Chapter Nine: Outmatched

"Gohan! What are you doing?"

No sooner had the words left Goku's mouth did the branches part and two teenaged figures appeared. Trunks narrowed his eyes. "Them."

Goku turned from his son, "Trunks, is that them?"

"Yes. Seventeen and Eighteen."

Gohan glared at Trunks and Goku for a moment but then swiftly set his sights on their adversaries. They looked similar to Ten and Nine. Only these he could tell were more deadly. Much more deadly from the looks of it. Gohan winced, regretting his actions immediately. He had a bad habit of rushing in, although Piccolo and his father had been trying to get that out of him lately. He'd done it on Namek when he'd intervened and saved Dende. While that had turned out to be for the best, he had put a lot of them at risk by doing it. He never had fully forgiven himself for that and here he'd done it again!

To Goku, who was now firmly focused on the Androids, he whispered, "Sorry…"

"We'll talk later, young Saiyan."

Gohan stared at his father. He'd gotten called young man before, a couple of times but never 'young Saiyan.' But then, since Goku had become a Super Saiyan he was beginning to respect his heritage a little more. Not enough that he was exactly 'proud' of it, as they had been a brutal and rather ruthless race but enough he wasn't ashamed to claim it although he always added 'from earth.'

In other words, his backside was toast and he knew it.

Still, if he was lucky, maybe he would be spared it if he got hurt. He always managed to get hurt somehow ina battle and he doubted this would be different. No matter how mad Daddy was, if he got hurt, Daddy went crazy babying him. He loved the affection and attention. Although looking at the faces of these Androids, he wasn't exactly looking forward to getting hurt in any way shape or form from them.

The black haired one spoke out, "That wasn't very nice."

Goku kept his position in front of all the others, wondering where Vegeta was. Surely, he wouldn't want to miss this fight. In any event, he couldn't do anything about it at the moment, just focus on keeping himself and the others alive, particularly his son. Gohan was certainly a great deal improved but if the battle with Gero was any indication, he was still lagging behind the others.

"So, are these the mighty Z-warriors we've heard so much about?"

The blond haired girl tossed her hair back, as if she wasn't interested in least as to whether they were or were not who they claimed. However, she did set her eyes on the leader with the spiky black hair, "Son Goku no doubt."

"That's right." Goku's voice carried not a twitch of his usual carefree attitude. "And you must be the infamous Androids we've heard about."

"Hear that, Seventeen, we're infamous."

"Of course, it surprised you? After all, I'm part of our little group."

Eighteen rolled her eyes and Gohan, being a typical child with a mouth faster than the mind, remarked "And I thoughtVegeta was arrogant!"

Immediately, he received a group of glares from his fellow warriors and clamped his hand over his mouth "I'll just shut up now."

Eighteen smirked "Good. We didn't come here to talk. Seventeen have your fun already."

Goku and the others took up their guard positions. The Android smirked at them, especially at Goku, "C'mon now, five against one is hardly fair, Goku."

"Hey!" Gohan protested in slight anger "I'm here."

The black haired youth eyed the child. "hmph, Gero was a little too paranoid to worry about you."

Gohan's face scrunched up in anger and indignation. "You-"

"Not the place, Gohan." Piccolo remarked. "Show him he's wrong in battle." His mentor advised. Gohan nodded and took up a guard stance, using the anger to fuel his strength and speed. Seventeen ignored him, his thoughts solely focused on Goku who wasn't shy about returning the glare. He had learned quite a bit in the amount of time between Nine, Ten and now these two.

Suddenly, Goku and Seventeen were a wash of colors as they charged one another. It seemed like each decided to charge at once. Goku matched the Android's movements but as of the moment, he was on the defensive, unable to attack. Seventeen was fast; he had to struggle to match the Android's blows. He hadn't time between them to even throw a punch.

Gohan bit his lower lip, watching his father's struggle with the Android. He powered up and charged forward.

Eighteen's leg knocked him downward. "Fight fair, runt. My brother doesn't like his fun interrupted."

"Is that all this is to you?" Yamcha demanded suddenly, "A game?"

Eighteen smirked, "Essentially."

Gohan growled at her and got his feet "then get ready to lose!"

Eighteen smiled, calm as ever. Tossing her blond hair back, she laughed, "Prove it."

Gohan charged and threw his fist out at her. She dodged, easily as if he were throwing his punches underwater. Krillin rushed out to help him, connecting with her temple. She turned, stunned. Krillin froze, stunned. Man, she was gorgeous. Hereyes were ruthless like Trunks said but she was so beautiful. The gentleman in him pulled his hand away.

"Fight her, Krillin!" Trunks called out to him as he charged Seventeen with his sword out. The Android dodged and Trunks barely managed to avoid taking off Goku's head. However, it was a distraction enough to give Goku some room to move. He backed up a little bit which took him out of the defensive position and for that he was grateful. Trunks hissed out at Krillin, "Don't her looks fool you!"

Eighteen had already taken advantage of the situation and slammed Krillin into the ground. Gohan pounded at her with his little fists but so far he was making no impact, again! It seemed like every time he was in a battle he made no impact. Yamcha was making Eighteen back up and it looked like Piccolo and Tien had discovered a third Android! A giant of one at that! Yet they were making at least some type of impact, the Android was having to move. Eighteen just hovered, despite Gohan's pounding.

"Thanks Trunks." Gohan turned, hearing his father speak. He looked tired but alright. Trunks looked mostly angry but he stood by Goku's side, tall and proud. The black haired Saiyan remarked, "They're tough alright. You must have trained hard over these three years."

Trunks nodded, "I had to. I wasn't about to let them conquer this time." He narrowed his eyes at Seventeen. "I don't intend to either."

"Don't do anything stupid, Trunks." Goku moved so he was side by side with him though.

That's where Gohan was supposed to stand! He was supposed to be fighting by his father's side, not Trunks! Trunks had his own father! Why didn't Trunks go find HIS father? And why was Daddy praising Trunks all of a sudden? Why give him such a pep talk? What about HIM? He was his son! So why was Goku giving Trunks that smile? Why?

He was NOT going to be replaced by the son of Vegeta!

"ARGGG!" Gohan's hair bleached bright yellow, his eyes lit up bright aqua and he swung his fist as hard as he could into Eighteen's chest, sending her sailing into the ground. She crashed through a boulder, scattering shards of rock. Yamcha stared at the son of Goku and Gohan just hovered there, panting. Yamcha made a mental note then to never be in the midst of one of the boy's temper tantrums.

Pushing rock aside, Eighteen stood, her clothing torn and some of her hair tangled.

"Alright, brat, now I'm annoyed."

"Good, so am I."

Eighteen charged at him.

Piccolo meanwhile was being forced to admit that he wasn't as strong as he originally thought. He was being forced back as was Tien. Tien was failing miserably. He was only able to dodge and as loathe as he was to admit it, Piccolo wasn't doing much better than him. This Sixteen as he had called himself was a tough one. He had his sights on Goku; they just happened to be in the way.

"Piccolo!"

The Namek recognized his student's cry as the boy dodged past Eighteen and towards Sixteen, no doubt thinking of using his speed as a tool.

Unfortunately, Sixteen knew that move. As Gohan charged at him, the Android pushed him off with his arm and with the speed Gohan was going, his head slammed into the tree nearby. White dots exploded in front of his eyes. Then everything went black, the boy lost his Super Saiyan power up and collapsed to his face, unconscious.

"Gohan!"

Goku's eyes expanded as he felt his son's ki fall and he jerked from his current battle to search for his son. He found the boy lying unconscious by one of the trees, blood trickling down his temple. "Gohan!"

Seventeen dug his knee into Goku's groin before he could even think to go to the child. He went falling to the ground, trying to get some feeling back. Stumbling to his feet, Krillin had made his way to his feet and managed to rush over and help him up. "Goku, are you okay?" Goku held a hand up, his version of 'I'm fine.'

"G-Gohan."

Eighteen gave Yamcha a kick down and flew up to Seventeen, "Let's go. You want to play later too, don't you? I need to get some new clothes. These are not going to do."

Seventeen rolled his eyes but he had to admit, the prospect of letting these warriors get some recovery and then fight again was intriguing. "Sure."

The two vanished into the distance, leaving a stunned warrior group in their wake. Sixteen eyed Goku before rising to the air and taking off after the two. His key mission was to kill Goku but he had a strange desire to leave them time to recover. Beating Goku at anything less than full power was not suiting to his programming. Gero had programmed a need to make Goku suffer into him.

Goku made a survey of his friends as he walked. They were all okay, beaten and hurting but alive. But his son…he had to get to his little man!

Tree branches by his son's form stirred and parted.

"Gohan!"

A small hand grasped his son around the shoulders and hoisted him up.

Goku growled as the form came into sight. It looked like a little girl but he knew by the lack of ki she was an Android. She eyed Gohan emotionlessly.

"Give me back Gohan! Right now!"

Goku's voice was hard as stone and cold as ice. His eyes flashed green a moment.

The girl looked up and she tossed the still form to Goku. Surprised, Goku barely caught him. The Android rose into the air herself.

"What kind of coward do you take me for? He's helpless." She eyed the unconscious boy and then Goku. Gohan had shown her a great deal of skills during that short battle. He was dangerous, no doubt but Twenty-One was not a spineless coward. She had honor. To kill the boy while he was down was the most despicable thing she could fandom at the moment.

Eyeing the group of warriors, she took her leave.

The group was too stunned to follow.