A/N: Big apology for the age it took for this chapter to come out. I didn't want it to be

         too corny, so I had a good long think about it.

         I decided I had better put the rating up to PG-13 because I want to make the

         fight scenes quite graphic so it's more realistic.

         Thanks for all your lovely reviews. Please just read and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or any of it's characters.

                                           Chapter 4: A new evil!

                Gohan sat at his desk, his math book open in front of him. The sums were all merging into one big mass of black, as he fell into another daydream. He had been doing that a lot lately and his mom wasn't best pleased with him when he did, because he didn't get his work done.

      "Gohan! I'm going to see Bulma, do you want to come?" Chi-Chi's shrill voice carried up the stairs.

      "Sure, mom. I'll be right down." Gohan replied. Anything to get him away from his math book for a while.

He jumped out of his chair and ran out of his bedroom, before taking the stairs two at a time and landing gracefully at his mother's feet, who was waiting by the front door.

      "Did you get some math done?" Chi-Chi asked, a stern look on her face.

      "Of course I did, mom." Gohan replied, indignantly.

Chi-Chi gave him an even sterner glance and then turned and opened the door. The late morning sunshine fell onto her face, followed by an early May breeze. Gohan squeezed up beside his mom and peered out the open doorway.

      "Do you want me to call Nimbus?" Gohan asked, looking imploringly into his mother's eyes.

Chi-Chi nodded, but her mind was clearly some place else, because her gaze seemed to seep right through Gohan as if he was transparent.

On Gohan's call, the fluffy, yellow cloud skidded to a halt a couple of feet in front of, the now alert, Chi-Chi. She jumped on and Nimbus sped after Gohan, who was already a dot in the distance.

            They arrived at Capsule Corps a short time later, the sun still shining, but the breeze blowing with a slight harshness now. Gohan knocked on the front door of the yellow capsule house, Chi- Chi stood just behind her son, who was but a few days off his tenth birthday.

Bulma opened the door a minute or so later, baby Trunks in her arms.

       "Hey, you two. How are you guys?" Bulma asked in her usual uplifting tone of voice, rocking Trunks to and fro, making him giggle.

       "Not to bad, Bulma." Chi-Chi replied, although her worn face, with bags under her eyes, suggested otherwise.

Bulma decided to sit Chi-Chi down and get her a cup of tea. Gohan trailed behind the two women, wishing he could go spar with Piccolo, but he'd already had his two hours training today. That's all his mom allowed him and he was lucky to get that much.

            Bulma gave Trunks to Gohan to hold while she made the tea. Gohan sat in the front room, with baby Trunks sitting on his knee. He had grown quite a lot in his six months and he was quite a remarkable little thing. Already showed the determination he inherited from his dad and his mom, uttering whole words already.

      "Go…an." Trunks said, waving his hands in front of Gohan's face.

      "Your so clever, Trunks. You nearly got it that time." Gohan applauded, pulling faces at the infant. "It's Gohan." He sounded out, slowly.

      "Go…an!" Trunks repeated, stubbornly.

Gohan laughed. "Never mind." He said between laughs. "Do you want to play horsey?" Gohan asked, remembering when his dad asked him the same question when he was younger.

Trunks waved his hands and giggled in response. Gohan started bouncing the purple-haired chibi up and down in his lap, causing him to laugh even harder.

      "Gohan! Would you like a drink?" Bulma's voice carried through to the front room.

      "Orange juice, please." Gohan replied, still pulling faces at the chibi on his lap.

            When the adults came into the front room, they found baby Trunks tugging on Gohan's charcoal-coloured hair. Gohan was wrenching at the small child's arm, trying to get him to release his hair.

       "Mom! Get him off me." Gohan yelled, realising how strong this small chibi was.

Bulma quickly walked over and extracted her son's hand from the older chibi's unruly hair. Chi-Chi sat down on a couch the opposite side of the room, suppressing a laugh.

       "It's not funny, mom." Gohan moaned, a hurt expression on his face, staring over at the purple-haired hybrid, who was laughing.

            Chi-Chi and Gohan stayed at Bulma's for lunch and then they made their way back towards the mountains with Nimbus. They landed outside the front door and went inside, Chi-Chi sighing wearily.

      "Are you okay, mom?" Gohan asked.

      "I'm fine." Chi-Chi replied, a bit too quickly. "Now be a good boy and do some study, okay."

Gohan suppressed a sigh. "Sure, mom."

He walked, slowly, upstairs to his room. Study again, he thought, I really am not in the mood for it this afternoon.

            Gohan sat at his desk an hour later, staring into space, his science book open in front of him. Chi-Chi walked into his room, quietly, not wanting to disturb him, but when she saw him sitting there, staring into space, she made her presence known.

       "Gohan! What do you think your doing? You're meant to be studying!"

Gohan jumped and nearly fell off his chair, flinching at his mom's angry face, which was now barely inches away from his own.

       "Mom?" He asked, as if he wondered where she had just come from.

       "I'll give you mom!" Chi-Chi yelled. "You're meant to be studying! I bet you haven't done anything in the last hour!"

Gohan flinched again; his mom's voice carrying down his ear and making his ear drum burn. "Sorry, mom. I have tried to study. It's just I find it hard to concentrate sometimes." Gohan explained, not wanting to mention the word 'dad' in fear that his mom would start crying or worse.

Chi-Chi's hard face softened a little. "You probably need some fresh air. Why don't you go get the groceries for me."

        "Sure, mom." Gohan replied, perking up immensely, jumping out of his chair.

Chi-Chi smiled. "No sneaking off to train with Piccolo mind. You get the shopping and come straight home. Do I make myself clear, young man?" Chi-Chi said, giving her son a stern look.

        "Of course, mom." Gohan replied, in his sweetest possible voice.

With that he took the grocery list out of his mother's hand and flew out of his bedroom window.

Chi-Chi laughed quietly to herself. "Just like his father, always in a hurry."

            Gohan landed down in South City. The perfect place to get his mom's shopping and the people here were really friendly too. He wandered down the street, noting how empty the place looked. Okay, it was a Sunday afternoon, but there should be more people than this. So far he had seen a shop door slammed abruptly by a woman who looked terrified and a young girl, probably slightly younger than he was, running in the opposite direction to where he was walking, her face twisted with fear.

       "I wonder what everyone's so scared of?" Gohan mused out aloud, concentrating hard to see if he could detect any high ki's.

When he found no unusual ki activity he shrugged his shoulders and carried on towards the store he usually went to. When he approached it, he found that the door was locked, and the curtains in the window were drawn. He knocked on the door. No answer.

       "Hello! Is anyone there?" He called through the closed door.

There was still no answer. He was about to give up and go to a different store, when he saw the curtain twitch. He heard movement just inside the doorway. The letterbox was forced open.

      "Get out of here while you still can kid." The husky, male voice came through the letterbox.

      "What do you mean?" Gohan asked, confused.

      "Just do it!" The voice cried urgently.

The letter box then fell shut again, and Gohan could hear, quick, urgent steps running back through the house. What was that about, he thought. He shrugged his shoulders again and carried on walking down the street.

The sun was burning brightly in the early May afternoon, forcing Gohan to squint so he could focus his vision properly. He pushed his black locks out of his eyes, the breeze blowing them stubbornly, obscuring his vision, along with the sun. He wasn't having much luck; all the stores he usually visited in South City were shut up, just like the first.

        "What's going on here?" He all but shouted, getting rather agitated.

He suddenly heard a sarcastic chuckle, and it wasn't a friendly sarcastic chuckle either. He spun round, readying himself mentally for who was laughing at him.

Standing just a few feet away from him were two humans; one male, one female. The male had jet-black hair, which fell down his face like curtains. The female had the same style but her hair was blonde. They looked like brother and sister.

Gohan breathed a sigh of relief. He was expecting someone evil, like Freiza or Garlic Jnr.

       "Hello." Gohan greeted pleasantly. "I'm glad there's someone out and about. This city is so deserted." He carried on, confidently.

The strangers exchanged bemused glances. The male moved towards Gohan, an amused glint in his eye.

       "Did you wonder why it was deserted?" The male asked, in a sarcastic tone.

Gohan stared questionly at the dark-haired male. "What do you mean?"

The guy laughed and, quick as a flash, kicked Gohan into a building.

      "That's why, kid!" He said, laughing evilly.

Gohan lifted his head up from the rubble his connection with the building had created. His head felt like it was on fire and he thought the guy's kick must have broken a rib or two because his chest had a searing pain shooting through it. Stubbornly and with a great deal of pain, he pulled himself to his feet and fell into his fighting stance.

       "We have got a tough one, 17." The female said. "Finally!" She added.

The male, introduced as 17, smirked and charged at Gohan, who quickly put his hands up to block whatever attack would be thrown at him. 17 started throwing punches, fast. Gohan blocked, but couldn't keep up with the guy's superior speed and crashed into the building again, having been punched in virtually the same place the kick had landed.

       "Give up, kid. We're much stronger than you." 17 boasted, laughing harshly.

Gohan struggled to his knees in response. He wasn't gonna give up. Not yet anyway. He clutched his chest, his face twisting in pain. Some ribs were most definitely broken now. He set his mouth into a grim line and stared determinedly at the dangerous pair.

       "Who are you, and why can't I sense your power levels?" He demanded, his voice wobbly despite his determined face.

17 grinned wildly and walked towards the young demi-saiyan.

       "I'm 17. This is my sister, 18 and we are androids. Therefore you can't sense us. " His tone was very matter of fact and sarcastic. "And you are our fiftieth victim of the day." He added, before laughing sadistically.

Gohan shivered. He didn't sense anything good in this guy, and his sister seemed just as merciless, laughing as well.

       "Now if your done stalling your imminent death, allow me to demonstrate how destructive I can be." 17 said, his eyes screaming maniac to the young boy.

Gohan blocked out all the pain and pulled himself to his feet, determined to go down fighting, but before he could act, 17 released a large ki blast straight at him. He quickly focused all his energy into his hands and crossed them in front of his chest. Please let this save me, he thought, and shut his eyes.

The blast connected with Gohan's arms immediately forcing the boy into the already crumbling building.

It's too strong! He screamed in his mind. The last thing his conscious mind heard was the victorious laughter of 17, before blacking out, as the blast engulfed him.

                                   * * * * * * * * * * *

            Piccolo came out of his meditation in a flash. The mental screams of his young student ringing in his mind. Gohan's power level was dangerously low.

      "Hang on, Gohan! I'm coming!" He shouted out loud, before taking off in the direction of the boy's fading ki.

                                   * * * * * * * * * * *

            17 stared at the limp boy, believing him dead, good and proper.

      "Come on, sis. Lets go. He's gone." He said, a sudden bored look on his face, as if he needed to go and find some more victims straight away, to satisfy his murderous appetite.

18 stared at the small boy, a doubtful look in her eye, and then shrugged her shoulders.

      "If you say so, 17." She said, before taking to the air, closely followed by her dark-haired brother.

They flew off to the other side of South City, extremely pleased at their day's work so far.

                                    * * * * * * * * * * *

            Piccolo kneeled down next to his limp student and carefully lifted the small boy up.

       "Hang on just a little bit longer, Gohan. Korin should have some senzu beans." The Namek said reassuringly, even though the small child could hear nothing.

With that he flew off up to the level just below the lookout.

            Korin, leaning on his wooden stick, walked up to the edge of his home as he sensed Piccolo's approach. The Namekian, landed smoothly in front of the aging cat.

       "Do you have any senzu beans, Korin?" He asked gruffly, laying Gohan on the floor.

Korin looked down at the injured boy, and nodded, a worried look on his face. He took a senzu bean out of a small bag he was holding.

       "Give it to him, quick." He ordered, handing the small bean to Piccolo.

Piccolo popped it into Gohan's mouth and made sure it was swallowed. Gradually Gohan's eyes opened, and then he sat up.

       "Piccolo?" He asked, confused. "Where am I?"

Piccolo breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "Korin's place." He answered.

Gohan shook his head in disbelief. He was so sure he had died. He even thought he saw his dad. He suddenly became alert, as if he had just remembered something.

       "Where are the androids?" He asked, jumping to his feet, staring around with keen eyes.

       "What?" Piccolo asked, confused.

       "The androids! The one's who tried to kill me." Gohan explained, realising that Piccolo must not have seen them.

Piccolo stared, wide-eyed at his young student. He wondered how Gohan had gotten so injured. He hadn't sensed any high power levels near him.

Gohan, realisng what his teacher must be thinking, quickly answered his question.

       "The androids said that we can't detect their power levels." He explained, carefully eying Piccolo's reaction.

       "That explains a lot, but where did they come from?" Piccolo asked in exasperation.

Gohan shrugged his shoulders. "All I know is that they enjoy killing people." He said, clenching his teeth in anger at his inability to stop them.

        "We'll have to talk to the others and find a way to find them and stop them before they kill more innocent people." Piccolo said, matching his student's determined face.

        "Right!" Gohan agreed.

They thanked Korin for the senzu bean and then flew off towards Kame house.

End chapter.

Well there you are. The androids have entered. What do you think? Let me know, send me a review. Next chapter soon, hopefully. Lol. ^_^