Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Saiyasaga ❯ The Tune-up ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

The Great Super Saiyan 5: Another disclaimer?! Do I have to...? Okay, I'll do it, but you can't expect me to like it.

Disclaimer: I STILL don't own DBZ, DBGT, or Xenosaga. Too bad, right?

Kaerlos: Hi! I'm just here to let you know I'm still around.

TGSS5: Maniac... Are these 'last chapter' things annoying you, readers? Anyway, I couldn't think of anything better to call this chapter, so...

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Las t chapter ended with:
Everyone agreed with this, so the passengers were escorted to their rooms so they could get settled in. Acting on one of his whims, Kaerlos 'helped' KOS-MOS bring her maintenance bed into the engineering bay. That is to say that he carried it for her.

"Why did you carry my maintenance bed for me?" KOS-MOS asked.

"I felt like it," Kaerlos answered.

"You are a peculiar specimen. Even insanity cannot prevent you being kind. How do you manage it?"

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"___ ": Normal speech
'___': Signs and other writing
*___*: Thoughts
*"___"*: Telepathy
"/___/": Saiyago (Saiyan language, for those that haven't guessed)
*"/___/"*: Telepathic Saiyago
*~~~~~~~~~~~~*: POV change
(yes, I am copying and pasting)

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Chapt er 3
The Tune-up

A few hours after everyone was shown their rooms, Kaerlos got bored. He decided the best way to alleviate his boredom would be to remodel KOS-MOS, but he guessed that she had some sort of security system to prevent tampering. *Guess I'll just have to ask. How do I ask, though...*

As Kaerlos sat there thinking of how to ask, KOS-MOS walked up to say, "I still believe you are basically a decent person. I am going to recharge now."

"Okay," Kaerlos said. He was carefully thinking, *Guess I'll have to ask later. What else can I do...* He looked up just as Cherenkov entered the room. *What's he doing here...?* He watched from the shadows as the human walked straight to KOS-MOS' maintenance bed, stared at her for a short time, pulled a pistol out, and shakily aimed it at her head.

Shortly after Cherenkov tried to aim at KOS-MOS, Shion entered, carrying a tray of some kind of food and asking, "What're you doing here, Commander?"

Cherenkov started, tried to hide his gun behind his back as he turned towards her, and said, stuttering slightly, "I was just checking on her, that's all!"

Kaerlos didn't pay much attention to their conversation after that except to note that Shion had helped create KOS-MOS and thought of her as a daughter. Why he cared enough to note this he didn't know. When Cherenkov had left the room the Saiyan said, "Excuse me, Shion. I've got something important to tell you. I doubt you'll like it."

Shion looked in his direction, nodded, and walked closer until she was standing at the edge of the shadow he was in. Then she said, "What is it?"

Kaerlos sighed and said, "Cherenkov was about to try to kill KOS-MOS when you came in. I think he may be a spy."

Shion blinked and said, "I don't believe you."

Kaerlos sighed again. "Believe what you want to. I'm going to get someone to help watch KOS-MOS. Who should it be, though..." After Shion left he considered before telepathically calling Virgil to his room. When he arrived he said, "Do you want to be stronger?"

Virgil hardly considered before saying, "Hell yeah! What do I have to do?"

Kaerlos smiled slightly as he said, "Nothing at all. I'll do the work. Fair warning though, you won't be entirely human afterwards. Do you still want that strength?"

Now Virgil considered. Kaerlos knew better than to try to influence his decision with telepathy, since he'd tried it before and it hadn't worked, probably due to some sort of psychic signature. Eventually Virgil responded, "All right, why not? I'll do it."

Kaerlos nodded. "Follow me." The two went into a nearby room which he had converted into a laboratory. There he gave Virgil a dose of sleeping gas that would give him enough time for what he would do. *Now comes the tricky part.*

Kaerlos worked for several hours on converting Virgil into an android, installing just about every system known to man plus a few that weren't. He even installed a system that allowed upgrades after use of the auto-repair system. As a precaution, he installed a receiver for two certain frequencies and set all the systems to shut down when they received the first signal except for the engine and the personal life support, auto-repair, auto-upgrade, and temperature regulator systems- in other words, it caused an induced sleep- and the second signal made all the systems reboot. The other part of the precaution was building a remote that, when its first button was pressed, sent the shutdown signal directly to the new android's receiver and, when its second button was pressed, did the same with the reboot signal; he labeled the buttons by function. Next, he installed a data chip that detailed how to use his new abilities, in addition to several forms of melee combat, including three styles of martial arts. Finally, he upgraded his project's tensile strength and physical power. Overall, Virgil became half as strong as Kaerlos, two-thirds as strong as Goku and Vegeta, and two fifths stronger than Bardock, comparisons not including super forms.

Kaerlos, finally satisfied with the upgrades, activated Virgil. The unknowing android sat up and blinked as 'Systems check... All systems green' appeared in his vision for a few seconds. Realizing that he was now at least part machine, he then turned to Kaerlos and shouted, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!"

This attracted the attention of KOS-MOS, Shion, and Cherenkov, all of whom had been looking for Kaerlos since none of them had seen him since the previous night. By the time they were in the same hallway as the door to Kaerlos's lab, said door exploded outward as two blurs flew around the hallway, eventually settling down into Kaerlos and... "Virgil? What's going on?" Shion asked no one in particular.

"He turned me into a cyborg! Or maybe even an android!" Virgil exclaimed angrily, forgetting he'd asked for it until...

"Hey! You agreed to it, and you're definitely stronger now," Kaerlos said indignantly, if a bit sleepily. "On an irrelevant note, I call cyborgs 'bio-androids'."

"Did you pull an all-nighter?" Cherenkov asked, secretly impressed by Virgil's new speed.

"Yup," Kaerlos yawned. Then he pulled out his remote and said, "I'm too sleepy to deal with you. Let's find out what happens when I push button number 1!" When he pushed said button, Virgil collapsed helplessly.

"What is wrong with him?" KOS-MOS asked.

"System shutdown. I put it in as a precaution- he struck me as untrustworthy, possibly even insane," Kaerlos explained in as few words as possible. Then he yawned again before saying, "I'm going to bed now. Night." Then he walked over, picked up Virgil, and hurried to his and KOS-MOS' room. When he got there, he dropped Virgil on the floor by KOS-MOS' bed, laid down by the wall, and fell asleep.

When Kaerlos woke up, the first thing he saw was KOS-MOS' face a few inches away from his. "Hi. How ya doin'?" he mumbled as she stopped leaning over him from her kneeling position and he sat up. *Could wake up to worse sights than KOS-MOS' face. What's she want, anyway...?*

KOS-MOS unknowingly answered Kaerlos's mental question by saying, "I wish for you to remodel me. I will deactivate my security system if you agree."

Kaerlos nodded, saying, "No nonsense... I like that. To tell the truth, last night I was trying to figure out how to ask you to let me remodel you. I'd better get to work. I was holding some technology back when I worked on Virgil, and I've been itching to work with all I know. We'd better go to my lab for this. C'mon." He led her into his lab, where he directed her to the table he had changed Virgil on and pulled out his tools.

Kaerlos wasn't lying about holding technology back: he put more advanced versions of every system he used in Virgil into KOS-MOS, added a few others, and updated what was already there if he knew what it was. Though he was surprised when he found a machine that looked like a uterus, complete with apparent ovaries; he left those alone, having an idea of what they did. He installed an auto-upgrade system which rivaled a Saiyan's "strength from near death" ability. He found a few weapons that were obsolete because of his additions, and removed them. He used every technological trick he knew that would enhance her performance, and removed anything he saw that limited her strength or speed while serving no beneficial purpose. He snuck in almost all the martial arts programs he had plus a few programs that identified allies, enemies, and civilians with the programming to use the new equipment. Eventually, 10 hours after he started, Kaerlos finished. KOS-MOS was now his equal in strength.

Kaerlos smirked in triumph until he turned around and saw Shion. She was glaring at him and tapping her foot in annoyance that could quickly become rage. Kaerlos laughed nervously before saying, "Uh... Hi?"

"All right, who are you turning into a cyborg this time?" Shion demanded. "What are you going to do to-" KOS-MOS sat up "KOS-MOS?! What're you doing here?"

Kaerlos reluctantly said, "I upgraded her, at her request."

Shion looked incredulous. "KOS-MOS, is that true?"

KOS-MOS looked at Shion and said, "Kaerlos is correct. I requested an upgrade after observing Virgil's capabilities."

"That reminds me- I left him deactivated. If you'll excuse me..." Kaerlos said, walking toward the door. Shion stepped aside, and he walked back to his room, where he used his remote to reactivate Virgil.

Virgil sat up, snarling, "What's the big idea, throwing me in here like a broken puppet?! I bet you had a use for me in mind, right?"

Kaerlos nodded. "Yeah, I had a use, but I just made that use obsolete. I think I'll have you guard the ship."

Virgil glared. "Like I wouldn't do that already?"

Kaerlos ignored that and walked off to check on KOS-MOS, thinking, *Apparently I didn't get his shutdown right; he was still aware. I'm not going back to fix it, though. He probably wouldn't appreciate it.* He walked in as Shion was checking KOS-MOS' system parameters to find out what he'd changed. Or trying to, at least- KOS-MOS apparently wasn't cooperating.

"What's making you refuse me access?" Shion grumbled as she tried again.

"I am not doing it intentionally," KOS-MOS said.

"Oops. I had no idea that I might have blocked information output. Want me to fix that?" Kaerlos interjected. Shion jumped, but nodded. KOS-MOS laid back down on the table, and Kaerlos sorted through her systems until he found the main computer. He found that one of the cables was loose, so he tightened it and told Shion, "Try now."

Shion tried to check again and found that it worked. "It works now. Thanks. Whoa, impressive technology. How'd you get all this stuff to fit?"

Kaerlos sighed; he didn't usually like bragging. "I learned the technology of several highly advanced races. It took a while to learn nanotechnology, but I think it was worth it. Also, some of it I made up, but I tested what I made to make sure it worked correctly before applying it to her."

Shion had looked worried at the "made up" part, but relaxed when he mentioned testing it first. "So do you test new machines on their own?"

Kaerlos nodded, saying, "Alone, and in every combination I can think of." He seemed proud of himself for his thoroughness.

Shion blinked. "That had to take a while, then."

Kaerlos said, "Several days for every one. Why do you guys use pistols? You'd think you guys would use lasers or something."

"The human-sized offensive model isn't used very often yet, and it's pretty expensive. We've got several beam-type weapons for our A.G.W.S. though," Shion answered.

"Oh... What're Aygs?" Kaerlos asked.

Shion slapped herself in the face because she forgot that he came from an alternate Earth. Then she explained as much as she knew about A.G.W.S.

"So basically an A.G.W.S. is a giant motorized suit of armor?" Kaerlos asked when Shion was done.

"Well... sorta," Shion answered. "KOS-MOS gave me one after dinner yesterday. It's in the hangar."

"I don't think I'll check it out, since I think I saw one model just before I met you," Kaerlos said.

Things continued fairly normally after that, with only occasional incidents from Kaerlos, which were centered around KOS-MOS increasingly often, until the middle of their first gate jump.

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TGS S5: ...and after that, MAYHEM!

Kaerlos: And pandemonium!

TGSS5: Not necessarily. It could be a sort of orderly mayhem.

Kaerlos: Isn't that a contradiction?

TGSS5: Does it look like I care?

Kaerlos: Um... no?

TGSS5: You're right, I don't care! Useless fanfic factoid: Kaerlos was nervous around Shion because he was afraid she'd wreck his lab.

Kaerlos: I was not!

TGSS5: Ignore him. He just wants to kick someone's ass. And he will in the next chapter, The Super Saiyans!

Kaerlos: Hey, there's Buu! C'MERE SO I CAN KILL YOU! *chases Kid Buu here, there, and everywhere*

TGSS5: *whistles innocently, as if he has nothing to do with Buu showing up*