…

Barren Wasteland, Outskirts of West City Ruins

Two Years After The Arrival Of The Androids

Ducking down, he dashed forward and smashed his elbow into the ribcage of the figure ahead of him; his body immediately twisting to double around his target, where he jumped into the air and delivered a powerful knee strike along the spine of his victim. He hadn't let out a single groan or grunt, but his breathing was slightly labored, and he knew even his impressive stamina would give way if the fight didn't end. Raising his lone arm in the direction of his opponent, he focused a burst of energy and let loose a volley of blasts, his mind filled with the mal-intention of ending them. The effort took a fair toll on his body, but it was worth the cost for him.

"Masenko!" he shouted, the volley growing in size and speed as the yellow hue paled into a near-white stream. He could hear the cries and yells that came from the other fighter, but he merely ignored it and pressed on the assault. The field around them, which had already been reduced to rubble, vanished among the growing cloud of dust and debris; chunks of stone and dirt flying across all directions in the heat of the attack. "Masenko!" he shouted, clenching his hand into a hard fist.

The stream of energy blasts paused for a mere second, before a powerful orb shot from his limb, causing the ground to crumble and crack beneath its path. From there, he couldn't make out or hear anything that happened, as the air pressure dropped and temperature sky-rocketed. He never lowered his hand, until a minute after the slaughter that he had labeled an attack. Once he did, he coughed and let out an eventual sigh, gasping as his body registered the strain of his actions.

"Much better job, boy. However, you're still nowhere near powerful enough. You shouldn't have stopped your attack." stated a sharp voice behind him, causing him to widen his eyes before a pain rang across his head and a hand pressed to his back. "You're still unfit to call yourself a Saiyan, and much less to fight the androids." they added, before he was sent flying forward into the side of a large boulder.

"H-How? I put everything…everything I had, into the attack…" he murmured, groaning as the debris slid off his body and fell to the ground around him. He had to force his aching muscles to move, as he pushed off whatever remained of the rock. Ahead of him, landed the form of a spiky-haired man, much older than him. The lone feature that stood above anything else, was the vast widow's peak that rose along his brow, and gave way to the vast mountain of blond hair. The aura that encompassed him crackled and flared with each breath, and he knew his opponent was at least short of breath.

"Well, it seems you didn't quite put in enough to harm me. That's the same type of audacity that served your father little good, when he fought his enemies. Had it not been for his sheer will of showing mercy to those too weak to deserve it, he would have killed off the fool that created the androids, and none of this would have ever happened. Now, get up! It's time to continue your lesson! We are the last of a proud warrior race, and I will not have the only other remaining survivor make a mockery of the power that we hold!" they snapped, lifting their leg to kick him across the stone-filled ground. Gohan coughed from the pain that shot into his abdomen, but placed a palm down as he lifted himself from the dirt. Regardless of how cold and ruthless his mentor was, Vegeta was his only chance to grow stronger. With everybody dead, he was his last chance to grow strong enough to thwart those monsters.

"...stronger, I need to grow…stronger." he hissed, as his shoulders cried in agony; the earlier effort having deprived him of what energy he had left.

"Good, so you do see what is important. Strength is the only things that matters in this world, where the strong survive and rule over the weak. Get up and fight! Laying about like come simple coward will get you nowhere, and neither will mercy!" replied Vegeta, as the Saiyan Prince roughly grabbed Gohan by the scruff of his torn gi with a single hand. With the other, he slapped the boy twice, before tossing him aside.

Gohan landed with a painful thud, but punched the ground as he looked back to the man that was training him. He could do nothing to stop the anger boiling over inside his chest, nor did he care to control it, as the rage bubbled into his mind and took over. With everybody else gone, the only fighter to teach him was the Saiyan, who spent more time insulting and berating him than actually mentoring him. It tore at his heart, and he didn't want to feel any peace towards him, anymore. He wanted them to all suffer; Vegeta and the androids alike.

If he had to suffer this humiliation, than so would the world.

That was where he finally snapped, and for the first time in his life, he felt the wave of power and anger wash over him. His senses went deaf, but he could feel his lungs burn as he let out a primal scream; a golden aura surround his body, and the feeling of invincibility fill his mind.

He felt alive, finally.

…

Capsule Corp, West City

Ten Years After The Arrival of The Androids

It was still deep into the early hours of the morning, as Gohan lifted his body up once more, grunting as the muscle fibers in his chest throbbed from the strain. The sweat built along his forehead was dripping onto the tiled floor of the training chamber, and he could practically hear the echoing of the droplets in the silence that filled the room. Despite the hours he placed each day into growing stronger, he could never fully grow accustomed to the heightened gravity. It had been almost a year, yet he couldn't find the strength to break the plateau that firmly planted an impenetrable wall in his growth. It was frustrating beyond belief, even if it gave him the proper tools to motivate him.

No matter what, he had to break that shell, if he wanted the androids gone for good.

"...four-hundred ninety-eight…four-hundred ninety-nine…and…five-hundred!" he hissed, as his nose touched the ground, pushing up his torso until his arms were fully extended. With as much force as he could muster in his exhausted state, he shot into the air, just enough to backflip his way across the chamber. Each landing left a loud thump, to which he gave no attention, as the struggle to move became increasingly difficult. He still had another hour left in his schedule, before the training session was to be over, but the dilation of three-hundred times of Earth's gravity was now eating at his very core. Any longer, as he knew he'd only be wasting energy rather than progressing.

"This isn't…what I'm used to…but it's a start." he sighed, stepping slowly to the control console; he clicked a few buttons on the screen and swiped a few options on the menu that presented itself. With a heavy sense of relief, he felt the atmosphere soften, before gravity reverted to the standard amount. Crossing his arms in thought, he winced as the soreness in his chest returned, and he quickly brought them back down to his sides. He'd likely need to take a day or two for rest, but as it stood, he wouldn't be able to much beyond that. It made him feel useless, so a senzu bean was in order to recover to full power.

After that, he'd go and find the android.

"You seem to be in a much better mood." stated an older woman, as she stood by the hallway to greet him just outside the entrance to the chamber. While at first glance he would have mistaken her for an average person, the soft blue hair that ran along her otherwise gradually aging features erased that prospect in addition to her lab coat. He ignored her, and instead turned the corner to evade any communication with her. "…but not good enough, it seems." she huffed, following after the young Saiyan. He cursed silently, but made no effort to openly acknowledge her presence. That feat only lasted for a few moments, before his will caved in.

"What do you want? If it's the same subject as before, I already gave you an answer that I refuse to change. No." he stated curtly, his tone cold and brisk. The female eyed him warily, but she continued stepping alongside him. She wasn't sure how to open up a conversation given his prior comment, but she was also determined to not allow him to escape her this time around.

"And I already told you, I refuse to accept that answer. I never once indicated that you'd have a choice in the matter, Gohan." she replied finally, choosing to simply fall back on a sheer stubborn attitude. She could practically hear the man scowl, and she instinctively reached out for his lone arm. Gripping his wrist tightly, she tensed her body as he attempted to break free from her grasp; the floor beneath him cracked and she sensed his power flare up for a brief second. "You're not dodging me this time around, not until we can come to a compromise. You know perfectly well that you can't fight her, even if you are much closer to her in power, she's still a noticeable amount distance ahead of you. You can't be like Vegeta was."

"Than why do you even seek me out, if you seem to know everything? I have matters to attend, and if you refuse to help me out, than I refuse to offer my aid!" he snapped, gritting his teeth as his anger spiked, and his arm was wrenched free from the woman's grip. It caught her by surprise, but a smile crept along her face, as she clenched her now free hand; that brief moment of rage had given her a glimpse into the incentive he had to help the world. Yet she knew his question referred to an earlier argument they had.

"Because as the only person who can complete the time machine, I ha-"

"Yeah, I heard that already. As a Brief, you have a personal vow to stay away from mortal matters and other such nonsense due to your higher intellect. Well, as Gohan, I have a personal vow to protect the people of Earth, which I cannot do with you constantly nagging at me!" he retorted dryly, much to her chagrin. Unfortunately, despite the possibilities the boy held, he also retained a hard-headed attitude. Perhaps she should never have agreed to Vegeta training him.

"I will not be involved in something so small and unimportant, when I have a much larger threat to worry about. You're my best hope for this situation, yet your current attitude derails you from what you could be!"

Gohan bit his tongue to stop himself from lashing out at the woman, but he sighed in defeat and shook his head weakly. He waved her off and continued on his way out. He didn't want to spend another second talking with her. If she wouldn't help him, he wouldn't help her. He had better things to do.

"I have an Android to fight." he grunted, more to himself than to anybody. He knew he wasn't ready for them, but he would rather take them head on in a suicide battle, than have to forced to deal with her attitude. Even with Seventeen gone for the time being, Gohan could never tell when he'd return, if he even did. His job may have been reduced by half, but that still left him with Eighteen to contend with. He'd fetch a senzu bean, and than he'd be off to find the machine.

Now, she would finally pay.

Bulma, however, sighed in defeat as she walked just behind him to the main exit; she preferred that he didn't die in some ill-conceived duel. In hindsight, perhaps it was his heritage, that had her convinced the boy was the only hope she had left to stop the androids. She was dragged out of her thoughts, when she bumped into the frozen form of the young man, who had come to an abrupt halt. She couldn't see what he was doing from behind, but she could almost hear the beating of his heart, as she walked around him to see an expression of shock and something bordering the lines of fear.

"Gohan? Are…are you okay?" she asked, before the half-Saiyan pushed past her.

"...get to hiding. Don't come back out unless I return, and if I don't, than it's safe to presume I'm dead." he replied. Whatever he sense, he could pick a massive power stemming from the direction of Ginger City, and not since Frieza terrorized him as a young boy, did that that same degree of fear overthrow his thoughts.

…

Ginger City, North of West City

"He's not here, either…" she whispered to herself, as she cleared out the last remaining building of the city. It had been almost a month that Seventeen had been taken by that thing, and she was no closer to locating him. Given that Gero had never fitted them with sensor relays as he had some models, she was essentially blind in her search. Luckily, she was in no rush against time with her cybernetic augmentations, but that only irritated her further as each moment passed without her annoying idiot of a brother. She had already cleaned out Ginger City, Pepper Town, and some of the islands to the south of the mainland. "Where could they have taken him? If he did die, there would have been an explosion due to his power core terminating." she mumbled, before shaking her head.

It wouldn't help to spend time pondering the details, so she'd be better off returning to their shared home. If she knew her luck, at any given moment something would happen to further sidetrack her objectives.

"Still no luck, child?" asked a voice, forcing Eighteen to curse to herself. For the past few weeks, this woman had pestered and hounded her like some tracking machine, and never once left her a day in peace. She knew that the timing was coincidental to Seventeen's kidnapping, but she was keen to avoid further testing the woman's powers after their first encounter. Eighteen could swear she still felt the pain in her shoulders.

"What do you want? You already received my answer, didn't you? If you're refusing to give me my brother's location, than you won't receive anything from me." she answered, not even glancing in the Kai's direction. She didn't care if the world was actually ending; if Seventeen wasn't with her, than the filthy planet wasn't worth saving. "Or did you change your mind?"

East Kai took in a deep breath, and rubbed her temples, as she tried to calm her own nerves.

"I swear, you and that Saiyan boy will be so alike, that it's almost terrifying." she replied, as Eighteen raised an eyebrow, but gave a cold and distant laugh. She crossed her arms just below her chest and brought up a hand to tuck a side of her hair behind her ear. "What do you find so funny?" asked the Kai, much to Eighteen's amusement.

"You couldn't get my aid, so you plan on running off to Gohan with your tail tucked between your legs like a beaten animal."

It didn't take but an instant, that Eighteen's laughter was cut off and replaced by a gag of pain as the Kai slammed her knee into the blonde's abdomen. Eighteen's arms were quickly twisted behind her back, and she was brought down to the earth beneath them with incredible force. The Kai didn't offer her a moment to recover, when she grabbed by the ankles and tossed her back into the air; leaping above her rising form and bring down both hands in a hammer-like fashion. Eighteen could nothing more than gurgle a response, as her body collided with the ground and formed a much larger crater.

"Learn to respect those above your status." stated the Kai, as she ran a hand across her white hair, her foot now placed firmly atop the android's head to further deepen the insult. She wasn't a fan of fighting, but if it was required, she wasn't above splitting a few skulls and dropping a few bodies. She'd given the girl more than enough chances to willingly come with her; if she refused to see reason to look past her selfish wishes, than she'd take matter into her own hands. "If you and the boy won't see things my way, than I'll force you two to come with me."

"Is that so? Because if she wasn't willing to tag along, I doubt I'll be much more inclined." interject Gohan's voice, as the Kai felt a hand plant itself firmly along her spine. With a small huff, she felt a blast of ki send her flying away, her vision catching a glimpse of Gohan landing just a few meters shy of Eighteen's form.

Would she honestly have to contend with the two of them? Perhaps now she'd get a better view of their powers?

"Get your hands off of me!" snapped the blonde, as she panted for air, the wind having been knocked out of her body. She swatted the Saiyan's hands away, but he merely gripped her tighter. Had it not been for the strange look of determination on his face, she would have pried his fingers off her arms. "What do you want now!? If you couldn't tell, I'm quite busy!" she hissed, as Gohan pushed her back.

"I can see that much, with how well you were handling yourself just a few seconds ago! But that's not what I'm here for, at least for now." he replied with a cold tone, straightening himself up as he turned to look in the direction that the figure had been sent flying.

"She keeps repeating some nonsense about the world being in grave danger, and that she needs our help…but I'm not doing anything for these disgusting people, and I'm certainly not going to post-pone my plans on locating my brother." she explained, narrowing her eyes at him, as she dusted off her a deep scowl. "These were my favorite clothes, and Seventeen blew up the last shop I knew to have them a while back…now I may actually have to go with those hideous boots he got me." she added, reaching down to run her fingers across the singed flats she wore. The leggings were burnt at parts, and ripped in others; her denim jacket loose at one shoulder, as the attacks had managed to tear the the material. She scowled, but removed her jacket to throw it away. It wouldn't do much good now, anyway.

"...as much as I hate to say this, I can say you're no longer my concern. Whatever power you and your brother hold, is nothing in contrast to her." he admitted, drawing closer attention to the smoking pile of rubble that covered the body of the new being. He could catch glimpses of the edges of a pink outfit, which seemed rather regal for any traditional Earth fashion. "How do you know her? Where is she from?"

"Well, if she had been an android, she would be one that my databases are missing. However, no, she claimed to be some form of aline; a Kai. Now, if that's the actual truth, I wouldn't know." she answered, as she watched Gohan power into his so-called Super Saiyan form. She frowned softly, but scoffed at the imagery. "Pointless transformations."

"Alien or not, I know damn well that she's far too powerful for either of us. Given you likely have a record of what happened between my father and Piccolo, when Raditz arrived…you should know where this may very well be leading."

Eighteen paused, and gave the man a strange look, before cursing loudly. She couldn't help but pick up the similarities, and when she took the time to look at the situation unfolding, she could certainly see it. That didn't mean she'd be a fan of openly acknowledging that he was right.

"...and what are you proposing? That you hold her down, while I pierce both of your chests with an attack?" she asked calmly, her eyes no locking onto the moving form of the Kai. "Because if you manage to do so, than I'll happily accept your idea."

"Don't get your hopes up, because I don't plan on abandoning this planet to the likes of you and your brother. I'm only saying we do this together to get rid of her, and than we go back to me killing you." he answered; his hatred for the former human being was nowhere close to the fear he had for what this new entity could bring.

"So be it, I can tolerate your monkey brain for at least this much, if it gets her off my back. Just don't get in my way."

Closing his eyes, Gohan released the familiar rage in his chest, and grunted softly as it enveloped him in the golden aura he was now accustomed to; his months training having given him the idea to master his heightened state. Without the loss in stamina, he'd have a much easier time fighting over extended periods. Now, he was glad he had the idea.

"Take her from the back, I'll take her with a frontal attack. If you see me charging up an attack, than buy me time and do you best to keep her occupied." he explained, as Eighteen nodded silently. She got the basic plan, and had no issue with it, save for the part of being used as a decoy.

"Fine, but if any of your attacks hit me, I'll have your head."

"Don't flatter yourself with false ideas of my non-existent inferiority." grunted Gohan, as they each shot off into flight. They were both ready to battle, and for once, Gohan had to swallow his pride to join forces with a murderous machine. It was demeaning.

Suddenly, he wondered if this was similar to what Vegeta had often felt like around people.

…

Author's Notes

I'd like to make this section relatively short and direct, as I prefer the readers enjoy the story and not some drawn-out monologue of mine. I tend be rather blunt with my thoughts and actions, as you'll eventually see in my summaries.

For those of you who enjoyed the chapter, I hope you'll return for when I have an update in the coming weeks! I welcome all your opinions and comments regarding what you liked, and what you believe could add to my experience as a writer.

For those of you who didn't like the story, or certain elements, I also welcome your thoughts on what I could do to improve my writing, or perhaps even what ideas I could keep in mind for future additions to the plot.

Hope you all have a great day/night, and stay safe!