Hercule was standing on a large stage, making a speech. Most of the population had gathered there to listen to him, to get some small amount of hope in a world where there seemed to be none. They shifted restlessly, nervous at being in such a large gathering in the open.
"Peoples of the Earth!" he announced. "These androids and the green one may be killing us, but we're not licked yet! You know that there are less then 200,000 people left on the planet, a mere fraction of a percent! Dr. Gero thinks he's got it, because he has the ace up his sleeve. But, my friends, we have the joker! I'll fight them, I am ready for them! When they try and fight me, they will be destroyed!"
"Oh really?" Floating above the bandstand, all four androids stood there, arms folded. The people screamed and ran, and the androids let them go.
"You are the strongest man in the world," Gero hissed, "and you've ran from me all this time. Ever since you destroyed Android 19, I've been wanting to kill you, but you've always gotten away. Now there is no escape!"
"Let him go, baldy," a voice came in from the side. All four androids jerked their head to the right, and they saw eight warriors looking at them.
"Who are you?" 17 asked, raising one eyebrow.
"I am Prince Vegita!" Vegita laughed. "This is my son, Trunks! That is Gohan, another saiyan and the rest are riff-raff from Earth."
Something in those names stirred something in 18. She remembered them, in Goku's personal files. Vegita was the one who had gone psycho and killed everyone. Gohan was his son, who left him, and Trunks was the saiyan from the future who had tried to kill him. The rest must have been his other acquaintances.
Gero growled at them, "17, take care of this scum. Then we can get back to the real battle with the strongest man on Earth."
17 stepped forward, but 18 moved up as well.
"I'm doing this," she said firmly, pushing her brother to the side. She stepped up to where the warriors were. Now it was time to really be merciless. Her anger and frustration let itself out in the one way she knew how.
The humans all zoomed for her. 18 waited until they were very close to get moving. Moving faster than they could even see, she dropped Yajirobe and Yamcha. Chou-su grabbed her around the waist and self destructed, but the blast was useless. Trunks flew forward in a flying kick, but 18 grabbed his leg and flipped him into Gohan, who was charging. Vegita came flying for her head, but 18 ducked, grabbed his arm and slammed him into the short bald human, who died.
"Solar Flare!" Tien charged forward while 18 was blinded and landed a hit, right between the eyes. It did absolutely nothing. 18 recovered and kicked him on the chest, sending him flying entirely through a nearby building. Hercule at this time turned and tried to run away, but tripped and fell down the long set of stairs. 16 flew down and hoisted him back up again.
Only the three saiyans were left, watching her carefully.
"Now that the weaklings are gone," Trunks muttered, nodding to the others. Vegita threw a shining energy orb into the air. Everyone watched it fly up, either with curiosity or expectation. Suddenly a hideous transformation took place. All three saiyans transformed into Oozaru, their saiyan armor expanding to fit their new size.
"Oh, wow," 17 rolled his eyes. "You throw a ball up into the air and turn into giant monkeys. I'm so impressed and scared."
"We have ten times our former power level!" Trunks roared in a gigantic voice. 18 ignored him.
"Not really," 17 told him apathetically. "But I suppose it is a big increase."
"I liked Goku's little golden hair transformation better than this, don't you?" she asked, turning to her brother.
"It's definitely a lot less ugly," her brother agreed.
While they talked, Gohan flew forward, one giant fist first. It hit 18 from behind and did... just about nothing. 18 didn't even budge, and turned around to look at the giant monkey a second. Gohan grabbed her in one hand, laughing.
"You don't stand a chance against saiyan power!" he roared, a voice magnified far beyond anything his had ever been. 18 rolled her eyes, then held one arm forward. Dual blasts spiraled out from her hand, blazing through Gohan, ripping a hole in him and send him through a couple of buildings.
"Where'd you learn that?" 17 asked.
"I got the idea from some green guy in the files; Special Beam Cannon or something."
"I like it." 17 smiled. "We can learn a lot from some guys."
"But not these weaklings." 18 turned back to them. "Did you know Goku?"
"Yeah, what of it?" Vegita roared, but he looked shaken.
"That's reason enough for me to destroy you. I'm surprised you were even honest about it."
"Don't talk about that weakling. He was always pathetic since he lost his tail. Since then he was forced to resort to weaker, flawed forms."
"Your form is also flawed." Her perfect, smooth voice showed no sign of the conflict within.
"There is no flaw in Oozaru form!" Vegita insisted, at least she thought it was Vegita.
"I'll show you it then." 18 almost smirked. In an instant, she flew forward and hit them both with an elbow to the jaw, then grabbed their tails. For a second incredible pain shot through both saiyans, who were immobilized. Twisting then pulling, 18 destroyed their tails completely, sending fire down their lengths. Trunks howled as the fire began to singe his fur. Before they were set on fire, both saiyans shrank down to a much smaller size, as their tails were gone.
A quick kick finished Vegita, and 18 launched a blast that staggered Trunks.
"You killed my father, my entire world!!" he yelled, flying forward, sword sweeping downward to end 18's life. She raised one arm. The sword struck. The sword snapped in half and 18 launched a final blast that incinerated the young saiyan warrior.
Less than one minute had elapsed, but 18 had finished most of the strongest warriors ever to exist on Earth, who were already back in the Afterlife. The androids turned back to Hercule, who was shaking.
17 moved forward, and threw Hercule up into the air, ready to blast him to pieces.
"Stop." An authoritative voice said, soft but commanding. Everyone whirled around to look, including Hercule, who fell to the ground forgotten.
Goku stood watching them, his aura blazing with power.
Up in the Afterlife, Vegita and the others stumbled in again, looking weary and beaten. Piccolo was meditating intentionally near the entrance, he opened his eyes and looked at them, an ironic smile spreading across his green face.
"Back so soon?"
"Shut up," Vegita said wearily. Piccolo snickered and followed them as they headed back into the Afterlife. Vegita was going to love spending an eternity with him.
18 shrank back, fearful of what was to come. Goku had changed drastically from the warrior he had been before. While her sensors mainly measured unhidden power, she could sense a behemoth of ki around him, waiting to be utilized. Before, he had been superior to any of them. Now, she knew he could have crushed them all like ants. Even worse, she realized, he knew it.
Dai Kioshin looked on in horror. Failure? It didn't seem possible that the most powerful warriors he could quickly accumulate were defeated so easily. He lost little enough from it, a few expendable lives, but had he succeeded, his plans could have began again. Maybe it was time to forget the fighters from Earth. The Celestial Fighters had potential, maybe he should have used them. In fact, maybe he could...
Smiling, Dai Kioshin steepled his fingers and sat back. A loss, true, but nothing he couldn't recover from.
He looked around, glancing at everything slowly. His gaze went over the bodies of Tien, Chou-su, Yamcha, Yajirobe, lingered on Krillin, then moved on to Trunks. Passing over Trunks and Vegita carefully, his gaze hit on Gohan. Goku sank to his knees, tears glistening in his eyes. Everyone, blasted past death again, he had arrived too late. Seeing Gohan's ruptured body made the rage began to rise within him, but he suppressed it, needing control more than power.
"Someone's going to pay for this," he whispered forcefully, putting his head up, his hair turning golden as he became a Super Saiyan. Surprisingly silently, he charged.
Curse you Gero, 18 thought, seeing her short life flash before her eyes, you got Goku mad and now he's going to kill us all! She closed her eyes and waited for her life to end, hoping Goku would make it quick. But to her surprise, no contact came, only a rush of wind as Goku flew past her. Whirling around, 18 saw Goku leap into the air in a flying kick. He made contact an instant later, hitting Dr. Gero's head dead on, the force of the blow knocked his head off. Changing direction, Goku stomped on it with one foot, then turned in one clean motion and fired an energy bolt at the body, which was staggering, mechanical bits hanging out. There was nothing left.
"It's over," Goku muttered to himself, "it's finally over."
Across the field, 16 dropped Hercule as if he didn't matter. The fundamental parts of his program were suddenly stripped away, he had no source to take commands from. One thing slowly burned its way through the mess of half-programming. Goku had killed the master. Goku needed to die.
Android 16 came zooming in, but Goku didn't even turn. 16 had been trying to tackle him into the ground, but Goku didn't even budge from staring at the remains of Gero. Feeling 16 hit his back, Goku flipped forward, pulling 16 with him. Goku drove one foot down into 16's back as they came in a full arc.
Leaping up, Android 16 charged at him again, but Goku held out a hand and gripped 16 in a choke hold. 16 hit him across the jaw as hard as he could, but Goku's head merely jerked back, unharmed. Grabbing him in a headlock, Goku flew high up into the air. With a yell, he brought 16 down to the ground in a mortal power bomb, one that proved to be the end of the android.
A ball of energy floated where the android had been. Goku dropped out of Super Saiyan, then pulled out a capsule and absorbed the energy into it, then turned back to the remaining androids. He was about to say something, when a green monster smashed into the ground behind them. Whipping his tail around, Cell knocked both 17 and 18 into the air and through surrounding buildings.
"You're very strong," Cell hissed at Goku, "you will make an excellent meal."
Leaping forward, Cell attacked with an uncoordinated flurry of punches. Goku blocked them all, then dealt Cell a hard kick that sent him flying backwards. Cell came diving back, but Goku launched an uppercut before Cell could attack that knocked him away.
"Solar Flare!" Goku stumbled back blindly, and Cell blasted him backward with a fully charged ki blast. Blinking and regaining his balance, Goku was punched again, then kicked from behind. Rolling as he met the ground, Goku kicked Cell hard in the face, then punched him hard in the stomach. Cell went flying backward and crashing into a building. Coming back swiftly, Cell launched a punch that made Goku fall back, but the saiyan turned the fall into a flip and slammed Cell in the chin with both feet.
"Solar Flare!" This time Goku said the words. Cell stumbled backward and Goku started hitting him in a swift succession of devastating moves. Eventually Cell recovered and lashed his tail, knocking Goku into a building. Even while crashing through metal, Goku began charging, then landed in a Kamehameha position.
"Kaaa-meee-haaa-"
Cell attacked Goku before he finished charging. Goku launched all his energy wildly, catching Cell full in the face, making him fall back. Wincing, Cell got to his feet slowly, seriously hurt.
"You are a bit too strong as I am now," he admitted, "but you're still no match for me!"
In the corner of his eye, Goku noticed both of the androids had left. Cell seemed to notice the same thing and his eyes narrowed. Leaping into the air, Cell seemed ready to attack, but before Goku could respond he flew off away from him. Gritting his teeth, Goku launched himself in the air and followed.
Looking back, Cell realized the saiyan was gaining on him. His head start had been big, but not as much as he would have liked. Glancing around, Cell thought as quickly as he could. While he had been distracted with the cursed saiyan, the androids had gotten away. Not after all these years of chasing them! Cell put on a new burst of speed.
There weren't many places they would go for refuge, out of the few options open to them. Then, Cell slowly smiled, as he thought of the one place they would go. Arcing to the side he moved toward Gero's lab. It was the only location they hadn't destroyed, the place their memories would originate, so they would have gone there. Perfect.
Deep underneath the lab, the ancient computer sat, unmoving and long since dead. Water slowly dripped from the ceiling, and the air seemed musty and undisturbed for years. Until now. A portal opened in one of the walls, and a form stepped out. Glancing around, it opened one hand and blasted the area around it to bits. Securing the portal in open position, it flew through the ceiling and into the sky.