It has been roughly seventeen years since the coming of the jinzouningen. They came without warning and proved themselves to be fearless, ruthless, and entirely too powerful to control. In that span of seventeen years, they managed to annihilate almost the entire human population. This horrible tragedy is known as the "Jinzouningen Holocaust": an almost complete destruction of not only the Earth, but also its inhabitants by the malicious creations of Dr. Gero.
I have been living completely on my own for four years now; a long time by anyone's standards. In seeking revenge for the jinzouningen, I have taken to watching their every move in recording what I see in this very journal. While I have learned a great deal about the jinzouningen already, there is still much to learn.
Today I was observing the jinzouningen as usual, when their fighting got a little out of hand. Recently, the tension between the two has been almost overwhelming. I really feel that the fighting between Juunana-gou and Juuhachi-gou will eventually cause them to kill each other, but that speculation will have to be proved at a later time. Today they unfortunately came quite close to me and I was caught in the crossfire. Luck was definitely on my side however, because things didn't turn out the way I thought they would have....
----Tayhei’s journal; Vol 2: Page 1
Two voices echoed through the ruins of the city; one was a light feminine voice, and the other had the rich, deep tones of a male. Their voices bounced off of the broken down walls of buildings; it tumbled gently on the wind that fluttered lazily through the city, and blew through the silky, perfect hair of the two beings. They walked through the rubble nonchalantly as if they didn't even notice the destruction that they had caused. Behind them, a small trail of dust traveled slowly, running through the broken buildings and stirring up the shards of glass that lay harmlessly on the ground. They were walking slowly, without purpose and without reason. They were merely walking to be walking, viewing the world around them with uncaring and unconscious eyes.
They weren't talking about anything particular, really they never really did. More often than not, the topic of conversation revolved around video games or clothing; two things that normal teenagers actually would have talked about. Sometimes the topic of conversation was competition, for they were both arrogant and prideful. Seldom did they talk about personal things; these were things they did not know. They knew nothing of emotion, nothing of love or pain or regret. Nothing of personal interest resided in their minds. The most resounding thought was to kill. That was what they were here for. They had been created to kill. They knew little about their creation or why they had been chosen to become these weapons of mass destruction. Their creator had been killed in a moment of rebellion, for the hatred that they had for him was unlike anything they had ever known. With his death, a mystery remained that they would never be able to piece together: why them? Most people at some point in their lives could say that they knew what they had been placed on this Earth for; that they knew what destiny held in store for them and their lives. But the jinzouningen, they had nothing; no past, no hopes, no dreams. World domination was always the goal they held in their minds; but that goal had been accomplished easily, and now they were bored with the tasks that faced them each day.
Most would not believe that these two beings, who merely looked like normal teenagers, could be the ones that had destroyed the Earth. Small in size, what they lacked in height and weight, they made up in power. It was a frightening, overwhelming power. A power that shocked and terrified any that had a chance to see it. The jinzouningen however, seemed undaunted by the power they possessed and used it with ease and comfort. They were not only powerful fighters, but calculating fighters, using the intelligence and strategy that had been programmed into their minds. They taunted and played with their victims, letting them taste a fear that was perhaps worse than death before they perished.
Both of them were extremely beautiful, their every outside quality was perfect and un-scarred. They had matching ice blue eyes, almond-shaped and clear. Their hair was silky and clean and never seemed to fall out of place. Their skin was smooth, their teeth were straight, and their bodies were well-proportioned and flawless. On the inside though, the jinzouningen were hardly perfect. The evil that existed in their minds was horrifying and terrible: they craved excitement and fighting, seeking out innocent victims whenever they were bored. They were cruel, brutal, and harsh; never once over the entire course of their lives did they show mercy to anyone or anything. One could not begin to delve into the personality of these man made creatures, for no one, not even the jinzouningen themselves, knew the true person locked behind the machinery inside.
The two of them walked a few more feet, occupying themselves by glancing into the windows of broken buildings that once served an important purpose in the city. The female jinzouningen stopped to peer into the window of what was once a clothing store. One of the few human traits that still lived on in her mind was the love of shopping and money. Much like the teenage girl that she used to be, she still enjoyed to try on clothes and wear new outfits. She said something to the male and they both entered the clothing shop, not noticing that the door had been blasted off the hinges and was lying broken and splintered on the stairs.
Crouched behind a broken-down statue fountain, a young girl listened intently to everything they were saying to each other, taking a moment to write these things down in a battered notebook. She had been recording everything she could about the jinzouningen, even things that she thought might be insignificant or unimportant. She would never know what might help her in the end. They were often hard to follow because they moved fast and flew for very long amounts of time, but she always seemed to catch up with them eventually. She had never been caught by them either. She was careful and quiet and crept behind them at a safe distance, always unseen and unnoticed by their sharp eyes. She would never give up her pursuit, and she would always follow these twins of destruction. That was all her life consisted of now: she followed the jinzouningen, observed their actions, and recorded it all in her notebook.
She surveyed the destroyed city and found herself scowling. No building had been un-touched by them; every single place in the vicinity was smashed and crushed and destroyed. It looked as though a hurricane had swept through it all, tearing at the paint and blasting off walls and doors. The rubble and dust had been there for so long now that blades of grass were beginning to peek through the cement. Vicious, glinting shards of glass were everywhere, lying in wait along the long empty streets. The jinzouningen had caused so much damage in such a short period of time that it was almost unbelievable --- nothing on Earth was the way that it used to be. They had come quickly and destroyed everything in their path; they had taken every piece of happiness that the girl held in her heart and brutally smashed beneath their evil feet. It took every ounce of the girl’s willpower not to jump from her hiding place and attack the jinzouningen right at that very moment.
It had been four long years since the death of Yakosoku, her younger sister; four long years since she had left her still smoking, burning home intent on killing the evil twins. She had been young and impulsive then, grabbing a sword and building up her rage until she almost reached a boiling point. She had stopped herself, though. She managed to hold herself back when she saw the jinzouningen at a distance. She wasn’t even near them, but she could still feel their power. It seemed to surge out of their bodies like waves, brushing up against her heart in fear and warning. She was an intelligent girl, and at that moment, she realized that no matter how determined she was, she did not have the power or strength to defeat them. If she challenged them now, there would be yet another pointless death, something that she had worked so hard to abolish.
Her green eyes narrowed when she saw the jinzouningen coming out of the clothing store. With a steady hand, the girl made another note in the notebook she held in her hands, gently brushing her hair out of her eyes. The female jinzouningen was wearing new red boots and smirking. She stopped for a moment, bending down to brush the dust off of them and turned her heel back and forth, looking pleased with her new shoes. The male jinzouningen looked less-enthused and rather bored, taping his fingers on his crossed arms.
"How about some target practice Juuhachi?" The he inquired, eagerly crouching into a fighting position.
The female waved a dismissive hand at him and walked away. She was the mature one of the two; the typical older sister who would roll her eyes and smile condescendingly as her brother and his hoodlum friends played video games on the living room floor. She was the kind of sister that would spend hours tying up the phone, and hundreds of dollars on shopping sprees at the mall with her friends. If the two had never become androids, created killers for Earth's destruction, they might have ended up like that. Just two ordinary, stereotypical teenagers, searching for an identity for themselves, aching to be different from one another, but in retrospect, not that different at all. But unfortunately, that was not the case. These two had been transformed by a madman into weapons, and that was what they would always be. Maybe, they were still searching for identity. The girl behind the fountain couldn't help but feel sorry for them at times. They had lost everything in their lives, ironically enough, just like most of their victims. The life that they had before was a closed door in their memory, locked and hidden away by the cruelest of beings.
"Do what ever you want Juunana. I'm busy." She informed him and sat down on a nearby over turned telephone booth to admire her new boots again.
Juunana-gou scowled defiantly at her, then turned toward what was left of the ravaged city and lifted a hand. A bright streak of light shot through the air towards the tallest building in the vicinity --- one that had already been half-destroyed, and the girl shielded her eyes. The building crumpled to the ground as if it were made of paper, stirring up a thick cloud of dust in the process. A tremor ran through the ground, shaking the earth under the girl’s feet and rumbling through the air. As the cloud of dust hit her, she stifled a cough, knowing if she made any sound, the jinzouningen would find her. They were less than thirty feet away from her now. It was the closest she that she had ever dared to come near them, and their power was so incredible that it was almost tangible. It was easier to look at them from a distance; from far away, they didn't seem like the monsters that had destroyed Earth. Now that she was this close to them though, she could see clearly that they were in fact monsters, disguised with beautiful blue eyes and soft hair.
She remembered going to the movies with her parents as a child at the crowded cinema downtown. During the scariest part of the movie, the part when the monster appeared behind the hero, most of the children in the theater would scream and cover their eyes, but she forced herself to stand up to the fear and look the monster straight in the eye. That was how one dealt with fear; although she was just as terrified as all of the other children, she knew that she needed to be strong. Her father would soothe her softly, whispering in the darkness of the theater, explaining that the monster was merely a real person in a monster costume. At his words, she looked closer at this monster, looking for signs of zippers or other slipups that would reveal the real person underneath. It was the other way around with the jinzouningen; they were monsters trapped inside a real person costume.
Another burst of energy shot from Juunana-gou's hands, this time at the telephone booth that the female cyborg was sitting on. Surprise appeared in her blue eyes before she instantly flew into the air to avoid the attack. As soon as she was out of range, the telephone booth exploded, almost singeing her new boots as she sailed up into the air. Juuhachi-gou looked down at her brother, enraged. With a snarl, she threw a large ball of energy at Juunana-gou. He easily avoided it and smirked at her, gently smoothing his dark hair down on the sides.
"You could have killed me, you idiot! And you almost ruined my boots!" She accused.
He laughed at her anger, running a hand through his dark hair. "I was only having fun, Juuhachi. No need to be violent, eh?" He questioned.
He moved in front of the broken-down fountain that the girl sat behind and she flattened herself on the ground, her face almost buried in the wild grass that had grown over the pavement. She did not want to be spotted; the jinzouningen would kill her instantly if they knew that she was there. She could still them, barely as she looked up, but did not want to have a better view at the moment.
Juuhachi-gou followed him, her hands clenched at her sides and her ice blue eyes narrowed. "I should kill you for that. Asshole.”
Juunana-gou's expression suddenly turned serious and his ice blue eyes slid into a confidant glare. "Don't be stupid, Juuhachi. You know you could never beat me in battle."
"Don't make me laugh. I am more powerful than you will ever be." She declared. She placed her hands on her slim hips and smiled smugly at her brother.
He lightly jumped on top of the fountain, walking along the rim of it, his eyes never leaving Juuhachi-gou’s. He began to gather a large amount of energy between his palms, and it crackled and glowed brightly in the afternoon air. "We'll just see about that."
Just barely, the girl poked her head above the rim of the fountain, taking care not to be spotted by the jinzouningen. They seemed too involved in their fight to notice her anyway, but taking precautions was something that she always did. Especially when she was close to them, such as today. She watched them incredulously, hoping that they wouldn't get too physical and destroy the city even more than it had already been destroyed. She wearily eyed what remained of the buildings; they all appeared to be looming over her dangerously and there were sharp pieces of glass and metal everywhere. If the jinzouningen decided to fight here, it could be very hazardous for her to be here. If she was caught in the middle of a vicious fight, there would be nowhere for her to run.
Juuhachi-gou smirked and her ice blue eyes flashed at the possibility of a great battle. It wasn’t often that they got to fight anyone so strong as each other. There had been many great warriors in the past, but they were all gone now. The only one that ever fought the jinzouningen was actually a young boy with golden hair and jade eyes. The girl had seen him many times, but only for mere seconds. Usually whenever the golden-haired warrior appeared, it meant that the jinzouningen were going to be very vicious and cause a lot of destruction. As someone who could not do much to protect herself, she did not want to get caught in the fray. She ran whenever this boy appeared, knowing that she needed to get away as soon as possible to avoid injury or death. Today she did not have a choice, however. The jinzouningen were beginning their fight and she was caught in the middle without any chance of escaping. The only thing that she could do was crouch down and pray that nothing hit her or landed on her.
"Bring it on!" The female jinzouningen commanded.
Juunana-gou threw the energy and she dodged it easily, stepping to the side. In her own hands, she created a large, glowing disk and tossed it at him forcefully. He flew straight up into the air avoiding the attack, but the disk continued towards the fountain at an alarming speed.
The girl’s eyes widened at the sight, and she fell to the ground again, covering her head. No explosion came however, and after a moment she lifted her head and looked to see what had happened. It appeared as though the disk had turned straight up and followed Juunana-gou, instead of staying on its course. She looked up, her eyes following the male jinzouningen, and saw that both of them were fighting brutally in the air. She watched their fighting in amazement, completely transfixed by the sheer brilliance of it. Their power levels nearly matched, so they had to use intelligence, strategy, and speed to better each other. Their movements were so amazingly quick that she could barely see their attacks, just blurs of darkness and light. All around her she could hear the sound of the explosions, and as something came crashing down on the fountain, she let out a muffled scream, and covered herself. Chunks of cement flew past her head, along with fire and smoke and sparks. She began to feel tremors in the ground beneath her again; it shook the ground so hard that it seemed to move back and forth under her like waves.
Laying there, she made a quick decision. There were two alternatives at the moment: if she stayed here and hid, she would surely die. And if she ran now, they might spot her and kill her anyway, but there was a good chance that they wouldn’t, also. She stared up at the two and noted that they were too absorbed in their fight to notice her, which was a good thing because she need to get out of the city right away. Without a look back, she scrambled to her feet and started to run away from the city, her heart rate quickening.
Wild blasts and debris landed in the ground in front of her and to the sides, exploding nearby buildings with such a burning intensity that goose bumps appeared on the girl’s arms. She ran in no particular direction, only hoping to get away and to get away as quickly as possible. She jumped over chunks of cement, skipped over tangled electric wires, and skidded to a halt as yet another building crumpled before her and smoke and fire spread all over the area. She covered her mouth, not wanting to inhale the sharp scent of the smoke and ran in the other direction. Her heartbeat was absolutely racing, and she didn’t even look up to see the jinzouningen, no longer even cared about them anymore. She still clutched the notebook tightly in her arms; it was her most precious possession, and she would never abandon it to be destroyed in the city. It would have been easier to have full use of both of her hands, but she refused to leave it behind.
With a loud boom that rocked the ground beneath her feet, the building directly in front of her exploded. It was made entirely out of glass, and as the building shattered, shards of glass flew at her so quickly she didn't even have time to cover her face. She dove at the ground, but still felt the pain of an un-countable number of cuts slicing into her skin. The earth shifted again and she was thrown to the side, smashing into a wall as rocks and pieces of debris came flying at her once more. She covered her head and curled up as tightly as she could, crying out in pain as everything slammed into her, shoving her against the wall once more. The fighting above intensified and the blasts become more and more brutal until it seemed as if the entire earth was shaking and rolling beneath her with the power of the jinzouningen. Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou angrily attacked each other, their kicks and punches growing more violent with every second.
Everything blurred before the girl’s eyes, and the explosions seemed to happen in slow motion. Everything was muted and quiet now and she could no longer hear the booming of the explosions, the crackling of the fire, or the roar of the ground shaking beneath her feet. It all floated around her pleasantly and calmly, as if she were watching a movie and it this was not actually happening to her. Vaguely, she realized that she would most likely bleed to death if they didn't stop fighting, because she wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding from all of her cuts. She laid her head on the shaking ground, ignoring the destruction being caused around her, and she began to faint.
In the blurry haze of semi-consciousness, she saw a warrior attack the jinzouningen with vicious intensity, flying out of nowhere. She could see nothing about him but the fact that he had bright golden hair and unwavering jade eyes. Dreamily, she stared up as he fought the artificial humans, breaking up the fight between the two of them and forcing them to fight together against him. She did not know much about this golden-warrior, only that he was certainly an angel, a protector. He had to be sent from Kami himself --- though he no longer existed --- to end the suffering in this world. Not sure if she was still dreaming or not, she saw a flash of his face, followed quickly by a brush of metal sword.
For some unknown reason, she was instantly filled with relief at the sight of him. It probably meant more danger for her, since their fights were often very violent and destructive, but she didn’t care anymore. She would rather have this golden warrior fight, filled with the hope that this might be the last fight --- that this might be the end of the jinzouningen. Besides, she liked the boy. A crush, reminiscent of her junior high school days accompanied his appearances, and she often found herself dreaming of him when her dreams weren't occupied by nightmares of the jinzouningen.
Then the noise and explosions around her seemed to softly fade into the background as she fainted.
Trunks attacked the jinzouningen viciously. There was no other way to attack such creatures; he had to strike hard and fast or else they would use his mercy and his hesitance against him. He struck the female in the stomach, causing her to fall several feet before she caught herself and flew back up to him. Juunana-gou fiercely kicked at him and he phased to avoid the hit, moving quickly to the side. Juuhachi-gou was quicker unfortunately, and was waiting for him with a ready fist. She nailed him in the gut, and he doubled over, losing his breath. She gave a satisfied smirk and narrowed her ice blue eyes at him. He hated it when they ganged up on him like this. If he ever had the chance to fight just one of them alone, he might actually have somewhat of a chance, but when they fought together --- it was impossible. Trunks inhaled fitfully, trying to catch his breath. For the moment, the jinzouningen had halted their attack and were merely waiting for his breath to return.
Funny how they could be so civil at times.
He had heard them argue over his fate before while he was barely in consciousness in smooth, educated voices. They wanted to kill him and they surely could, but because they had already killed everyone and everything, they were bored. They kept him around for the sole purpose of amusing themselves with a good fight once and awhile. They weren't all together rough, wild, saliva spewing lunatics, but intelligent, resourceful beings, willing and ready to carry out any act of malice that appeared in their minds. And now, they waited silently, frozen in their motions for his breath to return. They wanted a strong, breathing opponent to fight; otherwise fighting grew tiresome and boring to them.
They hadn't noticed his approach, for they were too busy fighting against each other. He had taken that to his advantage and managed to surprise them for once, sneaking up on them from behind with his sword aimed straight for their throats. Now that he had shown himself however, they unified once more and turned their anger on him. He closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply, ready to fight again.
He wasn't ready for the next attack and found himself surprisingly open to it. The female jinzouningen had sprung at him with such speed that he never saw her leave her former spot in the air. As quickly as he possibly could, he lunged to the right, and a boot shot past his left shoulder; her other foot followed with a kick to the right, and this time he wasn't prepared for it. She kicked him squarely on the right side of his head, and he gasped in pain, his head spinning. Juuhachi-gou grinned and nodded at her brother. Trunks whirled around to see Juunana-gou, then felt strong arms circle around his head, locking it in place. The male cyborg had him in a headlock and was slightly increasing the hold, crushing the young warrior's head. Trunks grunted through his clenched teeth and struggled to free himself. Both cyborgs laughed at his attempts, and he glanced up to find Juuhachi-gou staring at him right in his eyes. She said nothing, simply stared with those cold blue eyes.
Her eyes had witnessed more death and destruction than he cared to imagine. How many had stared into those eyes and begged for mercy? How many had fallen dead to the ground under her watchful eyes, their memories and lives to be erased forever? The jinzouningen had killed an enormous amount of people. He wondered if maybe someday, all the pain of her victims would grow to haunt her in her sleep. Trunks knew if he had witnessed so much death and carnage by his own hand, he would never be able to live with himself. The jinzouningen were different though, and he was pretty sure that they weren’t capable of feeling things like guilt and sadness. The female jinzouningen probably slept peacefully with a smile on her face, counting her kills instead of sheep.
He didn't see her move, but felt the pain as her fists slammed into his stomach, completely knocking the wind out of him. Juunana-gou chose that moment to increase his hold on Trunks's head, and he became dizzy from the pressure. Juuhachi-gou continued to throw her fists into his stomach, alternating them and kicking occasionally, and Trunks began to feel sick. He felt his eyes roll back, then steadied himself once more. Slowly, he brought his hands up to clutch Juunana-gou's arms and struggled to be released. Juuhachi-gou's hits ceased, and she drew back to look at her brother.
The jinzouningen spoke to each other, their words appearing slow and mixed up in Trunks's head. Desperately, he tried to summon his power again, at least enough to break free. He could tell that he was no longer Super Saiya-jin; he was weaker and slower and his lavender hair was falling into his face to confirm the fact. He couldn’t find his power or gain his strength back. He couldn’t do anything except for pathetically struggle against the jinzouningen’s grasp. He felt Juunana-gou loosen his grip slightly, and heard them speak to each other once more. In slow motion, the male cyborg let him go, and relief filled his lungs as he took a deep breath. He dangled precariously for a moment from the arm of the cyborg, too weak to attack, or even fly. Very slowly in Trunks's eyes, Juunana-gou released him and let him fall. Both cyborgs waved lightly with matching smirks as he hurtled to the ground.
It felt like he fell for a very long time, dizzily enjoying the feeling of cool air rushing up against his back. When he finally landed on the ground, he hit with a resounding boom and the buildings, or what was left of the buildings, shook and rumbled. A huge cloud of dust blew up around him, shading everything from view and clogging his already battered lungs. The impact was not as painful as he expected, but he did manage to crack the pavement in his fall. He carefully flipped over onto his back and stared back up at the sky, through the receding cloud of dust. The jinzouningen were gone.
"Cowards...." He growled under his breath. With the last bit of strength he could muster, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a senzu bean. There were not many of them left, so he had to use them very wisely. He could tell, however that many of his bones were broken and he didn’t think that he would be able to make it back home unless he used one of them now. He let it roll around in his palm a moment before popping it into is mouth and chewing slowly. The effect was fast, and he felt the bones and bruises on his body heal quickly. He took a deep breath to make sure his lungs were in good condition, and then sat up from the ground, shaking the rubble from his hair. He was still a bit shaky from the battle, but after fighting them almost every day for so many years, he had finally gotten used to defeat.
The city was deadly quiet now that the fighting had stopped, and the only sound was the occasional falling of some broken piece of building or the dripping of a broken water pipe. Fires were burning all over the place and the smoke was thick. It drained into his lungs and made him cough, covering his mouth as he stepped through the rubble. He scowled in disgust at what the city had become. It had been so beautiful and populated in the pictures and videos that his mom had shared with him before. And all because of the jinzouningen, it was lost.
A glint of metal nearby attracted his attention, and he stood tall in order to get a better look. A sword, or rather, the top of a sword was projecting from a pile of wreckage nearby. With a confused glance back, he assured himself that his sword was already strapped to his own back. He walked hesitantly to the sword, and moved the debris from under it.
He stared.
A girl, no older than himself, lay unconscious, maybe dead beneath the rubble. She was bruised and cut so badly that he couldn't even determine what her face looked like. Blood had stained the front of her shirt, dying it a familiar crimson color. Her limbs were twisted in very unnatural positions, and he thought he could actually see a bit of bone protruding from her arm.
Of course, he had seen it before: the corpses of the jinzouningen’s victims. They were scattered everywhere and anywhere with no living family members to bury them, but this time it was different. This wasn’t an old corpse --- the blood was fresh and bright and though he couldn’t imagine an explanation for it, it appeared that she had been involved in this very battle. She reminded him of his mother a little, how helpless she always looked while she was sleeping, how vulnerable she was to attacks from Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou. And mixed in there somewhere was a little of his father too, pride in the way her tiny fists were still clenched onto a battered notebook. Exactly what it was, he didn’t really know, but he did know one thing for sure: he didn’t want this girl to die.
Frightened, he reached down and felt for her pulse. It was there, but faint and rather unsteady. Moving the dirt and bricks aside, he picked her up easily and put one arm under her knees. The other arm fell behind her shoulders, and he lifted her into the air. If she wanted to remain alive, she did not have much time left. The bleeding had to be stopped, and her heart rate had to get back to normal. He flew in the direction of the underground city, knowing that he might never make it in time.
