Chapter Two:

Krillin, Tenshinhan, Choutzu and Juuhachi-gou were on their way to Korin's tower when the same explosion that threw Yamucha and Bulma into such disarray sent shockwaves of power through the air, not knocking them down but altering their positions considerably, like an earthquake in the air. Krillin was instantly thankful for the fact that they had left Marron at the monastery. She didn't know how to fly that well, and she might have fallen.

The rumble of sound lasted longer than would have been expected, indicating that this had been a city leveling sized blast.

They all looked at each other, eyes wide in shock. That had been close, close enough to feel. But there were only cities nearby… no place was barren enough to be used as a training area, not for really big blasts.

That could only mean one thing.

The day they had been training for was here.

"That came from the direction of Capsule Corp." Tien said, his face probably the most calm of the entire group. "But I can sense Yamucha; he's moving."

"But…" Krillin looked confused. "I don't sense any other power levels besides his. So what created that explosion?"

The answer, of course, was more than obvious. No power level, huge explosion, and in a fairly populated area, which meant it was probably geared to kill a lot of people. Tien just glanced at Juuhachi-gou, then back in the direction the blast had come from.

It didn't take the other three long to catch on.

"Androids!?" Krillin yelled out in surprise.

Choutzu looked at the tri-clops, eyes wide. "But… Gero didn't make any more of them! Remember, Cell was the last!"

Tien shook his head. "We don't know that for sure."

"Well, we can't know for sure," Juuhachi-gou said coolly, "Until we go look for ourselves, right?"

"Right." Tien nodded. "Let's go."

Their aura's blazed and they took off toward the place where Yamucha was just arriving.

+

From the sky, the devastation was a little more manageable. It was almost like a picture, looking at the ruined city, it's streets now impassible rubble and it's buildings chunks of concrete. It still struck something in him, but nothing compared to how it seemed once he was down in it.

The crumbled sidewalk didn't make walking easy, and he soon found that it was much easier and expended less energy to just float at a fairly rapid pace. It also kept him from viewing the random shots of carnage, of which there were many. Walking, it was almost impossible to not stop and look. Flying, he just went by and saw only a blur.

But not an inkling of who or what had done this. He had half expected to see whoever or whatever was responsible to be floating over the city, waiting for a challenge, but that had turned out to be wrong. There was no one, and he could detect no energy signatures, except for Tien, Krillin, and Choutzu, who were headed towards him. They weren't moving at full speed, which was just as well. From the looks of things, there was nothing to worry about. Everyone was dead and whoever was responsible had apparently vacated the scene.

But that didn't feel quite right. His senses, at least the ones he was most used to relying on, told him nothing. He couldn't see of hear anyone, and he could sense no ki. But something else, the sixth sense all real warriors have, told him otherwise. He could feel something here, but not in any way he could put a finger on. He just knew it, so he kept his guard up.

He had flown more than halfway across the city now; soon he would have to double back. But… he didn't think he was going to find anything that way. Whatever he was looking for was obviously either not there or hidden. To find it, he was going to have to do some blasting of his own. But he didn't want to do that. Blasting the rubble around, flinging the bodies of the dead along with the rock, just seemed more horrible than the original crime itself. Incredibly disrespectful.

He stopped, and touched down on a large piece of pavement that was still mostly intact. He needed to plan some way of covering the city, but with one person it didn't matter how great of a plan you came up with. If something wanted to slip by you and had all this area to hide in, there was very little chance of catching it.

He sighed. Really, there was nothing he could do but circle the city and hope to get lucky until the others got here. Maybe Piccolo would realize what had happened and show up. The namek was a great strategist, and any plan he came up with was bound to have a better chance of success, at least in Yamucha's mind.

The human warrior floated back up into the air, and was about to try his plan of circling the city when something slammed into his back, sending his off guard body flying through the air and into a chunk of building that was still together for the most part. He slammed right through the concrete, and before he had a chance to do more than blink the rest of the building collapsed on top of him.

+

The crap falling on him didn't really hurt too much; after so many years of training with people like Goku, it would take more than a few tons of rock to do him in! But it was a nuisance, and it cut off his view of the area that had just become a battle zone. To hell with the dead people, he was fighting in their stead now, so their souls would have to understand.

Yamucha summoned his ki, power that still surprised him with the growth it had gained during the last few months of training, and pushed it outward, blasting the rock off of him, surrounding him in a hurricane of his own ki for a split second.

He let it drop right away, not wanting to waste even the smallest bit of energy in what could possibly be a hard battle. Bits and pieces of rock fell to the ground all around him as he searched for his opponent. Front, no good. Left, right, no good.

Back…

"Are you looking for me, human scum?"

Yamucha whirled around, uneasy that he could detect no energy signature at all.

Floating a few feet above the rubble was a short, brown skinned man. Or maybe boy. He was about four and a half feet tall, with an extremely muscular yet skinny body, and dreadlocks that reached the small of his back, black, blue, and green. He wore baggy black pants and no shirt. On his chest was a badge that looked like it was part of his skin. It bore two things; the Red Ribbon army's logo, and the number 22.

"You… you're the one who destroyed this city and killed all these people!" Yamucha yelled, angry but also dragging this moment out for a few more seconds, gauging his opponent as well as he could without detecting any power level. The Red Ribbon badge along with what he sensed told him one thing: an android.

"Yes." The android said. "I am android twenty two." His voice was high, almost to the point of being reedy.

"Android 22, huh?" Yamucha smirked. "So, I take it you were made by Dr. Gero to kill Goku, right?"

"That is correct." 22 replied. "My database indicated that you are the human known as Yamucha."

"Yeah, I'm Yamucha." The human said. "And I think I've got some news for you; Goku's dead already, and has been for a while now."

He expected… well, he didn't know exactly what he expected. But it sure wasn't what he got. The android only smiled back at him.

"My sensors indicated this the moment I awoke from stasis. Fortunately, the great Gero-sama left instructions in case this were true."

"Which are?"

The android's smile widened, looking sinister. "To kill everything I see."

Without giving the remark any time to sink in, he flew at Yamucha and threw a punch at the human's face, which was blocked, but only just. He followed with a spinning kick that was aimed for the back of the human's head, but Yamucha was fast, and was able to drop down just in time, though a look of shock was pasted across his features as he did so.

Not wasting any time on idle watching, Yamucha braced himself against the ground with his hand and threw his legs up, catching the android in the stomach and sending it up and away from him. He launched after it, catching it before the momentum of his kick was lost, and planted an elbow in 22's spine, sending him plummeting back to the ground, where he struck hard, throwing up a cloud of dust from the impact.

There was no way Yamucha was going to believe that he could win so easily, so he kept his guard up and was ready when the android came barreling out of the smoke at him. 22's face was set in a snarl, and his fist was out, headed right for the human's face. Yamucha moved gracefully to the side, sliding about ten feet away as the android screeched to a halt right where he had been, it's fist still extended.

"Wolf Fang Fist!" Yamucha yelled out, dashing forward with the intent to end this as quickly as he could.

The Wolf Fang Fist technique was similar to the Kaio-ken, in the fact that it gave a phenomenal boost to speed, though it didn't increase strength as much. Yamucha slammed four punched into the android's face and three into it's gut, the last of which repayed him with a crunching sound, and then he flipped to the front, bringing his foot around and slamming it into 22's head, sending it flying back down to the ground with a crash and another cloud of dust.

+

This time there was a good thirty second wait before the android shot back out of the smoke, this time not coming at him but moving up on level with him, about twenty feet away. 22 looked mad, but he didn't really look all that worried. He smoother his dreadlocks out so that the all fell over his shoulders and down his back, then regarded Yamucha coolly.

"Your power is higher than my data indicated it would be. Fortunately, my own power is well up to the challenge." The android's grimace turned slightly, making it a smirk. It held one hand out toward the human warrior like a claw, and what Yamucha saw sent chills down his spine.

The red circle that looked like a laser lens in the middle of the android's palm wasn't particularly sinister looking, but Yamucha's memory of Dr. Gero's hand plowing through his stomach while one of those things sucked the ki out of his body was all too vivid.

He pushed the thought out of his mind, and pushed his ki up.

+

In the space of a fraction of a second, it looked as if some low voltage electric current had passed through the row of four z warriors. Krillin, then Juuhachi-gou, then Tien, then Choutzu all jerked back, halting in the air and eyes widening in surprise.

"Yamucha's ki just spiked." Tien said. "He's fighting something."

"Well, come on!" Krillin yelled. "Full speed ahead, guys!!"

They flashed out of existence, it seemed, moving faster than the speed of sound and leaving several sonic booms in their trail as they sped off toward the city.

+

Videl, Korin, and Yajirobi all looked up from their meal at once, a forkful of food dropping from the samurai's hand back to his plate as he stood up quickly, almost knocking the table over. Videl was up as well, and Korin hopped up off the chair and onto the table so that he was more on level with the other two.

"Hey, is that Yamucha?" Videl asked, sounding worried. The human had powered up far beyond what was normal for training, using amounts of ki that could have blown the gravity room to pieces. That could only mean a fight.

"Yeah, it's him alright." Yajirobi said grimly. "Come on, Videl. The others are headed straight for him. They might need some help."

The girl nodded, her face setting into lines of determination. This would be her first real battle, aside from the minute confrontation with Majin Buu that had, though it took a great deal of guts, not really been a fight so much as her own swift death.

She picked up the sword she had been using earlier for practice and tied the sash of the scabbard around her waist tightly, securing it in place so it wouldn't come loose when flying at high speed. Yajirobi picked up his katana off the pillow it had been resting on on the floor and did likewise.

"Let's go."

They vaulted the railing of the tower and blasted off through the air.

Korin stared after them for a second, his normal look of sarcastic amusement replaced now by concern. He hopped down from the table and began to pace worriedly back and forth.

+

A huge explosion rocked the northern mountain range, and a gigantic block of ice shattered to shards in it's wake, revealing a slightly tired looking Piccolo, who drew the hand he had just delivered the blast with back and tried to catch his breath. He had been working hard all day, and a good portion of this mountain was gone.

Of course, he could have blown the whole thing to fragments if he wanted to, but he was concentrating his ki blasts more, making them more intense but take up a smaller space. This made them more useful when fighting an enemy who was his own size or smaller. If more ki was packed into a smaller space, it was all the more potent. And a blast the size of a house would waste ki simply because not all of it even hit the target.

Suddenly his thoughts were snapped away from ki blast technique to what he had been keeping an eye out for all these past months of training; the ki signatures of several of the other z warriors powering up simultaneously. Yamucha near Capsule Corp., powered up to fighting levels. And the others, all flying fast towards him.

So, there was finally going to be a battle.

In a way, that made him excited, because he might finally get a chance to test how strong he had gotten and if it would be enough to defend the earth. But in another, more insistent way, it made him very nervous. What would happen if he and the others were not strong enough? What would happen to the earth if another Cell or Buu showed up?

Well, thinking about it wasn't going to help anyone, that was for damn sure.

Piccolo roared and blasted off in a super-nova of his own power, flying with astonishing speed toward the area of Capsule Corp., half the planet away.

+

Yamucha didn't know how the android got so fast all of a sudden. It's speed before had been pretty good, but not really anything for him to worry about.

But now it suddenly covered the distance between them in a flash and buried his fist in Yamucha's stomach.

The human warrior screamed, the pain roaring up his nerves, a thin spray of blood flying from his mouth as he yelled. 22 smiled and pushed his fist through even harder, and something, most likely Yamucha's ribs, cracked with a muffled sound that nonetheless filled his mind.

Android 22 drew his fist back, still smiling, and drew his arm up over Yamucha's head, cocking it so that the elbow jutted out. Then he brought it down, smashing it directly between the human's shoulder blades, sending him on a straight collision into the ground, kicking up a huge cloud of smoke and dust and almost making him black out from the impact.

Only a fraction of a second later, for to short a time for Yamucha to recover from the jolt of hitting the earth, the android shot down and planted it's knee in the small of the human's back.

There was a sickening crunch, and pain flared in Yamucha's waist and abdomen, making him scream, the veins standing out on his arms and neck. But that wasn't the worst. Pain, he could deal with.

Everything below his waist had just gone completely numb. As if his legs weren't even there.

His cries kept coming. He tried to stifle them, but it was useless. The pain clouded over everything, refusing to let his brain give anything but it attention. His vision blanked in and out.

Android 22 removed it's knee from his back with a laugh. Yamucha gritted his teeth together, biting the insides of his mouth hard enough to draw blood. Anything to keep the screams at bay and let him think.

What was the use? He was dead, and he knew it.

The android kicked him in the ribs, not very hard but enough to hurt his already damaged body. It flipped him over onto his back, and he found himself staring up into the blue sky, where clouds of dust still floated.

Then 22 was standing over him, one hand extended, blocking out his vision.

The red orb in the middle of his palm seemed to flex and open, but before Yamucha could really tell it was clamped over his mouth.

No!! I won't go out like this!! His mind screamed, as the draining sensation filled him, ki being pulled from every molecule in his body. While I still have a little energy left, I have to at least try!

He dragged one arm up, somehow moving it. He didn't know how, since the drain of ki was already making him lightheaded and numb. He raised his arm, opened his hand, and pointed his open palm at the android's face.

"Wha…" 22 looked at the hand, surprised, before a blast tore out of it and struck him hard in the face, throwing him backward and breaking the hold he had on Yamucha.

22 landed on his back, digging a trench in the dirt for about ten feet before he came to a stop. He was still for a second.

Yamucha grit his teeth and tried to look past the pain. He was weak now, a good bit of energy drained by the android and by his last blast. He clawed into the ground with his fingers, and pulled, turning himself over. When he landed on his front he cried out briefly.

Now… he reached the same hand forward, somehow only knowing that he had to move, had to get away. Digging into the ground, he pulled his body forward, useless legs dragging behind him like wood. Pain roared through his body like an express train, but he kept pulling.

Android 22 stood up, dusting his pants off. Then he looked at the human with disgust. It actually thought it would get away!

It had barely finished the thought before a green and white blur slammed into it, a fist hitting him in the face with the force to level mountains, throwing him backward into a pile of rubble.

Piccolo's feet touched the ground, and he crouched down into the old familiar stance, knees bent, two fingers extended against his forehead.

He charged the attack as fast as he could, knowing he would only get one chance to hit before the android came after him.

It blasted back out of the rubble, sending chunks of concrete flying everywhere, and landed exactly where Piccolo wanted it to; directly in front of him, about twenty feet away.

It got one look of surprise in as it saw the massive amount of ki charging at the tip of Piccolo's fingers.

"Special Beam Cannon!!"

The spiral blast moved fast, shooting out of Piccolo's hand and hitting the android square in the chest, and plowing through, leaving a dinner plate sized hole in it's wake.

The android was thrown backward, and landed on it's back in the trench it had made earlier, sparks flyng from the ruined machinery sticking out of it's chest.

+

Krillin, Tien, Choutzu, and Juuhachi-gou landed just as Piccolo stood over the fallen android.

"Any last words?" the namek growled at it, ignoring the humans completely for the moment and extending his hand over the robot, palm facing down.

"Enjoy this victory while you can!" the robot screamed at him with surprising fury, oil spewing from it's mouth and the open hole, staining the ground around it. "Soon Android Twenty One will come and kill you all!!"

"Goodbye."

Piccolo let fly with a huge wave of ki, vaporizing the thing's head and ripping the rest of the body to fragments.