For those of you who have read episode 1, I'm sorry I had to delete, but I had to upload this again in order to get all the completed chapters.
The Scrapes of Android 17
Episode 1: The Craft Fair
Krillin, Android 18, their daughter Marron, and 18's brother, Android 17, were all at a craft fair. Marron was happy that all four of them were out together. 18 was glad to go somewhere where good quality stuff could be bought. Krillin was happy that his wife was happy, but as for 17, he was not happy: his niece kept tugging at his jeans and begging him to carry her, he was bored rigid of 18 buying things that he didn't think were necessary, and worst of all he didn't even want to be here! His sister had forced him to come with them! Why? Because Marron wanted him to come, that's why! Still, it did make a change from scouting the forest for poachers. That had become rather boring in recent months, mainly because so few poachers had been found, but partly because any of them who were found just instantly surrendered, no fight, no resistance, no nothing. He sighed and noticed his niece was still pulling at the leg of his jeans. He tried to smile at her and said: "What do you want, Marron?"
"Carry me, Uncle 17! Carry me!" Marron piped cheerfully, waving her arms at him in a bid to get him to do as she asked. 17 sighed again. He didn't want to make the kid unhappy. After all, if 18 found out he'd made her daughter cry, he'd be up the creek! He bent down and picked her up. She wasn't a very heavy child, but boy, did she wriggle around! How 18 put up with it he'd never understand. Just then, Marron spotted a hot dog van. She pointed to it eagerly and said: "I'm hungry. Will you get me a hot dog?"
17 shook his head: "Sorry, kid. I don't have any money"
Marron sighed and gave him the sad eyes: "pleeeease?" she begged
"Look, Marron. I know you're hungry, but I don't have money so I can't buy you a hot dog. Why don't we wait until your mother's done shopping? Then she can buy you a hot dog" he replied, trying to be as cheerful as possible
"Mama doesn't let me eat hot dogs. She says I need to eat veggies in order to grow big n' strong"
"I see. We've got a problem then" he sighed again. Suddenly his bright blue eyes lit up as a cunning idea occurred to him. A smile spread across his countenance. Marron cocked her head and looked at her uncle inquisitively
"Why are smiling like that, Uncle 17?" she asked
"I've had an idea" he said, still grinning. He leant forward and whispered into Marron's ear.
The hot dog vendor did not notice a little girl with blonde pigtails in his van. He was too busy serving an equally dim customer that neither of them noticed. Suddenly the vendor felt something against his leg and looked down. He saw a little girl, he looked suspiciously at her
"Hi" she said shyly "I'm Marron"
The vendor smiled: "Aw, you look cute, kid, but you shouldn't be in here. Did you get lost?" he asked
Marron nodded, the vendor smiled again and picked her up. He then went out of the back door of his van to see a raven-haired, blue-eyed short young man standing by the side of his van. He looked at him and asked: "Hey, this kid yours?"
17 looked at Marron and winked at her. She understood and winked back. He then proceeded to answer the man's question: "No, I've never seen her before." he answered hollowly "Maybe you should try someone with blonde hair, that way you'll at least be following genetic coding"
The vendor shrugged and left to look for whoever he thought could be Marron's parents. Little did he know the mischievous Android had taken the keys to his van! He smiled, thumbed his nose at the vendor, and then sneaked into the van, shutting the door and placing the key in the ignition! The vendor heard the engine revving up and ran frantically towards the vehicle calling out to 17 to stop! 17 refused and began to press down on the accelerator. Much to his disappointment the damn thing only went at the fastest of 20 miles an hour. The vendor, still holding on to Marron, had almost caught up with the van. 17 outstretched his arm and pulled Marron into the van with him. This caused the vendor to pass out at what happened. The two of them were beside themselves with glee at the prank they'd pulled together!
18 and Krillin were busy looking at a stall with a pretty little hooded cardigan. 18 looked at her husband and said: "Let's get it for Marron. She'd look lovely in it"
Krillin scratched his head: "I don't know, green and blue stripes? That's a little vibrant for Marron, don't you think?" he was about to go on before he heard a noise coming towards them. 18 turned round to see a hot dog van going as fast as it could towards them. Suddenly it did a funny turn and perfectly parallel parked. The window rolled down and both of them were surprised to see 17 at the wheel, grinning away. But what was even sillier was their daughter munching away on a hot dog next to him!
"Hi, Daddy! Hi, Mama!" Marron cooed with her mouthful
The jaws of the couple dropped. 17 winked and said: "Hot dogs, anyone?"
Episode 2: The Café
18 sat with a latte in her hand as she scowled across the table at her brother, who sat opposite her, staring blankly at his lemonade. Suddenly the silence was broken by 18 who said: "What did you mean by that childish incident at the craft fair yesterday?"
17 sighed and answered: "Come on, sis, I was doing your kid a favour. All she wanted was a hot dog and I was flat broke!"
"You did more than a favour. You've turned into a bad influence on Marron. Still, I suppose it proves you haven't changed at all. You're still just an overgrown kid deep down" 17 slammed his fist down on the table when he heard that
"I resent that, 18!" he snapped
"Why are you drinking lemonade then?" his sister taunted "Why don't you drink coffee like grown-ups do, hm?"
"Stop it! You want me to drink coffee! Fine! I'll drink coffee, but don't blame me if I get hyper!" he yelled. He went up to the counter: "espresso, please"
"2 zeni" the barista said. The Android payed the two zeni and then went back to the table when the espresso was ready. 18 had gone. She must just be doing her make-up in the restroom or something. He sat down and decided to wait. After about 30 seconds, he was wondering where his sister was. Then he noticed the cup of coffee was still in his hand, he shrugged and figured it would be rude not to at least try it. He took a sip, his eyes bulged at the taste of the concoction so much that he spat the coffee out…ALL OVER 18'S NEW HANDBAG! 17's face went pale as he saw the bejewelled leather handbag dripping with coffee!
'Oh, no! Not good! 18's gonna kill me!' he thought to himself 'what to do? What to do? Oh, I know!' he snapped his fingers and quickly got a napkin and wiped the stains off. This plan would have been fool proof had some of the little gems not come off with the stain into the paper! He growled through gritted teeth when he realized this had happened: "You've got to be kidding me!" he grunted. What could he do now? There had to be a better way of getting the stain off the leather bag. Suddenly, he had another idea and peeped inside the bag, he saw a little bottle with the word "remover" printed on it. "Yes!" he cheered quietly to himself "Stain remover!" and with that he pulled the bottle out, unscrewed the lid and threw the contents all over the bag. He then got another napkin and began to mop everything up. Unfortunately the gems were still falling from the bag, and the wet patch looked bigger now! Something was wrong. Suddenly, 17 noticed that some of the label was peeled forward. He peeled it back to see to his horror the full description: make-up remover! He sighed: "Really?!"
He grunted and was determined to find some stain remover in 18's soaking bag. "Come on, come on!" He snarled "It has to be in here!" just then he noticed something creamy on the sleeve of his shirt. He looked on the table to see 18's latte had been knocked over and was pouring exactly where 17 didn't want it to pour: right into the main pocket of 18's handbag! 17 noticed only too late. He dropped his face into his cupped hands and sighed: "Oh, My SHIT!" he roared. He got up only to see 18 approaching him with a suspicious look on her face! She glared at him coldly: "What were you doing looking in my handbag?"
"Erm…" 17 began, but before he could think of a plausible excuse, 18 saw what he'd done to it and her expression became even colder
"You stupid, infantile moron! I leave you alone for 5 minutes and I come back to find my new handbag completely ruined! What've you been doing?!"
"Now, sis, calm down. It was an accident. I did actually try to clean it up"
"Really? Is that why some of the jewels are missing and there's make-up remover on it as well as coffee? And WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY LATTE?!" 18 looked in the bag and screamed: "YOU IDIOT! MY BAG IS RUINED! AND MY MAKE-UP!"
"Look, 18, I'm sorry, Ok?" 17 said defensively. 18 said nothing, but picked up 17's untouched lemonade, and poured it over his head!
"THERE!" she yelled "LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!" she pouted before leaving the café with her coffee-logged bag. 17 just stood there nonchalantly and licked some of the lemonade from his upper lip: "Mmm. Lemony" he said to himself with confused satisfaction.
Episode 3: The Park
Marron was happily playing with her ball in the park. Her uncle, Android 17, was with her. He was playing a game of catch with her. Not because he wanted to, but because he knew it was the right thing to do. Marron was doing well in catching the ball, but 17 was determined to out-throw his niece. He smiled and winked at her.
"Let's see if you can catch this!" he called competitively to Marron. He then threw the ball with a great force that Marron missed the catch! 17 cheered when he saw it, but his smile disappeared when he heard the unmistakable sound of breaking glass! 'This is just not my week!' he thought to himself as he noticed an imperious looking man in a stovepipe hat, bounding towards Marron with the ball in his hand. The Android knew what to do; the man in the hat had stopped now and was glaring down at Marron asking her if the ball was hers. 17 stepped forward and called: "Hey! The ball is hers, but she didn't throw it. I did!". The imperious looking man stepped forward and retorted: "Oh, it was you, was it? Well then, I require 1000 zeni from you for breaking my window!"
"Aw, come on, accidents happen!"
"Accidents happen, my foot, sir! Now are you going to write me a cheque for 1000 zeni or am I going to have to take you to court?"
"Really? You think suing someone who's broke is going to get you anywhere? Mr. fancy-pants top hat miser? Besides. You look rich enough to be ensured three times over. Why don't you get your insurance to cover it, dummy?"
"I beg your pardon?!" gasped the man, 17 did not respond verbally, but took the top hat from the man's head, and punched a large hole in it before replacing it on the man's head. After a long period of silence the gentleman said: "That's it. I'm calling the police!" he also noticed Marron had taken her ball back and was cradling it. Heartlessly, the agitated aristocrat took it from out of the innocent child's arms. Marron started crying. 17 looked at her with as much compassion as his robotic side would allow him, and then he turned coldly to the man and asked: "What's the idea of you taking my niece's ball?"
"I'm impounding it as evidence!" was the reply. 17 was lost for words. He punched the man in the face, knocking him down. He picked up the ball and gave it back to Marron, who stopped crying immediately. This did not stop the man from getting back up, snatching the ball again, and throwing it as hard as he could. Suddenly a car alarm went off. A passing cop noticed and asked who was responsible. Immediately, both 17 and Marron pointed to the man in the crumpled stovepipe and said in unison: "HE DID!"
"How dare you!" the man roared
"Ok, pal, you're comin' with me!" the police officer said, taking out a pair of handcuffs and binding the man's hands. 17 and Marron followed the cop, as 17 knew that they'd need to give a statement.
After a while, the cop thanked 17 and Marron for their accounts of what had happened. Marron asked the police officer if she could have her ball back, much to her dismay the cop said no as they'd need it for evidence, however he did give 17 ten zeni to get her a new one.
Episode 4: The Brother-in-law's get-together
"So, 17," Krillin said on the phone "I know you feel bad about not being at your sister's wedding and all, also you never really got much of a chance to get to know me and such, but I was thinking if you're not doing anything tomorrow we could go to a bar and get to know each other. After all, you're family now"
17 considered; He wasn't needed back at the nature park until the next month. He might as well get some fun out of this month before going back to his normal job.
"I guess I could do that. I haven't got anything better to do. Two question though: 1; won't 18 find out? And 2: who's going to look after Marron?"
"1; no fear of that, as 18's out with Bulma and Chi-Chi tomorrow, and 2; Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu can take care of Marron. I know Yamcha's been a halfway decent babysitter since the tournament, and Chiaotzu would make a really good playmate for her"
"Ah, ok then. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. What time?"
Krillin thought for a second: "7:30 Ok? Just meet me outside Kame House, then I'll take you to this bar I know"
"Ok, see you then" the Android concluded and then hung up.
The evening had arrived and 17 calmly flew down to the beach where he saw his half-pint brother-in-law waiting for him.
"Hey, 17. Glad you could make it" he smiled
"It's Ok, Krillin. Thanks for inviting me out, I would've been bored as hell otherwise" the Android replied friendlily. Suddenly the two of them were startled by excited squealing.
"Uncle 17!" Marron cheered, running towards him ecstatically
17 smiled: "Hey, kid. How are you?" he asked, picking her up in his strong arms
"What are you doing here? Did Daddy send you to play with me, Yamcha, Chiaotzu and three-eyes?"
Krillin blushed at the name she had given his friend, he looked at the door, hoping Tien hadn't heard her and said "Marron. Daddy and Uncle 17 are going out together. A little Daddy and Uncle bonding trip. I'll be back by 10:00, Ok, sweetheart?" he concluded, taking Marron from out of 17's arms and taking her back to the house. Once all had been taken care of the two flew into East City. It wasn't too far away from Kame House. They landed in front of a rugged building with a sign in front of it. On the sign, in faded amber letters, were the words "East City Watering Hole". 17 looked suspiciously at Krillin and said; "This is the bar?"
"Sure, what's wrong with it?" asked his brother-in-law, somewhat hurt by 17's glare
"Nothing, I just thought that since you married my sister you'd be accustomed to going to somewhere fancier. This looks like my kind of bar"
Krillin felt reassured when he heard this statement and laughed: "Yeah, 18 does like to live in style, but whenever she's not around I come here to unwind. Come on, let's go"
The two entered the bar. They ordered two beers. The one problem with 17 and alcohol was that he'd never drank alcohol before. Not that he was straight edge or anything but he didn't need to drink anyway, and boy, was it a mistake trying it out now! He was blind drunk by the first sip! The only benefit of this was he was a happy drunk. He giggled at Krillin inanely and mumbled all sorts of words. Krillin was starting to feel slightly regretful of his offer to take 17 on a lad's night out. 'God, 18's gonna kill me for this! And he only had one, what do I tell her if she finds out?'. Suddenly things got much worse when the little man spotted his wife and her friends entering the bar! He hid under the table so 18 would not see him in there. This would have worked had 17 not stumbled over to the three women and greeted them!
"Hey, shish! Hic! Whaddaya doin' here? Who're your fwiendsh? Hic!" he drawled tipsily. 18 eyed her brother unflinchingly and without any compassion for his drunken state.
"Are you drunk?" she asked
"No, I only had one! Hic! Kwillin'sh the one who'sh reawy dwunk, hic!"
"Krillin's here?" his sister pouted "Do you mean to tell me that he left Marron ALONE?!"
"Oh, come on, shish, lighten up! Beshidesh, you should twy to be a better mommy to her. Let her eat hot dogsh or shomethin', hic!" suddenly he passed out on the floor. 18 tapped her brother's body with her boot, but there was no response. Suddenly everything stopped as she glared all the way across the bar. Her lips parted: "KRILLIN?!" she roared
Episode 5: The Party
"So, 17," Bulma smiled at the ebony-haired youth "this is the first time I've invited you to one of the shindigs we all have. What do you think?"
"Of what?" he asked. Bulma just giggled at this
"The party, silly!"
"Oh. It's very nice. Thank you for inviting me. Usually I'd just spend my time alone, but my sister insisted on taking me here, so I might as well try to "fit in" as they say"
"You're not much of a party person, are you?" Bulma continued to chat to him, cocking her head sympathetically "poor thing, you really need to get yourself a girlfriend or something" she touched his arm lightly. The Android smiled at this little flirtation from Bulma. Suddenly he felt a firmer grip on his shoulder. He turned around to see none other than Vegeta who said: "I will kill you if you so much as look at my wife in that way, Android!"
"Your wife?" 17 said, as Bulma backed away to chat to the other guests
"My wife. And if you ever do that again…"
"…You'll kill me, I know. But you'd be had for killing an innocent man, as I didn't do anything. Your wife was merely being friendly"
"Friendly, what's left of my tail!" roared the proud Saiyan
"You had a tail?" asked 17 "Cool! Do you have any pictures?"
"That's it, outside!"
17 shrugged and followed Vegeta outside. The second the two were outside, Vegeta fired ki blasts rapidly at 17. The Android dodged all of them and then fired a finger beam, which missed the Saiyan narrowly. Immediately everyone else came running out of the house. Bulma and 18 marched up with authority and slapped the two infantile men in their respective faces
"Vegeta! You're mean!" Bulma screamed
"I'm very disappointed in you, 17. Though, I'm not surprised you did something this stupid" was 18's remark to her brother's actions. "Now, shake hands and make up!"
"But sis…" began 17
"Don't "but sis" me. Make up with Vegeta now!" she quickly heard snickering from Vegeta and eyed him coldly "You too, Vegeta! Make up with my brother!"
"I am the Prince of all Saiyans! And I DO NOT MAKE UP WITH WORTHLESS EXPERIMENTS!" He roared stubbornly
"YOU DO IF YOU STILL WANT TO BE MY HUSBAND!" came an equally stubborn roar from Bulma "How could you pick on 17 the way you did?"
"I was trying to protect you!"
"Oh, don't give me that! I was being nice! You were being a jerk, now the two of you are going to make up! Got it?"
The two of them hung their heads in shame, they then turned and looked at each other. 17 said: "So…I'm…sorry. You may've overreacted…but I didn't mean anything like that. She's your wife"
"Thank you. Maybe I did overreact," he then turned his frowning features towards his wife "but even so, what were you doing with him?!"
"It's called hosting, Vegeta! Maybe you should try it sometime!"
"Fine!" He looked back at 17 "I'm…sor-ry…17. I will say your skill has improved since last we fought. Maybe we could train sometime"
"Hey, no sweat" replied the Android "Now. About that tail you claimed to have once had. Are there any pictures?"
Episode 6: The Beach
Out of all four of the people on the sandy beach, Android 17 was the only one still fully clothed. The other three had bathing costumes on and were either sunbathing or splashing around in the sea. 17 wasn't sure what to make of this landscape. He sighed and marched over to his sister who was casually sunbathing on a beach blanket. She looked up at the shadow standing over her and asked: "What do you want?"
"18, I'm bored. Why are we here?" asked 17
"We're here because Krillin promised Marron he'd take her to the beach today. Obviously she wanted me and you to go too, so that's why we're here, Ok?" 18 explained "Now, if you don't mind, I'm in the middle of tanning, so if you could not block my sun, please?". Her brother sighed and trotted off half-heartedly. Suddenly he saw Marron in a pink swimsuit running towards him, arms outstretched. He looked at her and smiled. He picked her up. The water on the swimsuit soaked into his t-shirt. It didn't bother him, though. He'd have preferred otherwise, but it didn't matter. She smiled and him and asked: "Why aren't coming into the sea with me and Daddy, Uncle 17?"
17 considered why not. No reason not to, after all, 18 had given him a pair of speedos so that he could swim if he wanted. But then again, he couldn't really swim anyway. He decided to tell Marron the truth: "I can't swim, I'm afraid, Marron. I would swim with you if I could but I can't"
Marron's head drooped, slightly disheartened: "That's sad." Her face suddenly lit up as she spotted an ice cream truck by the side of the beach. She looked at her uncle and smiled again "Can I have an ice cream?"
"Sure. What flavour?"
"Mama says vanilla's the best"
"Oh, now you don't have to like what 18 tells you to like. That would make life boring" 17 explained "You pick whichever flavour you want"
"I want vanilla" Marron said
"Really?"
"Really. Also could you get Mama one, please? I know she'll like it"
"Alright" he said, walking up to the van. He gave his order of two vanilla cones, paid, and gave Marron hers. She licked some of her ice cream and squealed at how cold it was
"Let's go n' give Mama hers now" Marron said. The two of them trotted over to where 18 was dozing peacefully. Unfortunately her doze was scuppered by her brother tripping on a sand dune, causing the lump of vanilla ice cream to land right on her stomach! This startled her completely. She sat up and glowered at 17.
"What was the purpose of that?" she asked emotionlessly
"Sis, look, I'm sorry. I tripped, Ok?" 17 explained
"Please don't be mad at Uncle 17, Mama." Marron begged "He was trying to give you your ice cream"
"Oh, he bought me an ice cream? That would be nice if it wasn't for the fact that it is all over my torso"
"Mama, please, it was an accident." Her daughter continued to beg "Please don't be mad at Uncle 17"
18 smiled: "Well…I suppose I shouldn't let good intentions get in the way. BUT…" she said, turning her icy gaze toward her brother "You now have to go swimming with Marron and Krillin. Now change into your speedos and get in the water!"
"But…I can't swim" 17 said weakly. His sister continued to stare icily at him.
"I know" she replied
Episode 7: The Girl's Night
"Aaaaw, I don't wanna go to your stupid girl's night, 18! Why don't you just leave me here to watch T.V. or something?" 17 groaned in absolute backlash towards his sister's decision to take him with her to her "girl's night" with Chi-Chi and Bulma. 18 just looked at him: "Oh, be quiet. It's either you come with me or I leave you with Krillin. And since you got drunk with him that time, I don't trust the latter, so you're coming with me!"
"Aaaw. This is not good!" 17 sighed again "The hell am I supposed to do at Bulma's while you're playing…what did you say you'd be playing? Bridge?"
"Pinochle"
"Pinochle, the hell am I supposed to do while you're playing Pinochle?!"
"I don't know, read a book or something? She's got a son, you could hang out with him"
"Why would I want to hang out with a dumb kid?"
"Hm, I would've thought that hanging out with someone your own age would've made you feel better"
"Sis, I'm warning you…" 17 began, but before he could finish, he was met with that vintage Android 18 glare that silenced him.
They arrived at Bulma's house and were greeted by Bulma and Chi-Chi. Fortunately, 17 was told Vegeta was out once he'd asked, so no fear of any more outbursts. Even though this was a bonus, there was nothing for him to do. Suddenly he noticed a scowling, purple-haired boy looking at him with contempt and boredom. 17 sighed again: "What do you want, kid?" he asked.
"Firstly, my name is Trunks" said the boy "and secondly, what are you doing in my mother's house?"
"My sister decided to bring me to keep me out of trouble. That's why I'm here?" 17 explained
Trunks sighed. Bored to the teeth of these dumb "girl's nights" his mother kept throwing. Still no reason he and this long-haired dude couldn't have fun: "Wanna play some video games?" he suggested
"Ok. Better than just standing here, I suppose" 17 replied, shrugging. He followed the kid into his bedroom and sat down at a controller. Once Trunks had explained the rules of the video game he tried five times but died at the exact same spot every time. Trunks laughed at this and decided to show him. 17 watched closely and tried another five times, and five times again he was unsuccessful. Trunks decided to set the game on easy. 17 tried another five times and died again! This was too much! 17 became very agitated and didn't even think about what he was saying before he said it.
"My SHIT!" he growled. Trunks grinned at the sound of that language and started taunting the unhappy android. Suddenly the two heard a knock at the door and Bulma and 18 walked in. 17 looked at them.
"Is the game over already?" he asked
"Yes," 18 replied "Chi-Chi won again! I can't help but feel that she cheats the whole time!"
"Oh, don't worry about that, 18" Bulma explained "that's not Chi-Chi's style" she then looked at Trunks: "Ok, Trunks. Time for you to go to bed"
Trunks hung his head and growled. Then, without thinking he copied 17 and said: "My SHIT!"
This shocked Bulma and 18 to no end. The latter looked accusingly at 17.
"TRUNKS!" Bulma yelled
"17!" 18 exclaimed at the same time, grabbing her brother's ear and dragged him out of the room.
Episode 8: The Arcade
17 was bored ridged of his sister's constant dragging him to places. He needed to just get away from the stress. Suddenly, as he was flying around the city seeing what was what, he spotted a building where boys were playing at machines. He thought it best to at least see what was going on. He landed outside the building and saw a neon sign that read: "ARCADE". 'Hmmm' He thought 'I've got some money. I suppose I could see what goes on in here', and with that, he entered the arcade. He noticed a big chair at the end of the arcade facing a screen. By the screen was a steering wheel. 17's features lit up! 'A driving game!' he thought to himself 'Yes!' he rushed over to it and sat down in the seat. He inserted a coin into the machine and began to play the game. He beat all of the levels in two minutes. He enjoyed it so much that he figured he might as well play again. Into the machine went another coin and 17 "drove" like a madman! Hell, he even beat his own record! He decided to try and beat that one and inserted another coin into the machine. He was so in the zone now that he started making engine noises. This would've been Ok had this not made all the other kids start staring at him. Suddenly he heard a familiar, high-pitched voice call out: "There he is, Mama! Uncle 17's in that chair making car noises!". 17 snapped out of his driving trance and turned to look at Marron and 18, who were approaching him rapidly. This distracted him and caused him to lose the race. "Dammit! Lost at level two?!" he roared. All the other kids started laughing and jeering at him, until they noticed 18 glaring at them. She then marched up to her brother with her hands on her hips and said: "What do you think you're doing here?"
"Oh, come on, I can't get a moment's peace?" 17 sighed
"No, you can't. You need to help with the shopping! You don't expect Krillin to carry it all, do you?!" she scolded. 17 hung his head in shame and walked out of the arcade. Still…at least he knew where to go if he wanted to play games.
Episode 9: The Art Gallery
"Oooo! Pretty flowers!" Marron squealed delightfully, gazing at a beautiful landscape filled with poppies. Her uncle was with her, trying to make head or tail of the thing. He didn't hate it, he just didn't understand. He looked down at his niece: "You like it?" he asked pleasantly
"Yeah! Uncle 17, look at it, it's so pretty!" Marron said with ecstasy
"It's very nice. I really don't know much about things like art, though" he replied
"You don't?" Marron asked "Why not?"
"Don't really have the time, I guess" he answered half-heartedly, shrugging. Marron took his hand and dragged him over to another painting she'd spotted. It was, to 17, far too yellow. The sunflowers in the vase were pretty, there was no denying that, but still; how much yellow had the painter used? Suddenly the two of them noticed 18 and Krillin marching up to them. Marron waved to her mother, who swiftly walked up to her and picked her up. The android then turned to her brother and asked: "So…enjoying the gallery?"
"Well…I guess, but seriously, look at the amount of yellow in this painting right here!" he exclaimed pointing to the sunflower picture that he and his niece had just observed.
18 cocked her eyebrow and said: "Of course there's yellow in this painting. It's a painting of sunflowers. Do you have no taste?"
Krillin suddenly noticed the look on 17's face and said: "Ooookay, whaddaya say we go and see some portraits next?"
By the time that the four of them had decided to stop for lunch 17 was feeling more tranquil than when he'd been in the landscapes and still life section of the gallery. He'd seen some very nice portraits, including portraits of, to quote his naïve niece, "veggie people". Boy, had that made him smile. He'd even bought her a postcard of one of them from the gift shop. Right now, he was busy looking at another postcard he'd bought for himself. It was a local painting of the Capsule Corp building, only everything was back to front. The letters on the building were backwards, the entire building looked like a veil that the wind had blown up! Suddenly, his peaceful mood was drawn to a close when he noticed Bulma walking towards the four of them. She suddenly looked at 17.
"What have you got there? A postcard? Let me see that a second" she asked, extremely interested. When she saw the painting, her face turned pale. So pale that 18 got out of her chair to catch her should she have passed out. When the daze left her, Bulma pointed in melancholy at the card and exclaimed: "Do you mean to tell me this painting made it in the local gallery? You've got to be kidding me!"
18 looked slightly confused and asked: "Don't you like it, Bulma?"
"Of course not!" she wailed "It's just embarrassing!"
"17 seems to like it" Krillin chipped in "Seriously, that's the happiest I've seen him all day!"
Episode 10: The Sick Day
All that 17 could hear was coughing and spluttering throughout Kame House. Marron had a terrible cold and a minor fever. Krillin had caught the cold from his daughter and then Roshi had caught it from him! The only three people unaffected were 17, 18 and Roshi's pet turtle. 18 and the turtle were trying to help the three ailing inhabitants whereas 17 was trying to watch T.V., and he wasn't doing a good job of that, because all he could hear was people crying out for things.
"Mama! I need water!" Marron choked
"18! Where are the tissues?!" spluttered Krillin
"Turtle! This magazine has been air-brushed, go n' find an old one that's not been touched up!" the perverted Master Roshi coughed. When 17 heard that he couldn't help but laugh lightly. Suddenly, his sister barged in, turned the T.V. off and stood facing him with her hands on her hips and her piercing eyes looking at him demandingly. 17 sighed and asked: "What is it, sis?"
"Get up" she said coldly
"But 18, I was watching T.V." he began
"I know, but you can help me take care of Marron"
"Aaaw, but I don't want to!"
18's stare became twice as piercing: "Why won't you simply do as I say?" she said with little compassion
"Because I don't want to do as you say! I'm tired of being hounded!" 17 growled "Now, leave me in peace to watch T.V., PLEASE!"
Suddenly the turtle came in with a box of tissues on his shell and said: "Hey, guys. Don't fight. Marron, Krillin and Roshi are sick. I've looked after Krillin by giving him his tissues and I also got Roshi a mag to drool over"
"Too much information, but get to the point" 17 said
"Ok," the turtle replied "the point is…you two should work together. 17, you should get Marron some water. 18 can go and get some medicine and I'll just watch T.V."
17 and 18's faces suddenly expressed implications of slyness and contempt for the turtle, and in unison said: "The hell you will, you lazy turtle! Get upstairs!"
Episode 11: The Pharmacy
The androids were standing outside a pharmacy in West City. 18 looked at 17 and said: "what are you waiting for? Go and get the medicine!"
"And what are you going to do while I get it?" her brother asked suspiciously "Go shopping?"
"Yes. But listen; if you get the medicine, you can spend the rest of the day in the arcade!"
"Sold!" 17 replied eagerly and began to walk in before 18 reminded him he didn't know what medicine to get. She gave him a piece of paper with the name of the medicine on it. Pseudo-ephedrine hydrochloride was what he read, and he walked into the pharmacy and got into the queue. He waited until the chemist called him up to the desk. He then read out the name of the medicine.
"I'm sorry, sir, what was that?" the chemist asked, somewhat confused
"Judo-glycerin hypo-flouride"
"Do you mean pseudo-ephedrine hydrochloride?" asked the chemist, trying to be as helpful as possible
"What?" the android asked "I want what's written on this piece of paper! Studio-endorphin hypno-Tour Guide!"
The chemist had no clue what 17 wanted and asked to see the piece of paper. 17 showed it to him and then gave the medicine to him without saying anything. The silence implied to 17 some silent sentence like "Here's your medicine, go away!" so he just left after that.
18 was waiting outside. Her brother calmly handed her the medicine and then said: "see ya" and flew off to the arcade
