if the bomb?s not a threat, then why does the computer say its active?? 18 pondered out loud.

?Brim?s probably just fucking with us.? Bojack responded around his cigar. His had moved up to his collar as he recalled the shock he had been given earlier.

?If the bomb?s out, what are we gonna do here?? Trunks asked. The youth had combined his own metal binding, along with his sword, to turn his small stool into an overly elaborate recliner.

?What we?ve been doing.? Raditzu replied. ?Everything we?ve seen is pretty standard for a military base?well? maybe not that spiked ceiling. But, other than that, the only thing that seems weird are the-?

?Piles of dead bodies.? Cell finished the saiyan?s sentence, having reached the same conclusion.

?What the bug said.? Rad tried not to glare at Cell, but couldn?t help it. ?I think if we figure out what the deal is with the bodies, we?ll have our clue and be out of here. We should get back to looking through these buildings.?

No one really had any objections, or any better ideas to offer. Without actually saying anything out loud, Rad marveled at his own genius. If they had just listened to him in the first place, though, they?d probably all be on their way to the next clue by now. Could be worse, the saiyan stipulated, they could not have him there. The metal stools melted from under the group and reformed into a cube. A couple of people were left to fall on their asses, but that was a risk Rad was simply willing to take.

[Raz]

A quick flash of metallic flare forced a path through the thickest portion of the skull's cranium, slicing it in two without a problem not to the hybrid's surprise, yet his actions previous had made it all too big of an ordeal to the rest of the now gather group now gathering around him.

"Careful crying wolf like that, kid." Trunks spoke with a twist of his wrist, sending the blade spiraling backwards onto the shoulder of his armed appendage. A cleanest of cuts, as one the skull fell to the ground only to break apart in two separate pieces with the pinkish white mix oozing from both the left eye cavity and from the mouth below it.

"People might stop trusting you." As if the lavender haired one's interjection wasn't enough, Bojack insult to injury with his completed exchange of diminishing words just as the female hybrid and multicelled warrior came out from the cover of the building they had been examining.

?Wanna tell us what the hell happened kid?? Cell said as he arrived, slowing down his rush to a stroll into the collection that had begun to grow in the small area of conflict.

"No, I don't." The 'kid' line was getting old; at least, the Goten thought it was. The bio-android brought the few closer into the cramped space that the two half Saiyan males had occupied, now the group's attention centered upon the teen in question for answers to why they had their search diverted to this.

"N-Nothing. I made a mistake ...Sorry." There was this feeling, a cornered wolf in a den not of his own that made Goten's heart rate excel suddenly to almost a skip if he had any physical involvement in any of this. Shifting the stance of his feet slightly under the gazes of them all, something about this moment brought a thought into the hybrid's mind about this whole game. It wasn't the fact that he had been a little jumpy over the whole skull issue, or even the surroundings, but the whole sudden change in attention from the searches that had been going on had been so easily routed. What did that mean? That head was too out of place, especially if it still had an organ in such horrid state inside of it.

?We got a bomb to take care of, guys. Back to what?s important, hm?? Bra's words shattered the silence quiet suddenly, turning more loosely aimed eyes upon her in light of the male halfling's dilemma. Goten glanced over to her for a moment, giving a look of thanks to the female fighter though he wasn't sure how to say it exactly. ?We should find out what exactly could trigger this thing. If that computer 18 was using is linked to the nuke, then maybe we can find out more about it from there. Hell, maybe we can even use it to shut it down.?

Finally the teenaged half Saiyan was able to slip off out of view from the rest of the group as they picked up in a conversation of their own. At this moment the demi human didn't feel much up to the speaking type as it seemed a bit out of place, for one reason or another.

"I say we kick it and see what happens." Trunks' bold remark hung heavily over the group even if it had been a dumb one, followed by a series of personal notes and observations created by the others as a way to try and resolve everything out from the bits and pieces they had been given. Cell beginning again with that massive knowledge of military history on weapons and such, nothing too amusing to say in the least which was expressed by the Ader's rather hard edged remark. Moments passed as words continued building upon the subject that if this... 'Bomb' thing went off, they'd all be dead. Then again, Goten thought, they did come in at a rush. There hadn't been enough time to comb over the rooms once or twice for anything they might've missed before the alarms started off on them.

?Well, obviously we should be able to head back the way we came, since we?re still alive... so maybe we should back-track and see if there?s a clue or something we missed? ?Cause I?m sure there?s a few bodies we missed. But then, if we?re supposed to go ahead and we?re on a timer...? Goten explained. Even if there had been a lot crowding his train of thought, there wasn't any reason to try and explain everything as thickly as what he had thought. The most the youth could do was give a view as he turned his back to examine the curious sliced skull still oozing upon the ground a few steps away, why was that so out of place then everything else? Suddenly an almost ripple effect vibrated the floor below, Goten turning to see Raditzu with a few strains of gold fading into the black locks of hair that waved to come to a halt resting upon his back once again.

"Whoa..." The demi-Saiya-jin exclaimed for a moment as he just realized what had happened, waiting for the platform itself to halt its vibrations before looking back to the cause of it all.

"Is it hot in here, or is it just me?" Rad said with words of more humor then those choice ones spoken by the rest of the group at his actions. Taking his time to remove the armor worn upon his chest, a strange metal liquid slid down to form a block upon the ground at their feet, glancing about at all of them for a moment, "Is everyone done? Well? Anyone notice anything different?"

"Nothing?s different... idiot." An interjection from the princess almost received a response from the bulky full blooded fighter, but for some reason the Saiya-jin stopped short in mid sentence only to cross his facial gesture with a slight smile for some reason.

?That?s what I was going to say when Cell cut in with his little lesson in Russian technology. Trunks had the best idea of all you guys.? Rad's little praise to the eldest of the teens didn't go unnoticed, as expected, a chuckle levitated its way from somewhere in the front of the group as that certain someone spoke a plain "Told ya..." for any whom had doubted him.

"Anyway, think about what we know." As the Saiyan spoke again, the strange cube melted away into a glistening puddle upon the ground only to reform in eight separate pieces, each sliding across the slick flooring to create something of a stool design. As expected, Rad took his place upon one of them as he finished what he was going to say, "Why are we all here?"

"Because Brim?s a sick bastard who- ..." Goten began as he tried to say something to bring up a new concept on the whole issue only to have his attention drawn away with the awkward looking piece of metal in front of him. Anything else said was lost on him as his mind put back into play the memories he had, that thing he attempted in Heaven... what he did with that metal some time ago, could that work with this stuff too? Getting clearance to use the material didn't seem a problem as it had been offered as a seat, though Goten felt more comfortable standing.

It seemed so different, so much heavier a burden on him to shift as the halfling's attention rested upon the top half of the stool... slowly the top began to melt back into the strange liquid form it had been puddled in, drooping down till the legs collapsed inward into the liquid metal till it became a quivering pool of a mercury looking substance.

?So we don?t worry about the bomb.? Rad's voice slipped in only slightly through this whole process. "Doesn't sound too convincing." This bomb thing wasn't the matter of discussion anymore, even if they had been a dud, there still was the possibility of things worse then any 'bomb' going off. Goten returned to his little project, he managed to solidify a piece of the metal enough to make it travel up in a small tower looking structure till reaching a good four feet in height. There was something... out of the corner of his eye, Goten thought he saw movement. Unfortunately for him he had turned off his L.E.N.S device previous to the start of the conversation and couldn't catch anything, a loud crash against the metal near his feet brought him back to grips of the world around him. His little tower had collapsed in on itself; heavy enough to make a little noise against the platform... hopefully no one had noticed or seen him playing around.

?I think if we figure out what the deal is with the bodies, we?ll have our clue and be out of here. We should get back to looking through these buildings.? With less then a thought, the Saiya-jin's metals retracted back to the source to reform the cube again. Luckily the hybrid hadn't taken the offer to be seated. What was up with the bodies? All of them seemed to be piled up in one way or another, skin pale, organs mashed into almost a paste, and yet the bones were intact? Goten turned away from the group and strolled at his own pace back over to one of the buildings that had been undergoing inspection from one of the groups, putting a hand on the outside of the door's frame as he leaned forward in. Barely inside as he looked back and forth throughout the first room he would've walked into... it was a drab looking place. Most of the furniture inside had been splattered with some sort of strange color as claw marks shown around the front ends of the desks or backs of the chairs.

"... Mm?" Taking a step in, the floor groaned as if it were going to give way, there was possibly another basement or something suspended beneath this room. But what had caught the hybrid's eye seem to be not the bodies, but the fingers of the corpses. Within the pile near the middle of the room he knelt as he glanced over the extended hand out from beneath the mound of dead, the fingernails looked as though the person had been biting on them... maybe that was what to blame for the marks on the desks and such, resistance against something, something that had been trying to drag the body? Goten's back bent back as his legs extended once more, standing strait while looking over the remains of the building only to turn on his heels and walk back slowly to the door.

There wasn't much left of the place except the smell and rotting rooms, nothing that could obviously be a clue to what they needed. With the dismiss of the bomb theory, there wasn't exactly a clear course of action to be taken. Stopping suddenly to the sound of scratching near the door leading up into the stairway for the upper portions of the building, for one reason or another, it had been barricaded with a few choice desks and other random object that appeared to be in good condition with the exception of a spatter here and there. It seemed a bit out of place... like the skull... Goten took a step back, out into the open area once again to look up at the building he had been in. High above in the fifth or so floor a window had been knocked out, probably the source where his little discovery flew from.

"Hey, Rad." Goten turned his head back slightly from looking up for a moment.

"Hm?"

"You see anything inside those floors while you were up there? Or... anything looking at you?" An odd question, but there was just this feeling that the hybrid had about these oh so enjoyable vacation spots, "'Cause I'm hoping you'll pick the second one." Goten looked over his shoulder and gave a grin before turning back, knees bending beneath him before kicking off as his body glided high into the air; carefully going over each floor as he ascended upward. Maybe it was time for the hybrid to start acting a little older, maybe it was time he started excepting his place beneath the others, or maybe it was just time to kick things up a notch...

[Drake]

Today was turning out to be one awesome day. It may have started out boring what with the metal legged dude yammering on about history and ratings, but now it was turning into something cool; dead bodies, traps, explosions and now a giant nuclear weapon that could blow up the entire asteroid. Trunks? opinion of history had changed because of this experience, it was definitely not as mind-numbing as previously thought.

??and a bag of chips.?

Speaking of chips, it had been awhile since the Hybrid had eaten, at least 3 or 4 hours from what he could remember; however he might have been asleep for quite awhile before being transported to this rock so it easily could have been eons since he last ate. So, while everyone was bickering and discussing between themselves what to do about this new little problem they had stumbled upon, Trunks would take a few steps back before disappearing from sight to see if he could find any canned food or military rations within the abandoned compound.

The Ader made some macho comment to the news about this weapon of mass destruction they had found, only to be quickly cut down by the blue haired girl.

?Then we disarm it,? chimed in a certain lavender haired saiyajin standing behind Bojack, arms crossed and a smirk plastered onto his face. ?That?s the only obvious choice, right?? The poor Ader was being attacked on both sides by the sibling Duo so he had nothing left to do but suck it up and fan out like everyone else had begun to do. It turned out that walking around aimlessly in a dank, dark, and dusty building wouldn?t help group XTREME in their endeavor to disable the ticking nuke. Of course, that was fine for Trunks, as he wasn?t on his current agenda something much more important was at the top of that list. Both he and Goten had traveled quite a good distance into the compound, yet the hybrid couldn?t shake the feeling of a nearby presence while the other saiyajin youth went about looking for clues.

?I?d better get this over with, and quick?? Muttered Trunks, his eyes shifting from either side trying futilely to pierce the darkness; muscles tensing also as he slowly raised his arm to draw the blade on his back.

?Fucking sick!?

Like a coiled spring, Trunks body reacted with split second timing and whirled around with the huge blade in hand as though it weighed nothing to the lavender haired youth. It?s metal tip raked across the ceiling of the room creating a loud screeching sound along with a shimmering light as the metal on metal friction created giant white sparks before coming down on to cleave the skull in half and collide with a dull loud thud against the floor. Nothing, all he?d managed to hit was a skull, but as Trunks raised his head he could see The Ader standing in a doorway behind Goten- both staring at each other for a brief second. The hybrid sighed and drew back his blade, only briefly noticing the small bit of crimson on the tip of his sword- probably nicked the kid when he sliced the skull in half.

?Careful crying wolf like that kid?? Trunks turned away from the two and vanished into the darkness through a small opening in the wall before everyone came into the room to investigate what had just happened.

Searching for food ended up proving fruitless for the hungry saiyajin, while he did manage to find a clan or two it wasn?t anything anyone could consider edible. Why someone would stock up on pickled broccoli was beyond Trunks, and the thought of what was in the can that had a dog on the label and called ?The Other Meat? only caused him to shudder in terror. Strangely enough he managed to wander right back into the group as the all huddled in the tiny room where Goten had screamed, still bickering about what to do with the nuclear weapon- he?d hope they?d have it figured out before he came back so he wouldn?t have to do anything but it didn?t work out that way so the only choice was to use his vast wisdom to help them out of this jam.

?I say we kick it and see what happens!? Brilliant, that?s the only word Trunks could think of to describe this idea of his while stroking his chin like the stuffy guys did on the free TV channels in the Ragnarok headquarters.

Sadly, to his dismay, the idea was quickly shot down by all those present. He surmised that this was because they couldn?t possibly fathom the awesomeness of this plan, but ignorance was bliss so he let them go about mulling over what to do- probably deciding on some boring and stupid plan that would end up succeeding through sheer luck.

But it turned out that it wasn?t only Trunks who understood the brilliance of his plan, for no sooner after he had tried to hock it to the group than Raditsu went through with it, in a manner of speaking, it ended up with a lot of destruction and chaos which was totally cool in the hybrids books. After it was done, and Rad had gotten ?destroying buildings? out of his system he went about explaining the method in his madness and announced that Trunks was indeed much smarter than the group.

?HA!? Trunks let out with a cocky laugh.

This drew unwanted attention from the rest of the group who looked as though they were ready to maul him, but it wasn?t the poor youth?s fault that they weren?t as intelligent as him. That was their parents fault, and bad genetics.

?Told ya?? He added in a sheepish voice before walking off once again after they had turned around to let Raditsu explain in greater detail what was happening. Trunks had better things to do then hang around with them anyway, he would discover the secret of this place on his own and show them- good!

[Burter]

END OF ROUND

"Intruder! Intruder! Intruder!"

Eight heads turned. Someone or something had trigger an alarm.

"Self Destruct Active."

This perked their interests a bit. Android Eighteen went to the control panel, but was admittedly clueless where to start. Everything was flashing like crazy. Cell hurried outside the room, onto one of the large bridges to look down upon the machine. As he had expected, it was flashing as well, though considering the size of it, it was more like the room was flashing.

"Know anything about de-activating bombs?" Bra asked, as she was the first to join him out there. Everyone else was slowly following.

"Yea," he admitted. "There's a lot of obscure stuff I know."

"It's probably just a hoax to get us riled up. Brim wouldn't let his show be ruined by this." Rad told them, looking over the side as well. The fiery chasm down below didn't look very comfortable.

Cell stepped towards the side of the bridge. "That's not a risk I'm willing to take." With that, the bio-android lept off the bridge, flying downwards towards the machine.

Raditzu wasn't going to admit it out loud, but Cell had a point. What if this wasn't a hoax? The long-haired saiyan was the second person that lept off after him, followed by Gohan and Goten.

-----

Cell agressively punched the rough metal three times to make a sizable hole. He slipped in easily, but Rad decided two more punchs would make it more comfortable for his hair to fit through. Gohan and Goten stayed outside of the huge machine, looking in.

The beeping was becoming more and more annoying. Rad had already punched two alarms inside the machine, but even he couldn't manage to find every single one. Cell had by now made short work of several wires.

As if by perfect timing, one of the clamps holding the bomb up from above the chasm let go, causing the machine to rock on only one hinge. "What did you do!?" Rad asked, pointing an accusing finger.

Cell pulled one final wire. "Aha! Deactivated!"

The final clamp released.

The bomb set off in mid-air. Thanks to Cell's work, it was only an average bomb rather then one that could have demolished everyone. Still, the two warriors were trapped inside it, and were forced to leap up. A shock hit Raditzu as they traveled up, and despite his awesome power, he keeled over to the random shockwave. Cell looked back when he got to the hole. Rad was moving slower, and the bomb's effect had already crushed most of the robotics. Cell brought his hand and grabbed Rad, pulling him through first.

Android Eighteen had leaped off the bridge the moment she saw the huge machine fall towards the fiery chasm below. It was perfect timing, as she tackled Raditzu in mid-air as if trying to rescue the already saved saiyan. She felt him almost collapse in her touch, and soon she realized it WAS collapsing...as if he was melting.

The machine landed into the lava-filled pit with a devasting 'boom' , causing yet another display of fireworks. The peices of metal caused much annoyance for the group. Android Eighteen had grabbed the younger Goten as well as Rad, assuming Gohan was good enough to make it on his own. She slipped under a small crack, unaware that it was caving in, seperating them.

Cell flew upwards, also unaware what was going on. Bojack, Bra, and Trunks met him half way. Gohan had been hit by one of the stray metal peices, and was sent barrelling off course, into the lava pit.

After all the commotion, Rad looked up to see two confused faces. He looked at his own body, realizing what they were so shocked about. His hand was changing shape, first a book, then a hammer, and finally reverted back his lovable hand.

"Well," he said, equally as shocked, "That was odd."

15. Gohan - DEAD
13. Raditzu - Wins Shapechanging