The energy generator inside my armor thrummed to life as my ki flowed through it. Unlike Androids 17 and 18, I didn't have an endless supply of energy. Every surge came from me, and yet… my ki felt different now. Denser. Heavier. My body itself felt changed, though I hadn't had the chance to fully analyze it.
Six months of unconsciousness left me with more questions than answers. Whatever happened to me in that coma wasn't just rest—it was metamorphosis. Like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, my body had demanded enormous energy to transform into something new.
No time to think about it now. Vegeta loomed ahead in his towering Ōzaru form, gripping Goku like a ragdoll. My instincts screamed at me to move. I channeled everything into the generator—its energy coursed through my body, multiplying my power tenfold.
I stopped just a few hundred feet behind Vegeta, charged a Kamehameha, and fired it straight at the base of his tail.
The beam tore through, severing his tail clean off. Vegeta roared in pain as his giant body shrank back to normal, dropping Goku in the process. His power level plummeted to eighteen thousand.
I didn't give him time to recover. I dashed forward, fist cocked, ready to finish him. But just as my punch was about to land—
BOOM!
The generator inside my armor exploded, blasting us apart. I'd forgotten: it was built when my power level was only five thousand. Forcing twenty thousand ki through it had overloaded the system.
Coughing through the smoke, I staggered to my feet. My power was barely ten thousand now. Vegeta wasn't much better. Both of us were injured, exhausted, and rapidly burning out. We fought anyway, trading blows like cornered animals. Each strike weaker than the last.
Just when I thought it would end with one of us collapsing—
A sudden beam struck Vegeta's side. He staggered, screaming, as the attack detonated and threw him across the battlefield.
"Kamehameha…!"
I turned to see Krillin—tattered, bloodied, but standing tall with grim determination. He clenched his fists, glaring at Vegeta.
"This ends now," he growled.
Panic gripped me. If Krillin killed Vegeta here, the future I knew—Trunks' very existence—would vanish. I opened my mouth to protest, but no words came.
Then Goku's voice, weak but clear, cut through the silence.
"Krillin… please. Don't kill him."
The scene jolted me. Just like in my timeline, Goku spared Vegeta's life. Different circumstances, same result. Some threads of fate were too strong to break.
After Vegeta retreated, I helped assess the damage. Krillin explained what happened while I was unconscious.
"When Raditz beat the first Saibaman, Yamcha got too excited and wiped out the rest. He didn't even notice Vegeta charging a blast… Yamcha was killed instantly."
I clenched my fists. Another divergence.
"Raditz fought Nappa, and Goku took on Vegeta. When Vegeta made his fake moon, Nappa got distracted and Raditz killed him. Vegeta blasted Raditz right after, but he survived… barely. That's when Tien and Chiaotzu arrived.
Piccolo… he threw himself in front of Goku and died. Tien burned everything in one last Kikōhō. He died too. And Vegeta nearly crushed Goku until you showed up."
The battlefield was littered with casualties and survivors. Yamcha, Tien, and Piccolo were dead. Goku and Raditz were badly injured. Chiaotzu lived, but shaken to his core.
I exhaled sharply. Different pieces. Same war.
Krillin looked at me, his eyes heavy. "If Piccolo was an alien… maybe there are other Dragon Balls out there. If anyone knows where Kami came from, it's Mr. Popo."
I nodded firmly. "Then that's our lead. But first—let's take care of our friends."
From my capsules, I released pods to preserve the bodies of Yamcha, Tien, and Piccolo. Another capsule produced an aircraft. We loaded everyone on board—sending Goku and Raditz to the hospital since senzu beans wouldn't be available for months.
As I piloted the craft through the smoke of the ruined battlefield, my body still ached from the generator's explosion. But my mind was already fixed on what came next.
We would find Popo. We would find answers. And I would find out just what my body was becoming.