Disclaimer: I in no shape or form own Dragonball z or any of it's characters...

Chapter 7:


18 just couldn't believe the absurdity of the situation, they were collecting magical balls that supposedly would summon a dragon that could grant any wish, Gero had filled her databases regarding the power of the dragonballs, everything related to them and yet, she found it hard to believe a giant lizard could grant any wish of her desire, the wind continued to blow against her face, making her hair wave itself in it's calm embrace and in front of her Goku rode the nimbus occasionally checking the radar in his right hand for any signs of the supposed dragonballs.

Their journey was silent accompanied only by the beeping of the radar and to an extent, it was awkward, not to Goku but to 18, here she was travelling with a man who she barely knew personally, collecting mystical balls that was said to summon a dragon of legend who could grant them any wish they desired and he had selflessly taken it upon himself to collect them so that she could be made human again.

Her aqua eyes focused on his back, it was wide and looking at it made her feel warm, her gaze softened and a small smile drew itself across her lips and it quickly faded completely replaced by an irritated screech, inside her was something that constantly nagged her...a program, imbued by doctor Gero into her being and all it said was "Kill Goku".

"Maybe that dragon can take care of this program too..." She thought to herself

"Ah! there it is!"

Her mind snapped out of her daze by Goku's cheery voice and before she could question him, Nimbus tilted itself and descended down to the landscape below them almost instantly leaving 18's eyes to slightly widen in surprise.

"Hey wai-Goku!" 18 called out.

The call was answered as the young warrior looked back to her "Hm?" seeing her confused expression, his face morphed into understanding "There's a dragonball down here, I'll get it and come back!"

And 18 slowly watched as he descended into the myriad of trees below her leaving her to quietly wait for his return, it didn't take long, less than ten seconds passed before he and nimbus shot out of the trees and levitated before her once more. She folded her hands as he shot her a grin "Alright, one down!"

18 looked at him blankly as the sound of chirping enveloped both their ears, Goku turned to the left and then to the right "Hey..." he began "where's that sound coming from?"

The blonde maiden infront of him simply pointed to his head and he turned his gaze upwards to see his spikey hair adorned with a crown...only this crown was filled with baby hatchlings and it was made of wooden sticks, Goku slowly took it off his head and looked to the young hatchlings with a small smile.

"Oh! sorry about that little guys, didn't see you there"

18 calmly observed him and watched as he conversed with the baby hatchlings, it made her feel at peace as she looked on, a small smile grazed her lips but it quickly dissapeared as she spoke "You might want to put them back where you found them..."

"Hm?" Goku blinked "ah sure..."

"And you better do it fast" she finished, folding her arms over her chest once more, she calmly looked as a moment of confusion sprawled across his face, the answer came all too swiftly as a shadow encompassed him, Goku blinked rapidly a few more times looking to 18, the hatchlings in the nest began chirpring more loudly and slowly Goku looked back

"Ahh!" he squealed with surprise and dread.

Behind him, a giant pterodactyl loomed precariously over him, he immedeatly began sweating bullets and closed his eyes "H-Hi there..." he greeted and it was received and sent back by a loud screech.

Nimbus then floated away from Goku leaving the young warrior to blink in surprise, gravity claimed him as he instantly dropped down into the myriad of trees below him, the pterodactyl screeched as it went after a falling Goku.

"Ahhhh! Nimbus! why'd you do that?!"

18 looked on amused and slightly giggled at the scene, she watched as Goku deperately tried to escape from the pterodactyl but to no avail, a barrage of pecks and scratches threathened to hurt him as he dodged and weaved through the onslaught, finally she watched as he descended into the trees and placed the nest where it once was and then rocketed into the sky once more, weary and nervous, slowly he looked back to see if the pterodactyl had chased him only to find that it didn't, with a relieved sigh, he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"That was close.." he murmurmed and then blinked bringing up the one star dragon ball in his hand "well one down!" he triumphly giggled, 18 calmly looked to the orange ball in his hand and on it, a darker shade of orange caught her eye "One star..." she thought to herself slowly snapping out of her stupour, she looked to Goku who calmly floated in front of her.

"How many of these...'dragon balls' are there?" she questioned.

"Um..." Goku murmured, rubbing the back of his head "seven!" he answered enthusiastically as if a child in school who had answered a question the teacher had asked correctly. 18 spared him a glance and then looked away.

"I still don't understand why you're doing this..." she began, murmurming softly "for me..."

"Huh!?" Goku exclaimed confused "What are you talking about?" one raised eyebrow and a confused tone awoke "you wouldn't have been an android if doctor Gero didn't want to kill me"

"But..." 18 moved to interject only to be stopped as Goku continued.

"It's simple right? you want to go back to being a human so let's make you a human again!" he answered once more enthusiastically leaving 18 at a loss for words and before she could raise an objection, the radar began blinking again

"Oh!" Goku exclaimed in surprise "There's another right around here!" and without another word, he quickly floated away from her leaving 18 pondering about him.

"Son Goku...how can you be like that?." she whispered and slowly she watched as he floated away from her to look for the next dragonball.


Capsule Corporation

"That doctor Gero...the amount of data he's stored in 17 is crazy"

Bulma's voice of surprise rung through her lab as she busily and steadily tapped onto the keys of her computer, sorting through the data that was in 17's mind wasn't easy, but as she crawled her way through it, she couldn't conceal her surprise and it slowly morphed into curiosity.

"How could one man be so obsessed with killing someone? this has everything, right from the moment he took out the red ribbon army to his training with Kami..." murmured Bulma, she slowly snuck a glance from her computer to the unconscious 17 that laid on her table a sizable distance away.

"Hmmm" she mused "but this is amazing, to have made android's in a couple of years that could fight on par with Goku, can they get stronger if they train too?"

Her thoughts ran rampart examining every possible scenario concerning them and once exhausted, she let out a tired sigh and relaxed her back on her armchair

"Well..." she began and with weariness, she cracked her knuckles and sat straight infront of her computer once more "I should delete all this information, it seems like 17 doesn't even remotely care about killing Goku, he just wants to fight him..." she paused and her eyebrows scrunched up in irritation, folding her arms over her chest, she looked to the ceiling once more "the same can't be said for that woman though..." she let out an infuriating scream "she makes me so mad! ugh! why did Goku let her go with him anyway?!"

The sound of footsteps diverted her attention and she turned her neck towards the source of the sound to see Yamcha walking towards her, Krillin and Launch following close behind him, "Great..." she thought, slightly irritated "Another one, why don't I just break up with him...that moron, he's been flirting with too many girls lately and makes up excuses for it to boot...tch "

"Hey Bulma, did you fix up 17 yet?" Krillin asked, stepping forward with a small smile.

"Almost done, Krillin..." Bulma answered, her mind now once more firmly entranced into the data her computer kept showing her "Gero was really obsessed with killing Goku, 17 had everything on Goku right from when he took out the red ribbon"

"What!?" Krillin let out a surprised gasp and slowly jogged upto her, the amount of information on the screen to him was baffling "Man, that Gero was one old crazy coot..."

"Tell me about it..." chuckled an amused Bulma

"So wait" Krillin blinked "does 18 have all this information about Goku too?"

"Most likely..." Bulma answered, tapping the keys on her keyboard while simultaneously talking to her bald headed friend, Krillin just raised his eyes brows in surprise "he really was crazy about killing Goku, huh?"

"Yeah. guess he got really mad when Goku took out his little army" chuckled Yamcha, Bulma narrowed down on his statement and smugly looked at him "You should be happy about that, Yamcha, you were just flirting with that girl in the park during that time..."

"What!?" Yamcha gasped out in surprise "no I wasn't! she was part of the red ribbon arm-"

"Like I'd buy an excuse like that, if it weren't for Goku, that army would've killed everyone while you were-"

"Alright, I get it! sheesh" began an exasperated Yamcha, "Goku this...Goku that...man!" now slightly irritated "What's up with you today!? you seem more ticked off than usual..."

That was the last straw as Bulma began glaring at him furiously "Ticked off? who wouldn't be ticked off if she saw her boyfriend getting all chummy with some girl at the tournament!?"

"Chi-chi isn't some gir-" Yamcha stopped midway, caught in her trap, he began sweating nervously

"Oh" Bulma shot him a smug look "You even know who I'm talking about..."

"This could get ugly..." murmured Krillin and then looked to Launch "What should we do, Launch?"

"Maybe we should stop them?" she asked Krillin who in turn looked to the argument before him. he quickly banished the thought on seeing Bulma rip apart Yamcha completely, it made Krillin pity his friend and before either of them could intervene

"Get out of my lab! I've got work to do!"

Yamcha was sent scurrying out her lab, dignity all but gone leaving Bulma to pant heavily and then to release an irritated sigh, Krillin slowly walked up to her with Launch looking on.

"You okay, Bulma?"

"Do I look okay!?" Bulma screamed at him and then quickly silenced herself knowing who it was, placing a hand on her forehead, she began to rub it "I'm sorry Krillin..."

"Hey it's alright! no worries"

"I should finish up before Goku gets back" she said and slowly retired back to her workbench to finish the necessary repairs leaving Krillin and Launch to worry at her mental state, "Wish Goku was here, he would've done something to calm down Bulma..."


With Goku and 18

"Alright, the fifth dragon ball should be right over there"

Goku scrimmaged through a small bush that lay in front of him while 18 floated above him with Nimbus next to her carrying four of the seven dragon balls, half a day had passed since they had began and evening's call began to glow on the landscape, they still had two more dragonballs to find, they had quickly found the first five dragon balls from them being close but not far from each other. The other two however were showing up on the very edge of the radar, opposite to each other. 18 regarded the blinking blimps on the radar for a moment before her gaze went back to Goku below her, his hair poked out from the spiky bush as he stood to his full height, his right hand now equipped with the five star dragon ball, shooting a small smile at the ball in his hand, Goku slowly turned his head upwards to see 18 peering down at him, he smiled and waved his right hand.

"Hey! I found it!"

"I can see that, Goku" she answered, plainly, the answer however didn't deter Goku's enthusiasim "We got two more to go then!" and before either of the two could continue on Goku's statement, a low growl shattered both their thoughts, it's origin?

18 let out a small sigh as she looked to the young man below her, slowly hovering down to the ground, she placed a hand on her hip while watching Goku just nervously giggle while rubbing the back of his head

"Guess I'm hungry" he joyfully exclaimed.

"Guess so" 18 added, simply staring at him wondering as to what he would do next, and so he looked to her while folding his arms "Hmm, well I guess food can wait, there's only two more of the dragon balls to get" slowly floating up, he placed the fifth dragon ball on Nimbus while his stomach growled at him, he let out another nervous laugh as 18 looked at him silently.

"Gosh I'm really hungry" he glanced back at her, silently sneaking a glance at her, she caught him, raising her eyebrow in surprise, she questioned him

"What is it?"

"N-nothing!" he replied with haste and looked away from her embarrassed on being caught, he let out a sigh "I guess it could wait let's get this done first"

"You're hungry, aren't you?"

18's soothe voice reached his ears and he blinked and looked back to her immediately "Um no, not really!" he answered in haste much to 18's annoyance.

"Don't lie to me, Goku" came her voice once more and Goku whimpered, rubbing the back of his head, he let out a small sigh before looking at her in a serious facade.

"Yeah I'm pretty hungry" he began, affirming 18's guess "But this is more important"

18 stared at him in surprise, she was still in awe of his selfless nature, as she looked at him in silence, he continued "Besides!" he exclaimed with glee "I'm pretty sure Bulma will have something ready when we go back, she did say she'd order a huge buffet if I won the tournament!"

"I see" she answered "Bulma huh? I wonder what she is to him"


Capsule Corporation

"Achoo!"

A sneeze echoed through the annals of the capsule corporation laboratory, a sniffling Bulma sighed in irritation "I hope I'm not getting sick", her aqua blue eyes peered onto the screen of her computer, running her hand through her hair, she let out another sigh

"Think I'm almost done..." her fingers tapped away at the keyboard without a second's delay, her eyes racing from one end of the screen together, with a final tap of a key, she pushed herself back against her chair and relaxed herself

"There, the formatting is done..."

Bringing up both her arms, she stretched, half of her work was done, she had deleted all of 17's information about Goku including the program that had the directive to kill Goku on sight, it was true that 17 didn't have any interest in killing Goku, he just wanted to fight him but Bulma was skeptical with both the androids, she was making sure to cover all bases, standing up, she looked to the clock on the far end of the lab, a half past four, it was getting late and Goku still hadn't returned with 18, her brow furrowed on irritation on thinking of the woman and Goku's naive nature, she was built to kill him and he was so eager to help her, she let out another sigh.

"That's just like him..." her eyes wandered back to the unconcious android on her table, she had finished with the mental aspect, all that was left now was to repair his legs so he could walk again, the sound of footsteps caught her surprise as she looked to the hallway, a short man with light blue hair appeared, wearing a lab coat over his light green shirt and his black black pants, a cigratte lay at the edge of his mouth and Bulma slowly stood up.

"Busy dear?"

"A bit, dad" she smiled "Just have to fix his legs"

"I see" he answered, examining the young android on the table, his eyes piqued with interest as he looked back to his daughter "Mind if I help?"

"Actually" Bulma stiffled a laugh "I was coming to get you, I could use the help"

"Right then, what do we know so far about him?"

"Just the programming side, he's loaded with information about Goku, with all directives meant to kill him, his personality remained largely intact and there was a control mechanism to make his system overtake his personality if he didn't want to listen to Gero..."

"Mmm, a system override then"

"Right" Bulma affirmed the older man's statement "what's amazing is the way he's built, to think he had the same power as Goku and there's another one just like him"

"Same power as Goku? that's...surprising, doctor Gero must've been heavily invested into researching energy, if only he used that research for good, the possibilities would've been endless, regardless what's done is done, shall we start then?"

"Yeah, I'll go get the tools.." Bulma answered and began her search while her father's eyes remained on the android before him, "Same power as Goku? troubling just how did doctor Gero manage to do that? and there's even a second one like him, simply intriguing..."


With Goku and 18

"So this is the seventh one then?"

"Yeah, we got all of them" Goku answered 18 who stood a few metres away from him with her arms folded over her chest, her eyes watched as he held all seven of the balls in his arms and then placed them together, arranging them neatly on the ground while he knelt down.

"I still find this hard to believe, you know"

"Huh?" Goku blinked in surprise and turned back to her

"The whole magical wish granting dragon thing" she answered "I mean he's able to turn me back into human just like that?" she looked on, a bit annoyed, a bit skeptical, Goku however simply looked back at her

"Well as far as I know, Shenron always granted whatever we asked of him, he even brought Krillin and Master Roshi back to life when Piccolo killed th-"

At the sudden mention of Piccolo, 18's annoyance grew "He killed your teacher and your friend and you let him go? I don't get you Goku, you were even going to let doctor Gero go if I hadn't dealt with him, don't you understand they were trying to kill you?"

"I do but it wasn't this Piccolo that killed master Roshi and Krillin..." Goku answered

"What do you mean that it wasn't "this Piccolo"?"

"Well..." Goku began "the one I fought wasn't the original Piccolo, it was his son"

"I-I see..." Android 18 answered, a but surprised at the sudden revelation, snapping out of her stupour "That still doesn't explain why you let him go"

"Well he was really strong and I wondered if I could fight him again someday!" Goku chirped, at this 18 facepalmed, unable to believe the absurdity of a reason she was given, she almost lost her footing but thankfully didn't as she looked wide eyed at him "That's why you let him go?! what if he kills your friends again?"

"I don't think he will, I mean he just wants his revenge so he's going to come after me, not them" Goku answered, calmly much to 18's dismay and before she could interject, he continued "Besides you and your brother are pretty strong, I think he'll think twice before going after you guys too..."

At this, 18 stopped in her tracks "Why would he go aft-" her voice cut off as the sudden thought of realization dawned on her "He considers me and 17 his friends? just like that?" 18 stood in silent contemplation unable to understand the young man infront of her and before she could even prod him on the matter, he stood in front of the dragonballs, pulling his hands into fists, he shouted

"Arise Shenron and grant my wish!"

For a second, nothing happened and 18 wondered if Goku was just bluffing but the next second, a beam of light shot into the sky from the dragonballs, the orange dragonballs now gleamed wth color, the beam shot through the sky scattering all the clouds around it, the skies then began to darken and blackened, another beam of light shot forth from the balls much to 18's shock, she stood in awe as the beam of light slowly took form and from it, a roar that shook the heavens called to them

"W-What!?" 18 questioned, unable to believe the sight before her. Goku stood calmly, his hands positioned at his hips and smiling at the sight before him, waiting for Shenron to completely take form.

Scales elongated themselves into the air as a massive being enveloped the sky before them, it's scaly body was like that of a snake, long yet humongous as it engulfed the entire sky. his arms were small but held claws that could crush mountains, with two antlers settling on it's head and two elongated whiskers, he floated majestically in the air and peered down with deep red eyes. His gaze slowly settled on Goku, he didn't show any emotion on seeing the young warrior once again, how long had it been since he had seen Goku? years perhaps, it didn't matter, all that mattered was..

"You who have summoned me, state your wish and I will grant it"

"T-this can't be real..." murmured a shell shocked 18, Shenron's eyes were peering onto her and Goku, her eyes turned over to the young warrior who simply stood chuckling

"Hey there Shenron! long time!"

"Do you have a wish or not?"

"Yeah! so listen!" Goku began much to Shenron's eagerness "Can you turn my friend here back into human?" he asked, pointing over to Android 18 who had remained in still silence on seeing the dragon.

"I can" came the cold answer and Goku's eyes widened in joy, "Alright!"

18 stood mesmerized, was this really happening? she was going to be human again and this dragon was going to do it, she watched in awe as Goku gave the command.

"Shenron! please turn Android 18 back into a human again!"

"It shall be done"

His red eyes glowed a deep red as lightning began to appear all around him, Goku looked on hopefully as Shenron's red eyes continued to glow brightly, a second passed and it slowly faded, Goku furrowed his eyebrows, something was wrong.

"I cannot"

"What?! Why not!?" Goku shouted out in surprise, Shenron had never failed to grant a wish, this was a first to him, to him, Shenron was someone who could make anything come true but this was quite a setback.

"My power is insufficient"

"What does that mean!?" Goku asked him, thoroughly annoyed at the dragon. 18 stood in silence looking on as Goku argued with Shenron "So...it was impossible afterall"

"My power is tied directly to my creator's power therfore I cannot make her human since my creator's power is insufficient, is there any other wish you desire?"

Goku seemed crestfallen, he glanced back to Android 18 who was looking away from both him and the dragon, he knew she was sad and he felt as if the whole ordeal was his fault, because of Gero's obsession with him, 18 had been turned into an android, he had even given her false hope making her think that she could become human again, he gritted his teeth and looked to Shenron again.

"Don't you know any other way to make her human?!"

"I do not, do you have another wish?"

"But-"

"That's enough, Goku, you heard the dragon" 18 called out to him, slowly walking forward to him and the dragon

"But 18-"

"But nothing, it's fine, you've done enough, I have a wish though" she continued and Goku blinked at her in surprise "You do?!"

"Yeah" she smiled at him and then looked back to Shenron

"Hey dragon, can you grant my wish?"

"Speak" answered Shenron "what is it you desire?"

"There's a program in me that nags at me to kill this idiot here" 18 answered, poitning to Goku, "Can you remove it? it's annoying"

"18..." Goku whispered in surprise.

"That is possible" Shenron answered

"Then here's my wish, erase the "Kill Goku" program in my system, wipe it out completely" 18 told him, Shenron's eyes began to glow a deep crimson red "It shall be done" a second passed and in the next instant, Shenron's low voice echoed through the area

"Your wish has been granted, farewell!"

And with that, Shenron transformed into a yellow beam of light and disappeared, the balls also flew intto the air, turning into stone, they too scattered, the skies began to dissipate from the darkness and Goku looked on, his gaze then turned to 18 who stood in silence.

"Atleast he was able to do something" murmured 18, Goku stayed silent for a moment, crestfallen at his failure, sensing this, 18 turned towards him

"What are you moping around for?"

"Well" Goku began "We couldn't turn you back into human and it's my fault that you-"

"Enough" 18 replied "It's not your fault, Goku, you didn't know and it's Gero's fault for turning me into this in the first place"

"But!-" Goku interjected, 18 then snapped at him "It's not your fault, besides that program was the only thing that was annoying me, now that that's gone, it's fine, besides 17 was right, it comes with it's own perks"

"I see, if you're okay with i-"

"I am, stop worrying about it" 18 answered once more, hoping to end the conversation and lift the guilt on the young warrior's shoulders, once she felt as if the task had been completely, she let out a sigh and folded her arms over her chest, waiting for him to speak and he did.

"So we should get back to capsule corp then, Bulma will be waiting, she would've finished fixing up 17 by now" he told her and 18 nodded her head, slowly they took to they took to the air and began their flight to west city, Goku flew ahead while 18 followed behind him closely, a melancholic smile on her face.

"Thanks for trying, Goku" the whisper was low

"Huh? did you say something?" Goku asked her, turning back, she stuttered as she fervently denied it

"No, I didn't"

"But I thought I hear-"

"I didn't say anything!" she coldy snapped at him, Goku let out a squeak as he looked away from her "My bad!". She smirked once more as she wacthed him turn away from her.

"Idiot"


AN: Wow long time! how've you guys been! hope you're all doing good!