Prelude to Disaster
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Chapter 5: Prelude to Disaster
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It was a stormy night at Capsule Corp. After Vegeta, Piccolo, and Goku had drug in the Android. Bulma had been hard at work, downloading and deciphering its memory. She had been holed up in her lab for hours, leaving the rest of the Z fighters with little to do to pass the time. Gohan had went to a private study in the building, with a little help from Chi Chi, and had begun to study. Goten and Trunks had retreated to Trunk's room to play video games. Goku and Chi Chi were eating quietly in the kitchen. Krillen was fast asleep on the couch. Vegeta was sleeping by himself in Bulma's room and Piccolo was meditating outside. The only two not doing much of anything were Seventeen and Eighteen.

"Look sis, I'm going back to the cabin ok? It may be minus a few windows but its better than sitting around this place." with that he turned to go, but Eighteens iron hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Look Seventeen, I know you don't like these people but they are trying to help us so just cool it ok?" she pleaded. He looked at her and scoffed, shrugging her hand off. He did not leave however, but wandered to a different part of the house. Eighteen sat and read a magazine for a while, but became bored after a few minutes. She too decided to wander the house. After looking around for quite some time, she decided to do some exploring. The first door she opened was to the kitchen, Chi Chi was barely done with her first plate while Goku had just started on his 11th. "Am I interrupting?" she called. Chi Chi gave her a desperate look then jerked her thumb to Goku, who was shoveling food into his mouth like it was something new. She smiled slightly and left to finish looking through the building.

***Meanwhile...

Seventeen opened the door to the dark room. The only light was from the TV where Goten and Trunks sat playing the video game. Seventeen glanced at the screen and immediently took a degree of interest; a car racing game. But on this one, you score points for running people and things over. Trunks looked over his shoulder to see who had entered and froze. Seeing that he stopped playing, Goten looked behind him as well and noticed the Android standing there. Seventeen looked at the game and back to the boys, "So, this is what you spend your time doing? Playing electronic games?" Even though he knew it might get him in serious trouble, Goten couldn't resist saying, "Well, your electronic too ya know, you might like this one." Him and Trunks burst out laughing at their little joke. Seventeen walked over to the boys. They began to get a bit scared, not knowing what the cyborg would do. Instead of touching the boys, Seventeen sat down and picked up the controller from the game system and, to the kdis amazement, began playing the game! And was racking up serious points. Goten and Trunks could only look on in amazement as Seventeen played the game like it was something he grew up with. 'Anything that involves cars and running people over I can get used to' Seventeen thought..

*****Elsewhere in Capsule Corp...

Gohan was sitting at his desk, about halfway through a book on Advanced Algebra when his door opened almost silently. Android Eighteen looked in and noticed Gohan staring at her. "Um..something I can get you?" Gohan asked nervously. Eighteen looked around for a minute then shook her head. "No, just doing a little exploring." Then she noticed the books and said, "What are you reading?" Gohan looked at her a bit funny and invited her to walk in and have a look. Eighteen walked over to the desk and read the titles of the books; Advanded Algebra, Grammar for everyday use IV, Quantum Physics...'Wow, what a smart kid' she thought. Then outloud, she said, "Hey, I have a lot of this stuff programmed into memory, would you like me to help you study?" Gohan looked at her then his face brightened. "Yea! That would be great!" he exclaimed. Eighteen pulled a chair up to the desk and began to explain the problems in the Algebra book like they were Pre-K stuff. In no time, Gohan and Eighteen were talking and studying like old friends..

****Back in Trunk's room..

"Well..that pretty much does it for that" Seventeen said with a slight smirk. The boys, jaws still hanging, couldn't believe their eyes. At the most, their score was only a few hundred thousand. In less than 10 minutes, Seventeen had scored well over ten million. "Wow, you must play this game a lot!" Trunks said. Seventeen strolled out the door, "Kid, I didn't play the game, I lived the game" he said before leaving. 'Well, that relieved the boredom for a while..' Seventeen thought. He wandered down the hall, stopping when he heard a woman yelling inside the room. He walked in and saw Goku bent over, Chi Chi desperatly trying to get him unchoked. "Goku! Goku! Oh comeon don't do this to me!!" she screamed. Seventeen blinked and looked at Goku, who was turning a slight shade of purple from lack of air. Without a word, he walked over and slammed his fist into Goku's back. Immediently a large chunk of chicken dropped to the floor. Goku coughed and gasped for a minute, then stood back up. Seventeen looked at him, then at his wife, who had backed away in fear at seeing the Android. Goku blinked in surprise. "Number 17! I..I didn't..th..thank you! Very much!" He grabbed Seventeen before he could protest in a bearhug. 'Oww!!! Piccolo was right! Goku is a lot stronger than we originally though' he thought. "Let....go...NOW!!" he choked out. "Goku let that thing go! He tried to kill you and now your hugging on it!?" Chi Chi screamed. "Technically I never tried to kill him. That was Sixteen, all I did was try to find him." Seventeen corrected. "It doesn't matter now Chi Chi, he could have let me choke to death but he didn't. Thank you Seventeen." Goku said. Seventeen looked at Goku with a slight smile,"Don't get me wrong, I only did it because we are going to need you to fight Dr. Gero with us." With that he exited the kitchen, leaving behind a stunned Chi Chi and a perplexed Goku.

****Meanwhile in Gohans study..

Eighteen and Gohan were hard at work. Gohan, thanks to the Androids extensive knowledge, had learned more from the 30 minutes Eighteen had spent with him than any of the tutors his mom had hired for him. The Android had sat there, perfectly calm even when Gohan had failed to get the lesson right several times in a row. Suddenly, Gohan looked up and said, "Um..Excuse me, Number 18?" Eighteen looked at him, "Yes Gohan? Something wrong?" she asked. "Do you want to kill my dad too?" he asked. Eighteen blinked at the question, "No Gohan, neither me nor Seventeen wanted to kill Goku. Sixteen did, but only because of his programming. All me and Seventeen did was try to find Goku for Sixteen to kill." She looked at him with a slight smile and continued, "Besides, Goku has been nothing but good to me since I came here." Gohan nodded and was about to say something when Chi Chi burst into the room. "Oh Gohan!" She grabbed him up and started hugging him to death,"My precious Gohan, she didn't hurt you did she? Are you alright?" She was squeezing so hard she didn't notice she was choking him. "Uggh!! Mom I'm fine, Eighteen was helping me study." he managed to get out. Chi Chi abruptly dropped Gohan, looking first at Eighteen, then the pile of books on the desk. "Wow, she really was helping you study." she said. She looked at Eighteen, "Well anyone that will help my little Gohan be a better scholar is fine by me." She said with a smile as she walked out. "Please tell me she isn't your mom.."Eighteen groaned. Gohan, picking himself up off the floor,muttered a "yes".. Eighteen just shook her head and laughed softly.

*****Back in Gero's lab..

The machines worked without stop, hurredly building Android #24. The robot would have identicle fighting strenght to Dr. Gero and could imitate all his moves. Gero himself had undergone alterations. After being beaten around so bad by Goku and Vegeta, he wanted to prevent that one from EVER happening again. Now he was stronger than ever and was going over the plans to what he called Project Obliteration. The plans were for 50 Androids, without names nor numbers, to be used as distractions while Gero and #24 destroy the Z fighters one by one. Maybe they would be physically weak, but it would suffice to give him time to carry out his plan of revenge. Gero looked over at where Android #24 lay. "Yesss....he will be complete soon...then Goku, I will finally have my revenge that I have deserved for so long.."

*****Back at Capsule Corp...

Beep! Beep! Beep! The computer terminal beeped loudly, startling Bulma from where she was sleeping next to the computer. She squinted, then yawned, finally sitting upright. When she saw the flashing red screen she instantly became alert. On the screen was a list of all the orders the Android had ever received. There wasent many, only 4;

1] Obey Dr. Gero without question, no matter what.
2] Locate and destroy Goku.
3] Eliminate all who interfere.
4] Distraction Protocol.

"Distraction Protocol?" Bulma said. She typed a few commands and the Distraction Protocol came up. It explained that in the event Gero needed Goku's attention diverted, he would engage Goku in a battle until furthur command from Gero. 'Thats all these were for? Diversions?' Bulma thought. She checked the statistics on the Android. The power level was only 5,000,000.. "Only 5 million? Thats weaker than Frieza before his final form! Somethings not right here, why would he invest time to build 3 Androids that could easily have been beaten? Its just taking up time.." she froze at what she just said.. 'Just taking up time...' "Oh no!" Bulma said. She quickly typed on the computer some more and was shocked at what came up.

"HEY GUYS!! GET IN HERE!!" she screamed. In about 3 seconds Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Piccolo were in the room. Eighteen walked in a moment later. "Oh hey Eighteen! Wheres the others?" Goku asked with a friendly grin. Eighteen looked at Goku and said, "Krillen is still asleep and Seventeen is outside doing something with animals." They all examined the screen. It revealed Androids #21, #22, and #23 were merely test subjects, diversions designed to hold off the Z fighters until the machines in the lab completed an Android identicle to Gero. "Does it say where the lab is Bulma?" Goku asked. Bulma did some typing on the computer and a few seconds later a screen came up with a grid on it. Bulma typed in some letter/number combinations and a flashing red dot appeared. "Bingo! Thats where Gero's lab is located" she said with a hint of victory in her voice.

"Well then, lets go give our old friend a welcome back party." Piccolo said with an evil grin. "For once Namek you have a good idea." Vegeta smirked at him as he and Piccolo walked out of the room. Gohan took off after Piccolo,leaving only Goku and Eighteen alone with her. Eighteen turned to Bulma. "Bulma, you still have the plans for the emergency suspension controller?" she asked. Bulma nodded. "Ok, good, make another one, but this time, make it exclude me and Seventeen. Maybe we can just shut Dr. Gero and #24 off. "Good idea! I already have you and Seventeens frequencies recorded, so I'll just make it shut down all Androids except for you two. Eighteen nodded and took off. Goku smiled at Bulma and hugged her neck before departing to go stop Gero.

******Back at Gero's lab..

The computer screen flashed and a strip of paper printed out from a printer attached to the computer. Gero picked it up and read it, "So...Goku and his friends are coming here eh? Hahahaha.....how ironic..thats exactly what I wanted!". He turned to the table. A large body lay covered up with a sheet. He yanked it back to reveal Android #24. The Android had long silver hair with grey eyes and was wearing black pants and a black shirt. Unlike 16,17,18,19,20,21,22,and 23, this one had no visible Red Ribbon emblem on its person or clothes.

Gero typed some instructions into the computer and #24 suddenly sat up, removing the wire from the base of its skull. Without a word, it hopped off the table and took off to Capital City, roughly 80 miles from Ginger Town.

"This is perfect..by the time Goku and his friends make it here, they will find me gone and think I have abandoned this whole charade." he said with a laugh. He took out some crates and dumped its contents all over the floor; Android parts, plans for Androids 25-35, blueprints for massive empires...all garbage, stuff he had no intentions of creating. "I'll let Goku find this old garbage and he will believe he's won..then, I'll strike when their guard is down!" he said laughing. Gero gathered what computers, software and machines he could then vanished using Instantaneous Movement.

****About an hour later..

Goku, Gohan and Vegeta,all in SSJ state, burst into the lab, followed by Piccolo and Eighteen. They rushed in to find...nothing! They began to rummage and explore the lab. In a short while, they discovered the "plans" Gero had left behind. "Well Kakarot, looks like we scared the tin man off" Vegeta said, slipping out of SSJ. Goku and Gohan followed suit. "Dad, it looks like Dr. Gero has given up..theres nothing left of his lab, and it looks like he destroyed all these old Androids." Gohan said, kicking at an Androids torso. Goku nodded silently, considering something for a long while. "Theres nothing left here, Dr. Gero is finished. Lets go home." Goku said. He, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, and Eighteen turned to leave. Vegeta was the first one out. He was already charging up a huge Ki blast to destroy whats left of the lab. As they exited, a flutter caught Eighteens eye and she turned to see a piece of paper dangling off the edge of a desk she started to reach for it but Goku yelled for her to get out before Vegeta blows her up too. Taking one last glance at the paper, she took off. As soon as she was clear, Vegeta fired his blast. No one noticed the paper falling to the floor or the drawings of the strange, balloon like structures drawn onto it. It was all obliterated by Vegetas blast.

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Coming soon: Return of a Nightmare: Chapter 6: The Androids Decision
Still like it? Keep it coming? R & R and lemme know!