Chapter 16: Fear

It was about 6 hours after the revelation of Cell being in the current timeline. To prevent being tracked down, Gosen and the others had to keep a low profile and fly slowly. Gosen was at the edge of the lookout, seriously troubled. The other z-fighters remained at the entrance of the lookout and they also look troubled. Kami and Mr. Popo came from inside. "Vegeta will be just fine but it will be a while before he wakes up. About 2 weeks before then. Your friend, Trunks is fine as well. Though he should be waking up the same time as Vegeta, if not later. As for Goku, there seems to be a radical virus attacking his heart. I'm sorry, but I can't do anything for him." Mr. Popo informed the z-fighters.

"A heart virus?" What in the..." Piccolo muttered. Gosen began to sweat. His breathing became improper. He grabbed his chest and held onto his face as if in great pain. Tien tapped Gosen back into reality by tapping his cheek.

"Things are bad, probably the worst they've ever been with 3 great fighters out of it. But now's not the time to go insane. Try to relax." Tien said trying to calm him down. It only worked a little bit, because only Gosen knew what kind of trouble Cell can bring about if he is here.

"R-right. We...We left Mom at the house. She wasn't too good when she saw Dad suffering so I'm going to go check on her."

"Wait. Someone should go with you just in case." Piccolo replied.

"I'll go." 18 said coming from inside the entrance.

"No! I'll go. We still don't trust you!" Tien answered strongly.

"No offense bone head, but I managed to knock you out without putting in even 7% of my energy. If Cell is as strong as Gosen says he is, what chance do you have?" Tien had been silenced. More so than in a long time. "17, please be good and stay here. Guard these losers will ya?"

"You make me sound so irresponsible. Have you forgotten I'm the older one?" 17 answered to her statement with a grin on his face.

"Only by a few seconds, and you sure don't act older. You're also not entirely the most reliable person in the world. In fact the least reliable. It's almost foolish of me to leave you alone with them. But it can't be helped. Just don't let us come back here to a blood bath." 18 said annoyed by 17.

Gosen and 18 flew off. They stopped by Korin to inform him about everyone's injuries. "Are there any more senzu beans you can give us? We really need them right now.

"I gave you guys about 7 of them! What happened to those?" Korin asked curiously. Gosen looked at 18 angrily and 18 turned her head almost the same time to look at the sky. Korin sighed and gave Gosen an answer he didn't rather. "Some are currently being grown, but it takes time. I suspect 5 more days before any are ready."

Gosen looked at Korin and closed his eyes, sighing. "Ok then. We'll just have to make do with what we have for now." He turned around. "Let's go 18." Gosen and 18 took off flying at a steady pace. By the look on Gosen's face, anyone could tell that he was still troubled.

"Look, I'm sorry about burning the beans alright? Now perk up." 18 said, feeling a little responsible.

"I'm bothered by something, but it's not the beans."

"Stop worrying about Cell will ya? If you worry too much you'll begin to get paranoid."

"I have every reason to worry myself right now. If you knew how much power he could put out, you'd be asking to be shut down right now." 18 began clenched her fist and her teeth. She flew fast enough to get in front of Gosen. She smacked him. "Yes, I'm an android, but don't talk to me as if that's all I am. I was once human, so I know fear." Gosen held his cheek and steered clear from eye contact. She put her hands to her hips and leaned slightly in midair. "Look, I'm sorry for slapping you. But I did that for 2 reasons. 1, you insulted me and 2, you won't wake up."

She saw Gosen's hand trembling, the same hand that held his cheek. She sighed and grabbed his hand, slowly pulling him down to Earth. They landed and 18 walked over to a giant rock to sit on. Gosen looked at her baffled. "Sit. I'm trying my best to calm you down but I don't even know why your so afraid of Cell, even if you keep saying "he's so powerful". I need to know more than that. I want you to tell me more."

"We only just met 6 hours ago. Why are you going so far to help me out?"

"Because I like you." Gosen was silenced by the immediate, sudden, unexpected answer. "You're strong and you have ambition, though you seem to lack mental strength. Your positives and negatives seem to all stem from the same source, which is Cell. I want to know about your past, and about you as a person." Gosen looked into the blue eyes of 18, but this time they didn't seem cold. Perhaps what Gosen thought was totally wrong in the first place. She wasn't just an android as she said; She was human.

Gosen sat down next to her trying to calm down. "Your the first person I've ever thought of telling this story to. I was 10 years old when it happened."

Flashback

Gohan and Gosen played in the forest with other animals. Goku was outback training, currently in his 10,000th push-up, and Chi-Chi was cleaning the house.

Next Time: Past Revealed I

This chapter was pretty slow paced as well but it was just to set up learning about Gosen's past. If I had to make an estimate, I'd say we're about a little less than half way through this saga.