The Battles Begin
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Chapter 4: The Battles Begin
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The glow of the computer monitor bathed
Bulmas face in light. For the last 4 hours she had been sitting at that
computer, trying to decode Dr. Geros data CD. There was a tap on the door
then Goku peeked his head in. "Any luck so far Bulma?" He asked. No sooner
than the words were out of his mouth but he was roughly shoved inside the
room by Vegeta, who had an even bigger scowl on his face than usual. "Hurry
it up woman we haven't got all night you know!" he snapped. Bulma turned
to glare at her "husband", "You know, it isn't easy trying to do this stuff!
There are millions of codes to try, it could take me hours or weeks so
just chill out for a while!" she yelled. Vegeta just grunted in dissatisfaction
and stormed off. Goku walked over to sit next to his life-long friend.
"Wow Bulma, that looks pretty hard" he said, staring at the screen with
countless lines of code and numbers on it.
She smiled at him, "Yes it is. I just wish
that hardhead Vegeta could understand this isn't easy." "Hey I know he
seems pretty rash, but hes just worried." Goku answered. Then, patting
his friend on the shoulder, he walked out of the room and back to the others.
Bulma smiled silently to herself for having such wonderful friend and turned
her attention back to the task at hand..
*******Geros laboratory..
Gero flipped the switch to activate Android
#23. The Androids eyes flashed red for a second before his programming
came online. This android, as well as #21 and #22 were not like 16,17,18,
and 19, they did not have thoughts or wants of their own, they were just
mindless servents that spoke only when spoken to and did nothing they were
not ordered to do. He got up off the table and turned to Dr. Gero. "What
is your desire Dr. Gero?" the android asked. Gero smiled and said, "I want
you and Androids 21 and 22 to go to the city I will designate, and once
you are there, completly destroy it. Let NO ONE live and make sure the
entire city is demolished" The robot turned and left, retrieving 21 and
22 to go and carry out Geros orders.
"Oh yes Goku..and once I have destroyed
most of Earth, I will be sending Androids such as these to all the other
planets you've gone where you've received help..this will be their "punishment"
for assisting you." he cackled aloud. He watched his Android army take
off and uploaded directions to Ginger Town to all three of them, describing
locations of police, fire squards, and images and profiles of the Z fighters
in the event they should show up. "Well, they may not have all the powers
I have but its close enough" Gero said with a twinkle of evil in his eye.
******Back at C.C., in the meeting room,
Vegeta, Seventeen, Eighteen, Piccolo, Goku, Gohan and Krillen are sitting
around, heavy in conversation with each other..
"This is stupid!! We're just sitting here
waiting for those bolt buckets to show themselves, we should be out there
AFTER them!" Vegeta screamed, slamming his hands on the table. Goku looked
at Vegeta, "I know your angry Vegeta, you have a right to be. But we have
to wait for Bulma to decode the disk before we know anything about what
were up against". He turned to Seventeen and Eighteen "Do you two remember
anything about Dr. Gero?" He asked. Eighteen spoke up, "We didn't exactly....talk
to him much. He told us our purpose was to destroy you, but that was pretty
much it." Seventeen started to say something but stopped and fell silent.
Vegeta noticed this and immediently jumped on it, "Well 27, or 37 or whatever
your number is, if you have something to say then say it!" Seventeen glared
at him and turned to Goku, "Right before I killed Dr. Gero I snatched the
Emergency Suspension Controller from him." Goku blinked, "Emergency Suspension
Controller? Like an off switch?" Gohan groaned at hearing this, "Yes dad,
it was suppose to turn the Androids off in case they rebelled." Eighteen
smiled a bit, remembering when Krillen put his own life at risk by destroying
the controlled instead of turning her off. Her thoughts were interruped
by Bulma bursting through the door, waving a stack of papers.
"I got it!! I did it!" she exclaimed. Then
her face fell slightly, "Well..most of it..some of it's still sketchy."
Gohan looked at the papers she had and his jaw hit the floor. He turned
to the others, "Dr. Gero has built Androids 21, 22, and 23. Hes using them
to destroy cities for him. He gave them several abilities, such as the
Kamehameha, Masenko, Big Bang, and Destructo Disk. Thats not all, they
all have Dematerialization and unlimited stamina and, since they are newer
models, they don't need to absorb or steal energy." He swallowed and continued,"
It gets worse, they plan to attack Ginger Town any time now!"
Vegeta stood up, "Good enough for me. Now
we kill them." Without giving anyone a chance to oppose, he blasted right
through the roof and towards Ginger Town. Goku, Krillen, Eighteen, Gohan,
and Piccolo followed suit, only Seventeen did not follow. "Aren't you going?"
Bulma asked. Seventeen looked at her through pale blue eyes, "Why should
I? When did any of them ever help me?" he replied. Bulma looked at him,
noticing for the first time how young Seventeen looked. He must not be
much older than...well, 17 or 18, maybe 19 at most. "How old are you? Err...Were
you?" Bulma asked. Seventeen thought for a moment, "I don't remember..what
does it matter? I don't remember anything before Gero and I didn't have
a place after Gero, so I don't win either way it goes." Bulma began to
feel bad for him, 'poor kid..did I just call him that? yea..I did..his
life must be miserable, all he had before was his sister and now not even
she's with him all the time.' she thought. She held out her hand to Seventeen,
who just looked at it oddly. "Lets put the past behind us please?" she
said sweetly. Seventeen just muttered something about silly humans and
took off after the others. "Oh well...he'll come around" Bulma sighed.
*****Ginger town, about 2 hours later.
Goku, Krillen, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan,
and Eighteen touched down at the same time. They looked around carefully.
Nothing out of place, the people that were out didn't seem to be in a panic,
no cars raced to get out of the city..nothing.
"Somethings not right here.." Piccolo said,
his cape blowing slightly in the wind. Every looked around..nothing seemed
even remotely out of place. A soft 'plat plat' sound was heard as Seventeen
landed beside his sister. "So, found our 'daddy' yet?" he asked rather
coldly. Eighteen glared at him for a moment, "No, and he ISN'T our daddy,
hes a psycho." Seventeen shrugged and glanced around the city, mumbling
something about humans being paranoid to death. After an additional hour
of them all searching, no signs of an Android attack are found. "Well this
certainly is nice but I have a life to get back to..Bye." Seventeen declared
before taking off. Stunned and HIGHLY pissed, Eighteen follows with Krillen
right on her feet, trying to get her, to no avail, to calm down. "Gohan,
I don't know about you and the others, but I can't sit around waiting for
a threat that might not even be coming. I'm going back." His aura flared
and he blasted off towards Capsule Corp. "Hey! Wait up!" Gohan called,
he turned to his father, "See you later dad!" then he too flew off, leaving
only Goku and Vegeta to watch for the Androids. Vegeta scowled and kicked
at some dirt, "This is stupid Kakarot. That woman of mine was wrong, there
are no Androids here." Goku took one last look around, beginning to think
maybe Vegeta was right, maybe the Androids wasen't coming here. He sighed
and placed his hand on Vegetas arm, putting two fingers to his forehead.
"What do you think your doing?!" Vegeta yelled, slapping Goku's hand away.
"If I touch you while I perform Instantaneous Movement, you'll be teleported
along with me." Goku explained. Vegeta considered this for a second, then
let Goku place his hand back on his arm.
Goku put two fingers to his forehead and
at the last possible second before dissappearing, a loud BOOOOMMM!!! was
heard in the distance. Goku stopped and stared at the direction of the
boom, a large explosion had ripped into a small building. He flew up to
get a look and his face fell. "Oh no!! Vegeta that was a church!! Think
of all the people that were inside!" "For your information Kakarot,
I don't give a damn HOW many people were in there! I just want those Androids!"
Vegeta yelled back to him. He flew up in the air and stopped beside Goku,
staring at the burning pile of rubble that was at one time a church. He
looked around, but could see no Androids. "Rats! I can't sense them anywhere!"
Goku growled. Suddenly a man that looked to be about his mid 40's appeared.
He had shoulder-lenght black hair that was tied back. He looked to be about
6' talland had to weigh at least 200 lbs. The man was wearing a tight fitting
white shirt that made his muscles bulge over black pants. Behind him, 3
more men suddenly appeared, each wearing grey sweatpants and black pullovers.
Like the first man, they too looked muscular and strong.
Goku squinted at the man for a second then
dropped into a fighting position. "Vegeta its them!" he yelled. Vegeta
instantly went SSJ. After a second of hesitation, Goku followed suit. "I
see you recognize me Goku" the older looking of the Androids said. "Allow
me to re-introduce myself, I am Dr. Gero, and this is Android 21, 22, and
23." Vegeta smirked at them,"We know who you are you junkyard escapee,
now I'm going to take you apart bolt by bolt." The Androids just started
at Vegeta then burst into laughter. Vegeta, clearly angered by this blasted
towards Dr. Gero, "Nobody insults the Prince of all Saiyans and lives!"
he declared. He cocked his fist back and aimed for Gero's face. Gero vanished,
appearing above Vegeta. He looked up just in time to get Gero's foot right
in his face, sending him plummeting to the ground and through the street
below, leaving a large hole where he hit. Gero spit into the hole and turned
back to Goku. "Now then, why don't you just surrender to us now and stop
this pointless little game?" he asked. "I'll never surrender!" Goku shouted,
"Why don't you just leave the people out of this?" Gero smiled slightly,
"21,22,23, plan A, go!" he called. The three Androids immediently flew
to different areas of the city and began killing and destroying everything
they saw. "Nnnnnnoooooooooooooo!!!!" Goku yelled as he charged, slamming
his foot into Gero's head before the Android even had time to move. Within
seconds Goku was all over Gero, beating and battering him all over the
city.
A large BOOOOMM shook the ground, but it
wasen't from the Androids, but from Vegeta, who had got his senses back
and was now ULTRA pissed at the Androids, especially Gero. His golden aura
flared as he charged at Gero, slamming his fist into his back while he
was distracted with Goku. The Android cried out and stumbled. "No Vegeta!
Go stop the others from destroying the city!" Goku yelled to him. Vegeta
started to protest but the pleading look on Goku's face stopped him. "Alright
Kakarot I'll save your damn city." he yelled. He then took off, if not
for the numbers sowed into the Androids pullovers he wouldn't have a clue
which Android was who. '23' he thought, seeing the nearest Androids shirt,
'Hmm..well, ones just as good as the other.' He landed next to 23, who
didn't seem to be paying him any attention. The Android was busy shooting
blasts at passing cars. Vegeta, in his best mock-cheerful tone, called
out, "Hi Bolt Brains, wanna play?" The Android regarded him for a moment
then pulled the information he had on Vegeta to his memory. The Android
turned to Vegeta and assumed a fighting stance. "Aww, don't wanna play?"
Vegeta mocked. The Android took off after him. Vegeta, smirking, rushed
forward to meet the challenge.
Gero and Goku were going head to head.
Goku had powered up to SSJ2 and was, at the moment, winning. Blow after
blow landed and Gero was being roughly smacked around like a rag doll.
Then, he vanished. Goku looked around for him but couldn't see nor sense
him anywhere. "Looking for me Goku?" a voice said. Goku turned around in
time to get a Ki blast right in the face. He fell towards the Earth like
a meteor and crashed through a building. Cursing himself silently for not
being able to get the Androids out of the city, Goku flew back towards
Gero and resumed fighting.
Things were not looking good for #23. Vegeta
was punching, kicking, and blasting him all over Ginger Town like he was
a child. The Android, clearly not as strong as Gero, had hit back with
a few attacks,but they did little or not damage to the super Saiyan. Android
23's frustration was starting to show. "I must defeat you! Its my job!"
he shouted to Vegeta. Suddenly, Vegeta vanished and re-appeared behind
23, grabbing him and flying straight down with him. He released him, burying
him inside the remains of a building. Using a few quickly timed blasts,
Vegeta knocked the building down on the Android. With a huge smirk on his
face, he flew down to where he could get a good view of 23. The Android
was badly damaged and struggling to get free from the wreckage. "I..must..defeat..you...its...my....jobbb.."
the robot stuttered. Vegeta raised his right hand and pointed his palm
at 23. Even though they were about 30 feet apart, Vegeta could clearly
see the fear on the Androids face. "Bigg...Bannng..." He stopped and looked
at the Android, smiling coldly, then vanished. A second later he appeared
right in front of the Android. "Must.....defeat.......you....its......my.......job..."
was all the Android could say. Vegeta smirked at him, "Your fired!!" he
yelled at him. The Androids eyes got as wide as saucers and he opened his
mouth to scream. "Atttaccckk!!!!" Vegeta screamed as the ball of glowing
energy erupted from his palm like a rocket and scored a direct hit on Android
#23. The explosion rocket the whole planet. Goku, Gero, 21, and 22 stopped
and looked at the direction of the blast. The explosion destroyed 12 city
blocks and left a cavernous crater in the city. "No Vegeta!!! Not in the
city!!" Goku screamed to him.
Big mistake. When Goku turned around, Gero,
21, and 22 all three jumped on Goku and began to beat him. Vegeta sensed
Goku's Ki starting to weaken and he looked for him. He saw him, in the
sky over the outskirts of Ginger Town, being beaten by 3 Androids at once.
He growled to himself, "Nobody beats on Kakarot while I'M around, thats
MY privilage!" He vanished, appearing right in front of Android 22. Without
a word, he grabbed the Android and took to the skies with him, punching
and beating him all the way.
******Up at Kami's lookout...
Dende watched the battles from the edge
of the lookout. He closed his eyes and concentrated...
Piccolo!!>
After a moment, Piccolos voice rang in
his head. Dende? What is it?> he answered. Goku and Vegeta are
battling the Androids back in Ginger Town, you have to help them!> he said.
Piccolo never answered back, he was already on his way back to Ginger Town.
*****Back at the battlefield...
Gero raised his hands, making some odd
movements with them before pointing them at Goku. Goku gaped, "Thats Trunks
Finish Buster!" he yelled. No sooner than the words got out of his mouth
the blast erupted. He dodge, but not by much. #21 took this oppertunity
to grab Goku in a full nelson and hold him steady. Gero was on Goku in
seconds, beating and kicking him while 21 held him from escaping. Blood
flew from Goku's nose and mouth as he was beat like a dog. "I grow tired
of this, set him down somewhere 21." Gero commanded. 21 nodded and slung
Goku like a brick to the ground. He crashed into the dirt like a rock.
Gero cupped his hands to his side. "Kaammmee Haaammme HAA!!" he yelled,
sendng the blue energy blast straight for Goku. He and 21 were so busy
laughing they didn't notice the figure appear behind them. Without making
a sound, a green arm reached out and grabbed 21, vanishing with him. Gero
looked around, surprised to see his Android servent dissapear.
Goku opened his eyes slightly, the gigantic
blue blast was coming right for him. He struggled to move, but found he
simply didn't have the strenght. Then, at the last second, Piccolo appeared
in front of Goku, holding a struggling Android 21 in his hands. He pulled
back and slung the Android right into the blast. The explosion was terrific,
almost blinding in fact. Gero ground his teeth, growling as loudly as possible.
He didn't waste time, he used Instantaneous Movement to teleport back to
his lab, leaving #22 behind.
*****In the skies above Ginger Town..
BAM!! BAM!! BANGG!!! The air resounded
with the sounds of the battle going on. The Android, obviously one of Gero's
weaker creations, was being banged and beat. "I grow tired of this, time
to end our little game!" Vegeta declared. He pointed his hands at the Android,
who was struggling to remain airborne. "Gallllic Gunblast!!!!!" he yelled.
The purple beam rocketed towards the Android, who had no time to move.
But right before it connected, Piccolo snatched the Android up and flew
back to Goku with him. The Galic Gunblast harmlessly shot off into space.
"Why did you do that Namek!?" Vegeta screamed. Goku, who had been given
a senzu bean by Piccolo, yelled to him that Bulma needed one of the Androids
alive to run tests on it. Scowling, Vegeta followed the others back to
Capsule Corp..
*****Back at C.C.
Bulma had taken the Android, which Piccolo
had bashed over the head to render helpless, in the back of the lab. Unlike
17 and 18, these were like 16, 19, and Gero, all robotic. Bulma had it
hooked to a computer and was in the process of downloading its memory banks
to the computer terminal. Outside in the main room, the Z fighters were
sitting around discussing the events of today. "Well, I guess thats the
end of Dr. Gero's little rampage." Piccolo said. The others started to
nod slightly when Goku spoke up. "No, he wouldn't give up that easy. I
know him, its just not like him to give up so quick." he said. Vegeta smirked
,"Well Kakarot, seeing as how his tin can army is now a bunch of scrap,
I don't think he'll be doing anything furthur." The chatter in the room
continued for hours, as did Bulma working endlessly on the Androids memory
banks.. But back in Geros lab at that moment, Gero was busy too..on Android
#24, which would have his exact fighting power...
"Oh yes Goku" he was saying "I may have
let you believe you could win this time, but next time..will be quite different.."
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Wow! Part 4's finally done. Now,
on the upcoming chapter, the true nature of Gero's plans is revealed!
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please!