Chapter 7
Woods of Despair
I opened one of my eyes to make sure I was still in the woods and that the Z senshi were still with me. I sighed relieved when I saw that they were still there. I looked around for Juuhachigou; then remembered that she wasn’t there. I figured she couldn’t be far—even though Cell was miles away by then… I could feel her. I quickly stood up and ran to where I felt my sister was located… on the other side of the woods. I stopped when I realized that my mind was taking me places. I looked around and nothing I saw was recognizable. The Z senshi weren’t behind me, and neither was Nix, though I could feel her presence… or was that someone else’s? I spotted a sign nailed to a tree that read "Welcome to the Woods of Despair, where all your nightmares become reality". I didn’t like that. Did that mean that my premonition would become true? I shook the thought away and continued on, in hope of finding my sister… in hope of killing that Android Cell once and for all.
I kept thinking back to my premonition… how the mysterious woman told of my future--a dark and grim one. Aren’t all futures like that at one point?
I decided to rest after an hour-straight of walking. Sitting below an unfamiliar tree, my mind started to wander… what if I couldn’t find Juuhachigou? I shook that thought away and reached into my pouch for a glazed doughnut I wrapped up tightly and stuffed in my pouch before I left. I unwrapped the doughnut and ate it… just a little something to settle my stomach from the sickness that I felt whenever I thought of Cell.
As I ate, I gazed over at a swampland near the trees. The water was like glass and I wanted to break it like it was Cell. I continued to gaze over at the swamp, past the glassy water, past the eerie mist above it. I was looking right at a pair of glowing red eyes. I scared me enough to almost drop my doughnut, but I looked away. When I gazed back over the water, the eyes were gone.
"That was smart, Junanagou!" I mumbled to myself as I devoured the rest of the doughnut in one bite and got up in a fighting stance. I still felt threatened, even though I knew there was nothing else around me but a bunch of trees and a dead swampland.
I decided to continue walking after I KNEW that there was only me in the woods and swamp. I kept looking around the woods for something recognizable to me, but nothing seemed familiar.
"Calm down, Junanagou… you’re an extremely strong Android remember. You killed Dr. Gero and took on Cell in his first form," I kept reassuring myself every time I heard a sound. I was getting too excited to get into a battle, or to get away from the woods that I never saw the pit ahead of me. I fell in, the darkness consuming every part of my body.
I finally found the ground, but after I landed I heard a sickening crack, then realized I couldn’t feel my left arm. I must have landed on it when I did land. Wasting no time, I took off my bandana and made a sling to put my arm in. It was long enough, but then I did feel weird without the warmth around my neck. I looked around, not recognizing my new surroundings, but I did hear voices.
Maybe they knew where Juuhachigou was.
Chapter 8
Unknown
Maybe they did know where Juuhachigou was; I wasn’t sure. I walked slowly through a long hallway when I heard an ear-piercing scream that seemed to shatter the silence that fell upon me like a rock to calm waters. I then felt a chill go up my spine. Perhaps I was turning human again after all, because I felt fear. Not the kind of fear I felt when I was about to be absorbed by Cell… that wasn’t at all much fear. No this, this was something you’d feel when you were about to die. But was I about to die? I shook the thought away. Then I heard it; an attack name unfamiliar to me… the Fireball.
Knowing that the person who used this attack could be of some help, I raced over to where the fight had begun, and yet hid behind the wall to confirm that there WAS a fight that was going on. I saw the combatants, but I didn’t recognize them at all. The first one, the one that screamed out his attack, was about 5’4" with orange skin and what seemed like teased white hair. He was fighting a female, about a head taller than he, with long, braided red hair, black tips at the end, and a gi like Son Gokou’s, but the insignia was wrong. Instead of Kaio Sama’s insignia on the back and the turtle symbol on the front, her gi had a dragon symbol on both the front and the back.
The fight had stopped just as I hid behind the wall. The female grasped her right shoulder and winced in pain as she knelt down. But then she got up again, no longer grasping her shoulder, but back in a fighting stance.
"Practice isn’t over, Jeice!" she called out and attacked again. The man, whom I believed to be Jeice, dodged almost every move the female made, once or twice getting hit by a punch or a kick. The female stopped again and looked in my direction. I slid back a bit so she couldn’t see me. Cocking her head, the female spoke again.
"I sense an artificial human." I looked back at the man and he seemed to be dusting off his shirt.
"It wouldn’t be your father, would it?" he said with a Scottish accent. "Y’know how ‘e is now, Nancy-Marie." Nancy-Marie shook her head.
"N-no… it’s not Father… it’s something—someone else." She said and stared walking in my direction with Jeice following. I wanted to jump out and start fighting, but with my left arm with no life in it, I couldn’t do that. Instead I backed into the room where I fell in and looked for another way out. There were no other ways out; I was trapped, and they were getting closer. I couldn’t believe it was going to end like this: never finding my sister, letting Cell win after all. No, I’ll never let that happen, I thought as I got into my fighting stance. I was about to turn face and attempt to run out when…
"That’s it! That’s the Artificial Human!" I heard Nancy-Marie say.
"Kamisama!" I muttered. I had no other choice but to fight it out. But was I strong enough with only one arm and against two avid fighters? I had to think of something fast.
"Wait!" I exclaimed. "I only need to get out of here so I can find my sister!" Jeice stopped, as did Nancy-Marie.
"Then ‘owed y’get in ‘ere?" Jeice pondered.
"I fell down the hole, though I don’t know how, I managed to do this…" I held my left arm up, "other than that, I seem to be fine." Nancy-Marie walked up to me and examined my arm.
"Temporarily disabled… offline, but if we get to my lab, I can fix it for you." Nancy-Marie pointed in the direction they came. Then she walked away, leaving Jeice and I to follow her.
"Alrighty-then, this will only take a minute." Nancy-Marie said beneath a pair of goggles. I looked over at Jeice, who seemed distraught. Sighing, I looked back at Nancy-Marie, who had just finished repairing my arm.
"There ya go… uhhm… what’s your name?"
"Junanagou." I answered. Nancy-Marie seemed shocked, as well as amazed… same with Jeice.
"Junanagou… as in Android #17?" Nancy-Marie asked. I nodded my head. Jeice walked over to Nancy-Marie and I.
"Great. Now tha’ we know your name… let’s get back to your ‘welcome’… shall we?" Jeice asked and walked away. I guess he’d meant fighting, because as soon as we got to the entrance, Jeice was in his fighting stance.
"All right…. Showtime!" I said and got in my stance. The fight began, but little did Jeice know that I was one of the strongest Androids ever created by Dr. Gero.
He learned it all too late.
(*Author’s note: come to me, Nix with any complaints you have about me using Jeice’s original voice, but I love his Scottish accent.)