Against the Androids (Quarter Time Series #1)
Chapter 1: Earth's Special Forces Gather
by Contrail
Disclaimer: Dragonball Z was created by Akira Toriyama. The American translation is done by Funimation. I am not either one of them.
May 12th, 767
Birds were singing, and early morning sunshine was shining on the small house in the 439 Mountain Area where one of the last of the Saiyan race lived. A tearful farewell was being shared between Goku, his wife Chi-Chi, and their son Gohan, while Piccolo waited impassively.
"Promise me that you'll all take care care of each other," Chi-Chi was saying in a voice choked with tears she was refusing to shed. She held in her hands a bundle of food wrapped in a blue cloth. "How about a little lunch before you go?"
"Mom, we don't have time for that," Gohan replied.
"Thanks, bye!" Goku said, turning away from Chi-Chi and looking to the sky. "Let's do it!" The three warriors took to the air, heading southwest towards the place where the androids were fated to make their appearance. Gohan quickly pulled ahead of the older warriors, youthful impatience getting the better of him.
"Slow down, Gohan!" Goku shouted ahead to him. "We'll get there in plenty of time. You'd better save your energy for the fight."
Gohan looked back towards his dad, just then noticing how he'd been outpacing them. "Oh. Right, dad." He slowed down a bit, dropping back towards the others.
There was a momentary silence, save for the sound of the air rushing past them. Then Piccolo began speaking. "For three years - three years! - we've trained just for this moment. But was it enough?"
Goku glanced over towards Piccolo. "Why don't you ask me again this afternoon? I think we'll know by then."
"If only we had more time. I feel like there's so much more I could have done to prepare. I could have gotten faster, I could've gotten stronger!"
"Don't say that! You did as much as you could, Piccolo. We all did."
They flew on in silence for a short time before Gohan suddenly smiled and laughed a little. "Hey, dad! Look! I can see Krillin!"
"Huh?" Goku looked to see that Krillin was flying a little bit ahead of them.
"Hey, Krillin!" Gohan called ahead to get Krillin's attention. Krillin's eyes widened a little, and he turned around to see the others behind him. Gohan flew ahead from where Goku and Piccolo were to join up with Krillin.
"Hey, bro! Long time, no see."
Goku pulled forward as well. "Hey, Krillin!"
"Hey, Goku! How are you feeling? You had us all worried for a bit there."
"Never felt better. That medicine from the future sure worked great! So, buddy, do you think you're about ready to tackle a couple of androids today?"
Krillin's expression turned a bit worried. "Well, I suppose I'm as ready right now as I'm ever going to be, you guys." He closed his eyes. "I just wish that things didn't have to be this way."
"Hey, look up ahead!" Gohan broke in.
"Huh?" Krillin looked forward, and could see the tip of a mountain just over the horizon.
"That must be the island, right there!" Gohan continued. The four of them accelerated a little, and were soon hovering over an island. A large mountain dominated one side of the island, and a decent size city spread out below it. Everything looked calm, as if the island's inhabitants had no idea of the danger they would soon be in.
"Boy, there's a lot more people here than I thought," Goku commented as they looked down at the city.
"Yeah, I didn't even know this city existed!" Krillin replied.
"It looks like we'll have to divert the androids away from the city," Gohan continued. "'Cause if we don't, too many innocent people down there could get hurt."
"Let's try not to get too far ahead of ourselves, you guys," Krillin said, glancing at the others. "We have to find them first."
"Then we better start looking!" Goku decided. They started descending, moving towards the city and the mountain.
As they were doing that, Bulma, Yamcha, and Tien were standing on a plateau most of the way up the mountain, looking up at the four flying figures. "I told you, Tien. It's him! Hey, Goku, down here!" Yamcha called out, attracting their attention. They all changed course to land on the plateau, with Bulma and Yamcha waving and shouting at them as they approached. Bulma was waving with only one arm, because she was holding an infant in the other one. Krillin's eyes widened and he made a surprised noise as he noticed this.
"You're late! What took you guys so long?" asked Yamcha as they landed.
Goku ignored his question and instead asked, "Bulma?" as she stepped closer to them. He wondered why was here, along with her baby, when she knew that things were going to get dangerous later.
"It is Bulma." Gohan had had a little trouble recognizing her for a moment, since the last time he'd seen her her hair had been in an afro. It was now chin length and straight, with bangs.
"Hey, guys. Wow, you all have been working out, haven't you?" Bulma asked, not paying attention to the incoherent surprised noises coming from the others. The child in her arms hid his face in her shirt.
Goku was the first one to get over his surprise and step forward. "Bulma! What in the world do you think you're doing out here?"
"I've come to watch you fight, silly. Oh, don't worry, I'll just stay for a while, and then I'll go home."
Krillin leaned forward a little nervously. "Eheheh, I hope you don't think I'm nuts for asking, but what's the deal with that baby, Bulma?"
"Is he your son, Yamcha?" Gohan asked, looking towards Yamcha. "I'll bet he is."
Yamcha just crossed his arms over his chest and hmphed. "It's not my kid."
Krillin went, "Huh?" The kid wasn't Yamcha's?
"Well, if you think that's a shock, just wait. Wait until she tells you who the father really is." With that, Yamcha turned away and stalked a few paces in the other direction. Krillin and Gohan stared after him, while Goku walked forward and bent down to get a good look at the baby, chuckling.
"I'll bet it's Vegeta, isn't it?" Goku asked while wiggling his finger in front of the baby. "Right, Trunks?"
"Hunh?" Gohan and Krillin looked towards Goku and Bulma again in surprise.
"Now who told you that, Goku?" Bulma asked, a little surprised herself. "I wanted to keep it a secret. I was going to surprise you guys."
Goku became nervous, realizing that he'd slipped up. He wasn't supposed to let people know that Trunks was Bulma and Vegeta's kid, and that he was the one who'd traveled back in time from the future. "Well, actually, I just thought I'd take a guess," he said nervously. "I mean, he kind of looks like Vegeta."
"You guessed his name, too."
"Yeah, what are the chances of that, huh? Um, maybe I'm psychic." Goku continued to laugh nervously.
"Outrageous," Krillin commented, still shocked. "Who would have guessed, Bulma and Vegeta..." Yamcha just sat there with his head propped up on his hand, looking depressed.
"Well, since we're on the subject," Piccolo finally spoke up, "where is Vegeta?"
"I don't have a clue," Bulma answered. "I really haven't seen him around lately. I know he was training to come here and all, but what with the baby and all, well, I guess I must have lost track of him."
"He'll show," Goku said confidently. "He wouldn't miss a fight."
"I left Chaotzu at Roshi's," Tien said, joining the conversation. "To be honest with you, I didn't think the little guy would stand much of a chance out here." Goku nodded.
"Bulma, what time is it?" Gohan asked as he approached her.
"Well, it's..." She looked down at her watch. "According to my watch it's 9:30."
Goku has walked up to her as well. "Bulma, you'd better get out of here before it's too late. Those androids are going to be here in half an hour!"
Bulma just laughed. "Don't worry. I just want to see what these things look like and then I'll go."
Meanwhile, Piccolo had moved so that he was standing at the edge of the plateau, staring down at the city, watching for any sign of the androids. Tien walked over next to him, looking down as well. "Well, it's almost show time. Just another thirty minutes to go."
The group settled in to wait, Piccolo and Tien still watching the city below, while Goku, Gohan, and Krillin were clustered around Bulma and Trunks, trying to keep the baby entertained and not get too tense about what they knew was coming. Twenty minutes slowly crept by.
"Quiet, you guys!" Piccolo's voice suddenly cut through the laughter coming from those who were watching Trunks. "Someone's coming." Everyone turned their heads to look in the same direction that Piccolo was.
"Hey, do you... think it's them?" Gohan asked a bit hesitantly. The androids weren't supposed to be there for another ten minutes, but...
"I can't tell yet," Krillin answered in a quiet voice.
The black dot slowly grew larger as they watched, until they could discern that it was an aircar approaching. The driver of the aircar, Yajirobe, stuck his head out to the side as he sped closer to the group. "Yep, they're all right here. Just like Korin said."
The others relaxed as they saw who was in the car, and waited for the aircar to land. "Yajirobe!" Goku said happily as the rotund swordsman hopped out of his vehicle. "Hey! You came to help us fight the androids!"
Yajirobe just shot the grinning Saiyan a surly look, which made Goku's expression change from happy to confused. "No way! I just brought these sensu beans, from Korin."
Goku's face immediately brightened. "Ah! Thanks a lot! And give my best to Korin." As Goku was saying this, Yajirobe handed him a bag of sensu beans, then turned to depart.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," was Yajirobe's reply as he got back into his aircar. "I'm out of here."
"Hey, are you sure you don't want to stay and help us out?"
"If you guys want to stay here and get yourselves killed, that's your own business. But I'm taking off while I still can." Yajirobe fit deeds to his words, turning the ignition on his aircar and racing back the way he came. Goku watched him go, a bit confused by his attitude, but soon just shrugged and went back to waiting.
The minutes passed second by second, and 10:00 AM came and went. The city below them still seemed as peaceful as ever, and the warriors were beginning to get restless. Finally, Tien decided to speak up. "Don't you think it's a bit strange?" he asked with a slight frown. "It's already past ten o'clock, and there isn't a single sign of those androids."
"Yeah, you're right," Gohan agreed.
Yamcha walked up to the edge, where everyone else was already standing, shaking his head a little. "I can't believe I actually listened to that kid. Androids, that's a good one."
"Don't be so literal, you guys. It's only 10:07," Bulma argued. "I wouldn't jump the gun just yet."
Yamcha narrowed his eyes a little in irritation. "Excuse me, but I think we would have sensed their power levels by now. Sorry to disappoint you, Bulma, but those androids just aren't coming."
As if to disprove his statement, the sound of a sudden explosion made everyone turn and look down towards the city. It looked like part of a city block had just gone up in flames. They were too far away to see or hear the commotion that was bound to follow such an explosion. "Whoa, what was that?" Goku asked.
"It must be the androids," Piccolo said.
"But, then why can't we sense their power levels?" Goku responded.
"Well... They're both androids, aren't they? So maybe we can't," Gohan suggested.
"Aaah... That's crazy!" Yamcha said. The idea of fighting opponents that they couldn't sense was a bit unnerving.
"Oh, man..." Krillin moaned.
"Even if it isn't the androids, the people down there could use our help, you guys. Krillin, look after these," Goku said as he tossed the bag of sensu beans to him. "We'll decide what to do when we get there and see what the situation is, but I don't want anyone trying to take the androids on by themselves."
Piccolo looked at the scene of the explosion again and growled. "Let's go!" Bulma could only watch as they all lifted off from the ground and shot towards the city.
Author's Note
This chapter is mostly a rehashing of Episode 111, "The Androids Appear". The most significant changes I made were to the timing of Yajirobe's visit and how the androids got the attention of Earth's Special Forces. This was mostly done because I didn't want Yajirobe sticking around longer than necessary. He's not exactly my favorite character, and it's one less character that I have to juggle. Plus, this way they don't have waste time trying to find the androids. Things will diverge more as the story goes on, don't worry.
I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but at the same time I'm not sure how to fix it, so I'm going to go ahead and post it. Next chapter should be better. (At least I hope so...)
Thanks goes to uncreative pseudonym, Mademoiselle Kazie, and Kelly Neptunus for their reviews. As always, I'd love to hear any feedback about this story, either through FF.net's review system or e-mail.