Chapter 24

Videl

Videl was outside of the base, quietly meditating. She was trying to still her heart and mind, make sure she was mentally and spiritually ready for the coming battle. But no matter what, her mind always turned back to her husband and daughter. It was ridiculous, Gohan was one of the most powerful people in the Multiverse, while Pan could punch mountains like it was nothing, but she couldn't stop herself from worrying. They had been gone for so long, she couldn't remember the last time Pan had been away from her for this long. She trusted Gohan, he was strong enough to crack planets, and he would never hesitate to use that strength to protect their daughter; but she still missed them. Missed waking up with him by her side in the mornings. Missed seeing Pan off to school; or taking her out shopping like a 'normal' mother and daughter.

"I know that look," she heard Krillin say as he walked over to her. Videl opened her eyes and sighed, "Does it get easier?" The former monk shook his head, "Not really. You're a parent, you never stop worrying about your kid when they're not with you. No matter how much stronger your spouse is than you, or how strong your kid is, you never stop worrying." Videl nodded and looked around, "I don't know if I can do this all the time." Krillin nodded in agreement, before they sensed a ki signature approaching. They both looked up and saw that it was Marron, decked out in her orange gi, and Eighteen was with her.

"Marron!?" Krillin yelled in surprise. "I'm here to do my part," Marron declared, "And I won't let you stop me." Marron crossed her arms and got a stubborn look in her eyes that made Eighteen smirk. Krillin sighed, he'd seen his wife sport that look a million times when she put her foot down. Videl chuckled as she saw the resemblance in Mother and Daughter as Krillin sighed, "Alright. But remember to fight smart. We don't know what is waiting for us."

"AAAAAAAAA-HHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Everyone ran back into the hideout when they heard Bulma's scream. They got into the computer room to see the genius woman laughing like a madwoman as she pointed at the computer, "I GOT YOU NOW YOU MUSEUM PIECE! NO ONE STOPS THE GREAT BULMA BRIEFS!" She immediately started typing away, her fingers a blur as data poured in through the computer screens. Another machine turned on and started printing out papers, at least a dozen in fact. Videl gathered them while Bulma kept on typing. Videl didn't read anything, but the papers were all pictures and diagrams of many things: human anatomy, robotic technology, topographic maps, city maps, pictures of numerous different plants and such, and text, about twelve pages of nothing but words. Once Videl gathered the papers, Bulma held out her hand, "Gimme!"

Videl handed the papers to her and Bulma quickly speed read them all. "I wish Goku and the others were here now. This could be bad," Bulma said as she turned to the others. "Just give it to us straight," Eighteen told her. Bulma nodded, "If I'm reading this right, Shen and Tao managed to figure out Dr. Gero's process for turning people into Androids. And they have at least six people already converted into Androids." Everyone gasped at this information, except for Eighteen, "I doubt they'll be that much trouble for me."

"I don't know," Bulma said, "I remember you telling me you had no special training before Gero kidnapped you and Seventeen. And yet you're even stronger than Frieza was before his resurrection. The process multiplied your strength exponentially, and these guys that Shen and Tao converted were some of their strongest students. Even if they were nowhere near Tien, Yamcha, or Krillin's level, they were still many times stronger than normal people, so their power is even greater!" Eighteen was silent then. "Well…I guess Kaioken will come in really handy then," Videl commented. "Where are they now?" Tien asked, finally speaking up. "It's a funny thing," Bulma said, "It seems that those super soldiers or whatever you want to call them are actually in an island close to Seventeen's nature preserve. Eighteen, think you can call him?"

"I doubt he'll answer. He keeps his phone on silent when he's working. We gotta go see him in person," Eighteen answered. "Then let's get going then," Videl said. "Hold on," Yamcha said, but Videl quickly said without stopping, "Time is not on our side! We need to hit them now! Before they're ready! We've been blindsided this whole time, reacting! We've finally started to take the fight to them, we need to keep it up, or more people will get hurt!" The other warriors had followed Videl out of the lair by the time she was done talking. "She's right, the element of surprise is our best asset," Tien agreed with Videl. Krillin and his family all nodded in agreement. Yamcha saw this and rubbed his head, "Damn, can't argue with that. Alright, let's go." With that, they all, Videl, Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Marron, and Eighteen all flew into the air and followed Eighteen as she flew to Seventeen's island habitat.

They arrived at the habitat within an hour, Videl and Marron pushing themselves to keep up with the others and saw Seventeen was floating in the air. "What's going on?" he asked them, "I sensed you coming ten minutes ago. It feels like we got a fight on our hands." Eighteen told him, "That's the sum of it. You've kept up with the news?" Seventeen nodded, "So, you think that those thugs who learned about ki are nearby. I haven't sensed anything, but I did see a helicopter flying over to a private island West of this one. It wasn't disturbing the animals, so I paid little attention to it."

Videl scanned the horizon, westward and spotted the island. "Alright, thanks Seventeen," Eighteen said as she looked in the island's direction, "Care to help us take out the trash? We'll be dealing with other Androids, if you tag along it'll mean one for each of us, and then their masters." Seventeen smirked at that, "Sounds fun, and plus my shift is over. Let's go."

They all flew to the island, Seventeen leading the way this time. The island had a lush forest in it, but no sounds of any animals. They flew overhead once and spotted a clearing with what looked like a four-story building in the middle of it. The seven warriors all flew down, the building looked like a medieval Japanese castle with a green and black color scheme and standing in front of it were Shen and Tao, their disguises now discarded. "Well well, we meet again," Shen said, obviously talking to Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin. "The last time we met, we were caught by surprise, but Tao and I have been training hard since then, we are now on a whole new level of power."

Eighteen snorted, "I doubt some old geezers are much of a threat for us. Let's get this over with, Seventeen." "Right," Seventeen agreed as the two started walking towards Shen and Tao. "Your goons sent my daughter to the Hospital. I'm going to break every bone in your body for that," Eighteen malevolently promised. "I doubt that," Shen said, then pulled out what looked like a remote. Videl saw his smirk and yelled, "LOOK OUT!" "SOLAR FLARE!" Tao yelled at the same time. Eighteen and Seventeen quickly covered their eyes, but then Shen pressed a button on the remote. An excruciatingly high-pitched sound went out from the remote, then Eighteen and Seventeen dropped like sacks of potatoes. "EIGHTEEN!" "MOM!" Krillin and Marron rushed to them, while Tao gloated, "We've been observing you for a while. We know how special those two are. And we made sure to come up with a contingency plan for them." The door to the castle opened up as six tall, muscular men all walked out. None looked shorter than six feet tall or lighter than two-hundred fifty pounds of muscle. Shen smiled as he yelled, "TEAR THEM APART!"

Author's Note: The Climactic Battle comes next chapter! Sorry it's taking so long, my life is sapping my creative energy. Thank you if you kept with this story so far.