Chapter 11

Capsule Corp.

It was now about a half hour later and the Z-fighters and their allies were now sitting together in one of the larger rooms of the building.

17´s family, as well as Chichi had already said their goodbyes as well and went back to their homes.

Cooler and his crew were on their own for now in the gardens. They were talking about the situation and what they would do now. So far they had been peaceful, after Demigra´s betrayal. But Goku, Gohen, Vegeta and Piccolo all kept part of their senses concentrated on them, just to be sure.

Yamsha for his part volunteered to being the still sleeping Buu back home to Mister Satan.

Tien had agreed to stay the next few hours on Seventeen´s Island, as long as 17 would be with them in Capsule Corp. But then Tien would have to go back to his temple. His students needed him.

xxx

The rest of them were sitting in one of the large living rooms of the building to hear the rest of Marron´s and Goten´s story.

Who was also still there were the three Universe 6 saiyans - Cabba, Caulifla and Kale - who were sitting on a separate couch on their own, listening curiously at everything what was being said.

There were however three more people with them now - Pilaf, Mai and Shu - who were starring at a photo Marron had given to them. The Picture showed Android 21. Not in her later transformed state, but how she had been when she had first shown up.

"Yes yes - If I think about it, we did meet this woman," Pilaf said a bit insecure. "I believe so at least."

The three of them glanced at the picture of what seemed to be a quite attractive young woman, maybe in her twenties. She had long brown hair and wearing glasses (which she as an Android of course didn´t need. Probably a leftover from her human self, like the handgun 17 used to carry around).

Despite that Shen Long had turned them back into children, the three still possessed their memories of their old lives. They felt however… somewhat disconnected to them. Nearly like looking through a thick fog, when they thought back about what happened… before.

Over her clothes, she was also wearing a lab coat… with the insignia of the Red Ribbon Army painted on it.

"We did, a log time ago," Mai confirmed. "It was back when we had been searching for the Dragon Balls. When we had been captured by the Red Ribbon Army. But she looked much older back then, than she does on this picture. She had been at least over forty."

"The process that has turned her into an Android might have also de-aged her," 17 suggested.

"She is hardly the only one who has suddenly become younger," Shu commented.

"Oh shut up," Mai growled at him... Actually having a deep blush on her face as she gave a side-glance to Trunks, who was sitting next to her.

It was a open secret between them all that the three were de-aged versions of their oldest enemies. This was nearly impossible to miss when seeing them together. At least for Bulma, Goku, Yamcha or Oolong, who had been dealing with them for the longest.

But they all decided for themselves that they didn´t really care that much - as long as the Pilaf Gang staid peaceful. So everyone just didn´t bring up the past.

Until now.

The only exception being Bulma one day, a short time after meeting them again, had cornered Pilaf and the others and questioned them about how they had managed to gather all Dragon Balls unnoticed without her radar and without anyone interfering. They had simply answered her that they had just gotten lucky.

Still - Mai admitted that she felt emberrassed to be reminded that she used to be older than her boyfriend, older than his mother. She felt a bit like this elder women, who were dating a guy twenty or thirty years behind them in age, just to make themselves feel younger.

Well - only that she actually had turned younger.

Still, she felt nearly like running away as someone brought this up in front of Trunks of all people.

"It is okay Mai," Trunks said to her. "I don´t mind."

"You really don´t?" she said.

"I know that you used to be older. It was kind of crazy when I first heard about this. But... you are pretty and smart and you are you."

He gave her a short kiss. Mai was a bit stunned by his action and visibly blushed.

"Okay, Bulma said, interrupting her son and his girlfriend, "can you tell us more about what happened back then?"

"Well - after they had surrounded and forced us to give up and hand over a Dragon Ball we had, we were placed into some kind of transport vehicle," Shu explained, "and brought to some base where they had locked us up."

"Yes - they kept us there for days, nothing to eat, nothing to drink…" Pilaf continued.

"It was more one afternoon," Shuu suggested.

"Okay - then one afternoon," Pilaf corrected annoyed. "We still had nothing to eat or to drink."

"Will you finally come to the point?" Vegeta asked impatiently.

"Well - we sat there until that woman showed up - 21 or whatever her name was back then," Mai said. "She just told us that she was a researcher from the science-devision of the army. But she said she wanted to help us escape, because… because they were about to give us to her husband as test subjects for his Experiments. She said her husband wouldn´t like it because he were the Chief Scientist, but she was sure he wouldn´t do anything to her. And so she helped us get out."

"What?" 17, 18, Krillin and Son Goku called out nearly at the same time.

"But that means…" Gohan said aghast.

"The Head Scientist was Doctor Gero," 17 stated.

"That guy had actually turned his own wife into an Android?" Krillin exclaimed horrified.

Even Marron - both of them - and Future Son Goten, looked shocked as they heard this. They never knew that Detail.

"Damn," Vegeta just said.

"This Doctor Gero was a sick man," the younger Son Goten commented.

"You say it," 18 remained stoically.

"She saved our lives back then," Mai concluded. "Without her, who knows what would have happened to us."

"Yes - but after what had happened and going by Goten´s and Marron´s story, she is not longer the person you had met," Gohan reminded her.

"The 21 we know is dangerous and insane," Goten confirmed.

xxx

Marron then continued to tell them the story about what would happen in the close future.

How Morro had escaped prison. How agents of the Galactic Patrol had kidnapped the sleeping Buu from Mister Satan´s Mansion. The reason was that it had been the old Grandkaioshin of Universe 7, who Buu had absorbed and his magic that had originally stopped Morro millions of years ago. And they wanted to free his spirit to stop him once again.

How both Goku and Vegeta had agreed to temporally join the Galactic Patrol to help to stop Morro. And how they and Buu (whose mind was temporally been taken over by the one of the Grandkaioshin during the fight) had finally confronted him on Namek… and how they had ended up making everything worse.

They all failed to stop him. But Goku and Vegeta fought him in their strongest forms, but that allowed Morro in return to absorb their own Energy, along with the one of the entire planet New Namek - to become stronger than either Vegeta or Goku - and defeat them..

Afterwards Morro used the namekian Dragon Balls to free all the other prisoners of the Galactic Patrol´s prison and use them as his personal army.

And during the following weeks he continued his rampage through space, absorbed the power of several more planets and became more powerful than anyone they had ever faced before, even Jiren and Broly.

Goku and Vegeta both performed special kinds of training to have a chance against him. Vegeta had trained on Yadrat, like Goku once did, to better control his energy and to learn some of their special techniques. And Goku had been training together with a Galactic Patrol agent named Meerus, who as Marron told them was in truth an Angel working undercover in the Patrol, keeping his true race a secret.

The rest of the Z-fighters were meanwhile preparing for an attack and fought off Morro´s new underlings as they invaded Earth.

As Morro himself arrived however, they had no chance. Gohan, Piccolo, 17 and 18 - they all tried to fight him and lost.

Only as first Goku and then Vegeta had finished their training and contronted him, they finally managed to beat Morro after a hard fight. They managed to force Morro to release the stolen life-energy. And later the countless victims of the drained planet were restored with the Dragon Balls.

Afterwards Earth and they all had a few years of peace. Before Demigra returned.

Marron had ended her story.

They all made a few decisions.

For once Goku and Vegeta would undergo the same training they did in the future. This time however before they faced Morro. They would ask Whiz if he could arrange a meeting with this Meerus and Goku would bring Vegeta to Yadrat.

But they were not the only ones. 17 would take a day in the Room of Spirit and Time. So far he had relied on regular training (with incredible results as everyone would confirm), but with the threats they would be facing it made only sense to finally used all the means available. 18 would also take a second time along with him.

Piccolo maybe too, as he told them. So would Son Gohan. Even if he knew the training there would probably not longer make that much of a difference for him anymore.

They would also keep out there eyes out at he Satan Mansion, where they knew the Galactic Patrol would show up sooner or later to get Buu. So that they could get the Grandkaioshin out of him. They all agreed to interceped them and inform them about what they knew now.

But first of all, they would let Marron lead them to 21´s hideout to take care of it... and of her.

"One last thing," Vegeta said to Bulma. "Have you taken a look at that idea I had about?"

"You mean about that new kind of machine you asked me to build, regarding moon-wa…"

"Bulma!" he interrupted her.

"What? You know that Goku and the others will find out about it very soon anyway," Bulma replied.

"I wanted to find out if it works or not before I tell them," Vegeta claimed.

"You mean you hoped to reach a new level and show off before you tell them?" Bulma commented.

"What exactly are you talking about?" Gohan asked.

"Vegeta had asked me to create a device that can replicate the lightwavés of the moon, just far more intense," Bulma explained.

"I wanted to see if I could copy that technique that Broly had used," Vegeta said, "you remember, using the power of the Great Ape in humanoid form."

"That sounds interesting," Goku stated. "By the way… not that you are mentioning Broly…"

xxxxxxx

Planetoid Vampa

It was not the first time that Son Goku had suddenly appeared on the small planet.

The first time he had come right after the fight with Broly on Earth, when he had given them a capsule-house together with some supplies.

So the three occupants were not overly surprised as they saw them. Cheelai and Lemo, the two former Freeza Force soldiers, were just looking at him for a short moment and then returned to a conversation they had with each other.

When he had come for the first time, they had both been pretty distrustful, especially the green skinned woman Cheelai. But by now they had probably realized that he was not a threat.

Goku overheard, a bit awkwardly, that their conversation was about the fact that Cheelai was now as it looked sleeping in the same bed as Broly. Not that he had a Problem with that, if it made them happy.

"Kakarot," Broly greeted him as he saw him. "Have you come for another fight?" he asked.

"Well, actually no," he replied. "At least not only. There is something I have to talk with you about. A few very dangerous people has shown up that I want to warn you about."

And he told them everything. Well - the most part at least, about Demigra and his followers and about Morro.

"You mean they have truly defeated Lord Freeza - the Freeza Force is gone?" Cheelai asked in shock.

"Yes they did. Even if it looks now that Freeza himself has survived our last fight and has been captured by someone on Earth. But we will take care of that very soon." Goku grinned.

"That means we won´t have to worry about them capturing us anymore," Lemo commented.

"This Demigra - is he really that strong?" Broly asked.

"He is. Vegeta and me have only seen a small glympse of his power," Goku stated. "We could need your help too, when we have to fight him again some day."

"Moment-" Cheelai said sharply. "What makes you so sure that Broly will just go and risk his life getting involved in your battles?"

"Who say they will not go after Broly anyway?" Goku responded. "He is strong after all."

Cheelai frowned.

"He has a point here," Lemo admitted. "By what he said, these guys had also no reason to go after Freeza and and the other people either, except that they were a possible threat."

"And who says that I am not willing to help to fight them anyway?" Broly responded.

"You never liked to fight," Cheelai reminded him.

"Because my father always forced me to do it. But Kakarot says these guys are also attacking innocent people. And if they ever become a threat to you, I will fight them."

"By what we know this Demigra will start a great battle in about four years from now," Goku told them. "But it is of course possible that he or his Servants will show up here before that. For now, I just thought I should warn you."

"Thank you for that," Broly said, "and I guess I will train with you in the future from time to time."

xxxxxxx

A group of them - consisting of Goku, Vegeta, 17, 18, Krillin, Piccolo and the adult Marron were now on their way to the place she and Goten had mentioned. The last person with them was Cooler, who had insisted at coming to find out about Freeza. His crew however had staid behind at Capsule Corp.

Goten, the older one, had offered to act as 17´s replacement on the Island for the time being. As he said, he had some experince with the job and Marron enough was enough to lead them to 21´s hidden lab.

Trunks and his younger self said they would gladly accompany and help him. But then, they told him, they wanted him to tell them more about his future. Elder Goten agreed to both.

Meanwhile Marron was leading the others to the same place she knew from the future.

"It is not far away anymore," she told them. "A few kilometers maybe."

"Good," Goku replied. "Maybe we should land and go the rest of the way on foot."

"Why bother? They have nothing that can even scratch us anyway," Vegeta said.

"Self-confident like ever," 18 commented.

"You know I am right," the saiyan prince replied. "If this 21 needed to wait until we all were missing, it is obvious that she has no chance against us."

"That is no excuse to be careless Vegeta," Piccolo stated. "We don´t really know what 21 is capable of and what kind of help she has in this time."

"You know, we are not far away from Jingle Town, maybe I should make a short visit to my old friends there later," Goku mentioned.

"Do you really think this is the time for that?" Krillin asked him.

"When we are done here of course,"

"Do whatever you want Kakarot," Vegeta said, "but after we dealt with that Android."

"Alright," Goku replied.

"Are you always squabbling like this?" Cooler commented.

They all landed on the ground and continued the last few kilometers on food. They were walking through a lightly wooded area with a few small packages of forests left and right.

"We should be nearly there," Marron said. "In that direction." She pointed with her finger. "Honestly, I am surprised we have not seen anyone yet."

And as if she had predicted it, after a few hundred meters more, they saw a figure standing before them.

They had not really recognized him at first. Mostly because he was standing between a small group of trees. But also because part of them could just not believe it. Not after all these years.

Yet as they came a bit closer, there was no doubt.

"16?" Krillin cried out.

Marron looked at him, surprised at the name.

They all saw the motionless form of the Android, standing between the trees, looking with a distant expression at the nature around him.

He turned around to them.

"I don´t believe it," Vegeta said.

"You are alive," 17 stated.

"Seventeen, Eighteen, Krillin, Son Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta - I am happy to see you again," the Android greeted them.

"How is that possible?" Krillin exclaimed.

"This is Sixteen?" Marron turned confused to her parents. "You have mentioned him of course. But I thought he died a long time ago in the Cell Games and I never heard about him coming back to life."

"You know this guy?" Cooler asked.

"He is a old friend of us," Krillin replied, "but last time we seen him a enemy named Cell had killed him."

"Have the Dragon Balls brought you back?" Goku asked.

"And where have you been all these years?" 18 called out.

"And what do you have to do with this 21?" Vegeta asked far less friendly.

"What?" he said as everyone was looking at him. "We have found him less than two kilometers from her base. Of course he is involved with her."

"That is true," 16 admitted. "And to answer your questions - no, the Dragon Balls did not bring me back. 21´s main computer had been monitoring the Cell Games with a few of the spy drones you know about.

Right before Cell had destroyed my CPU, the computer accessed it and transfered my mind and my memories. 21 then rebuild me, but only activated me again less than two years ago.

I would have liked to contact you earlier 17, 18, but I had important duties to take care of here."

"What do you mean with duties?" 17 asked him sternly. Duties? What the hell was he talking about?

If this was even the same Sixteen they remembered and not some kind of copy.

"I am sorry, I am programmed not to tell you this," 16 replied.

This statement caused all of them to exchange suspicious looks.

"How do you know 21?" 16 asked them.

Like already suggested, this story arc takes some inspirations from Android 21´s arc in the FighterZ Game. Several details however will be very different than in the game.

And, like this chapter suggests, a version the original Morro Arc, similar to the adaption in the manga is being included, however as part of the timeline Future Goten and Marron had come from. In this one things might turn out differently.