Chapter 2: Shape-shifter Witness
18, Krillin, and Oolong arrived at Capsule Corp around six-fifty. After touching down, Krillin put the shape-shifter down and looked at 18.
"So, do you need me to show you around?"
"No," she responded, "Dr. Gero programmed me with the layout of this place."
"He did?"
"The good doctor planned for us to destroy the company after Goku."
"Hey," Oolong protested, "are we going inside or are we going to just stand here?"
They walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. The door slid open, reveling Bulma.
"Hey, guys," she greeted, "where's the dirty old man?"
"Master Roshi? Well," Krillin answered, "let's just say he's…"
"…preoccupied," 18 finished.
"Too bad."
"Is Gohan here, yet?" Krillin asked
"He is now," 18 answered.
All four of them looked up and saw the Nimbus cloud descend from above. As it landed, they could here a feminine voice create dizzy sounds. As soon as they saw her, Chi-Chi fell of the cloud. Gohan rushed to his mother's aid.
"Are you ok, mom?" Gohan asked as he picked her up.
"Yeah…just…give me a minute."
The small party was commencing as planned. After some reunion conversation, everyone, except Gohan, Chi-Chi, and Vegeta, toasted to the defeat of Cell. After this, the conversations began again.
"Chi-Chi, why didn't you toast to your son?" 18 asked.
"Well, I can't. You see, in the several days Cell gave for a moment of peace, Goku and I…well, showed our love for each other again. Now, I recently found out…" Chi-Chi stopped with a smile on her face. 18 knew what she was talking about.
"So, what are you going to name it?"
"Well, if it's a boy, I thought about the name Goten, similar to his father. But, if it's a girl, I always thought the name Pan would fit."
"If me and Krillin ever have a girl, we decided on the name Marron for her."
"Android!" a loud voice came from 18's left.
"What is it Vegeta?"
"I wish to have a re-match with you. The last time you beat me was a disgrace. I wish to cleanse it."
"Vegeta!" Bulma shouted across the room, "You will do nothing of the sort!"
"Quiet woman," the Saiyan prince yelled. A loud cry was heard upstairs.
"Oh great. Now you woke up, Trunks!"
"Put him to sleep again!"
"No! You woke him up!"
"Ok, Vegeta," 18 interrupted, "I'll fight you after you fulfill your 'fatherly' duty."
"I…errrrhhh." Vegeta stomped towards the stairs followed by 18.
As all of this was taking place, Gohan, Krillin, Yamcha, and Oolong were laughing on the other side of the room.
"So, Gohan," Krillin started, "how have you been?"
"Fine. Me and mom are kind of lonely without dad, but I'm getting pushed really hard on studying now."
"Hey, Krillin," Yamcha said, "how's life with your android girlfriend."
"Actually, Yamcha, me and 18 tied the knot several months ago."
"Wow," Gohan awed, "She's not going to be like Maron, is she?"
"What? No. 18 is completely different that her."
"Come on, Krillin," Oolong interrupted, "tell them about the time you and her created a noise in the middle of the night…" Krillin quickly covered the pig's mouth with his hand.
"Oolong, not in front of Gohan!"
Gohan and Yamcha took on blank, blinking faces.
"Anyway," Krillin continued with a sweat drop, "I think Bulma put out the buffet now."
Both Gohan and Oolong rushed to the dinning room in a flash.
"Man, Gohan is just like his dad, isn't he Yamcha?"
"Yup."
Gohan was at the dinning room before Oolong. He looked at the array of food that was to be given, almost drooling. He took a plate and started to use the tongs to put the food on it. Then, Gohan heard a small, metallic tinking noise. Suddenly, the room was filled with a light blue gas that made Gohan disorientated.
"What the? Who's there?"
Already in his defense mode, he started to fell for any ki signatures. Suddenly, something punched him in the gut. A very strong punch. Gohan fell to the ground moaning in pain.
"What was that? I've never felt pain like that since that Raditz guy came to earth, but I was weaker then."
A laugh came from his right. "I see the gas works. Excellent." Something grabbed Gohan's clothes and lifted him up. Gohan started to kick in retaliation, but the thing grabbed his left foot. Before Gohan could shout, the figure covered his mouth. The gas started to settle as Oolong came to the dinning room.
"Hey, Gohan. I hope you didn't eat all of that because…aaahaaaahhhgggg!"
The shape-shifter saw a pale humanoid covered in cybernetic devices holding Gohan in his right hand. It was about five feet eleven inches and had a devious smile on its face. It took its left hand and ejected a needle from its upper wrist. Putting it into Gohan's arm, the Saiyan became knocked out. Oolong, coming out of his petrifaction, started to back up.
"Oh, now we can't have you warning the others." A tentacle shot out from its lower wrist and wrapped it self around the shape-shifter.
Vegeta was leaning against the wall of Trunks's room while 18 held sleeping Trunks himself in her arms.
"You have a cute son, Vegeta."
"What? He is not cute! He will grow up to be a great warrior!"
"More powerful than you?"
"No. I am the strongest fighter. He may surpass me on my death bed, but that's it."
"You still have Gohan to surpass."
"I know that. I will surpass him. I will ascend to the next level as he has."
After 18 put Trunks down, she walked over to Vegeta.
"Do you love him?"
"Huh?"
"Trunks. Do you love him?"
"Well, I…want him to be a great warrior like me."
18 smiled when both of them heard Oolong yell. 18 rushed out of the bedroom, waking up Trunks again. Vegeta was still in the room.
"Oh come on. Saiyans do not cry." He walked over to the crib.
"Quite," he whispered forcefully, "or you mother will hear."
Bulma, Chi-Chi, Krillin, and Yamcha were in the dinning room.
"What happened?" Bulma asked.
"It sounded like something happened," Chi-Chi answered, "Where's Gohan?"
"He should be here," Krillin replied, "Yamcha and I saw him run towards this room."
"What happened?" 18 asked just getting there.
"Something's happened to Oolong and Gohan," Yamcha answered.
18 examined the room with her scanners. At first, she could see nothing out of the ordinary, until the scans started to pick up traces of some kind of chemical residue on the carpet. Then she located a small device on the floor about two meters from the buffet table.
"There," she pointed, "Something released a chemical in here."
Krillin waked over and picked up a shiny, metallic device. "This thing?" he asked.
"What kind of chemical was it?" Bulma asked.
"I don't know, but who ever was here isn't a biological thing. There are no energy levels left in here, and I can't detect any now."
"Yeah, me either," Yamcha added.
"Oh, no," Chi-Chi said, "my boy is missing."
"You better let me analyze that Krillin," Bulma said walking to Krillin, "Maybe I can figure out what happened here."
"Ok, what happened?" Vegeta said walking in the dinning room. "Is the brat missing?"
"Yeah, he ran down here with Oolong, and now, they're gone," Yamcha summarized.
"Great, the boy is lost."
Chapter 3 is coming up.