Talking With a Monster

by RoxaShadow

Set in the dark timeline. Due to a chance encounter, Android Eighteen is left with a feeling of doubt that leads her to question her and her brother's way of life. In a desperate search for answers, she finds herself turning to the one man who she never expected to harbor anything but hatred towards her. Son Gohan. Android 18 x Gohan

8. Chapter 8:Growing Pains

Kuda was a muscular man.

He had been for the last decade or so, much to his wife, Coco's, delight. She'd been more than appreciative of his unexpected bulk when they'd noticed it in bed a year after their unexpected move to the cabin.
It hadn't been a planned move, far from it in fact as roughly fourteen years ago they'd been planning to sell the property after Kuda had inherited it from his great grandfather passing away after a long battle with cancer. At the time they'd both been city folk with little to zero interest in the outdoors whatsoever, in fact, it had been one of many common disinterests that had made them fall in love in the first place.
But then, the Androids happened.

They attacked city after city, town after town, it didn't take Kuda long to realize that the twins were explicitly striking well populated areas. The young man soon realized how limited his options were especially with Coco being pregnant at the time. He'd feared that his wife wouldn't agree, but much to his surprise, she'd been on board immediately, recognizing the threat, and understanding that their survival as well as their baby's survival depended on them moving. She agreed that it would be a temporary home until this 'Androids' fiasco blew over much like King Piccolo and the mysterious aliens that wiped out that one city had.
It was part of the reason he loved her. She was always rational, always thinking of the bigger picture.
She could see it as well as he could.

Suddenly that dry, old, decrepit, run down cabin in the woods was more than just a potential fire hazard.
It was their safe Haven.

And it was perfectly placed as well. So deep in the woods that it would be impossible to find without a map, compass, supplies for a three day journey, and luck.

Or, at least, so he thought.
The bulk of Kuda's muscle mass had occurred while renovating what would soon become their new home. It'd been tough work to make sure that the place was safe for raising a child. He'd only just finished by the time Coco had given birth to a beautiful baby girl they'd decided to name Reta. Kuda had never felt prouder, never felt happier before in his life than when he'd held his child in his arms for the very first time. The happiness he felt in that moment would only ever be rivaled by the arrival of his son, Cray, born two years later.

A over a decade passed with Kuda and Coco doing their best to teach their children what they would need to know both educationally, and to survive in the wilderness that was now their home. They made mistakes, struggled at times, and fought on the rare occasion. But in the end, they were happy with their lives. Soon, Kuda and Coco forgot about the Androids, forgot about going back to the life they once lived, and slowly forgot that at one point in their lives the mere mention of an outdoor activity would result in an immediate recoil.
Kuda loved his family, he would for as long as he lived.

But now...

Now there was a gun in his hand. It was some type of revolver but right now he couldn't be bothered to remember the make and model. His hands were trembling, the barrel ever so faintly smoking from a very recent shot. His ears were still ringing from it's explosive boom.
He was sitting with his back leaned up against a cold, metallic wall. From his eyes poured thin rivers coursing their way down each cheek. Coco was sitting beside him, leaning her head against his shoulder in a peaceful fashion. Her eyes were closed as if she'd merely fallen asleep beside him like she'd done so many times before. It was not uncommon for Coco to fall asleep with Kuda as her own personal pillow. She'd told him many a time that he was her favorite pillow on the bed.

Kuda couldn't help but whimper as he felt Coco lean against him. He had one arm wrapped around her, quivering as he watched her rest.

He flinched as his eyes trailed over the bullet hole in her forehead.

He averted his gaze, turning his eyes towards the locked door sitting roughly ten feet away.

Kuda shuddered as he watched the ten inch thick metal door begin to fold before him, crumpling down like a sheet of paper.

Of course he'd been the one to shoot her, he'd had to. He'd pulled her in close, hugged her, knowing that it would be the last time, kissed her for what would be the last time, and told her that he loved her with all of his heart, for the last time. He'd waited only long enough to hear her say it back, hear her sweet, wonderful voice, the voice that woke him up every day, that yelled out at him while he was working that food was ready; he'd needed to hear her tell him that she loved him. He'd needed to know it, to feel its warmth, to bask in it's wonderful glow just one last time, before he pulled the trigger.

He couldn't have done it before, he wouldn't have been strong enough to.

Kuda let out a deep, powerful, emotional roar of emotion, leaning forward as he held coco's lifeless hand with his free one. Just these few, short moments of knowing that she was gone were absolute agony.

It'd been the hardest thing he'd ever had to do in his life.

But he'd had to, he couldn't let that thing tearing down the door get to her. He'd seen what it could do, he'd seen what it'd already done.

---

-Five Minutes Earlier-

Reta and Cray had been hanging up laundry when it started. Kuda had been bugging his wife, teasing her from behind as they cherished this time alone within the small cabin. He'd been running kisses down her neck when they'd heard the scream.

Then they heard gunshots.

Weeks ago they'd debated on whether or not it would be safe to have Reta carry a small firearm on her considering she'd only being thirteen, but they'd quickly decided it would be safer for the two children as long as the girl was extra responsible and trained to use it right. They'd had several run ins with the local wildlife, some too close for comfort.

Kuda would regret making that call.

Kuda and Coco had been at the door an instant later just as they heard Reta's voice scream at something to 'let him go!'. Immediately Kuda assumed it was a creature too large for small firearms to put down or scare off. Reta was a good shot and would not hesitate to put a hostile coyote down in a couple shots.

Kuda paused for only long enough to look over his shoulder and order Coco to grab the hunting rifle kept locked away in their bedroom. Kuda watched her panicked expression stiffen as she immediately turned heel and dashed towards the door moving faster than he'd ever seen her go. She was a trooper, through and through.

Kuda loved her for that.

The man slammed the wood door open as he rushed towards where he'd heard the screams. He knew that he wouldn't be able to do much if this really was a bear, but at least he'd be able to stall long enough for his wife to get back with the gun. He listened as yet another shot rang out and his son's screams became weaker, almost like he was drowning.

Then he saw it.

And he froze.

He'd expected a large dog or maybe a cougar even, something he'd fought and scared off before. But this? He couldn't even begin to fathom what the hell this thing could be.

It was hideous in every way.

It had the general shape of a man, but with a hard green shell coating it's arms and legs almost like armor. It was hunched over, leaning over something that Kuda couldn't quite make out, but he quickly deduced that if this monster were to stand at its full height it would likely tower over any bear Kuda had come across before. It's limbs were long and thin, like a malnourished deformed insect that had learned to look like a man.

The next thing Kuda noticed was its tail. It had a long, slender tail that had flipped over its shoulder, aimed at whatever it was hunched over. Kuda could hear a terrible, blood curdling slurping sound enlaced with the sounds of his daughter's screams and what sounded like his son's dying breaths.

Immediately, Kuda snapped out of his fear as he heard the noises. Without another moment of hesitation he charged the creature, throwing everything he had into tackling it away from whatever it was hunching over, which Kuda was quickly realizing was his son.

He slammed into the monster shoulder first, roaring with the furious rage of a father desperately trying to save their child.

It felt like he'd just charged a brick wall.

Kuda cursed as he felt his shoulder dislocate. The pain was blinding, a flash of hot stinging sensations originating from his shoulder. The man fell back as he processed the pain. Now on the ground, he could see that the monster hadn't moved at all, hadn't even shifted as the slurping sound continued before petering out sounding like when you finished a drink a soda with a straw.

Kuda could now see what the slurping sound had been.

Laying in a pile at the creature's feet was a set a clothes.

Cray's pile of clothes.

He could see the end of the tail now, a sharp, pointed end that had embedded itself where his son had once been.

Kuda began to tremble as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. His son, the boy he'd raised with pride in his heart for eleven unforgettable years...was gone? His son? His son? No, it couldn't be, this had to be some type of mistake, there was no way that-

Kuda froze.

Reta was still standing there, gun raised in her trembling hands, tears pouring out in torrents down her cheeks. Kuda watched in horror as her face contorted into a stubborn, unyielding rage as she quickly raised the gun to the monster's temple and clicked back the hammer.

Reta had always been a fighter, always been stubborn. She'd always been the hardest to put to bed when she'd been younger and the hardest to convince otherwise when she thought she was right. She was a strong, proud young woman and a daughter Kuda had always been proud of despite butting heads on occasion.

He watched as she pressed the barrel of the gun to the monster's head, snarling with a viciousness that Kuda had never seen before, and pulled the trigger.

An explosion echoed out as the bullet attempted to piece the creatures bizarrely shaped head. Kuda watched with anticipation as the monster stiffened, seemingly affected from the shot. Kuda internally prayed that the bullet had worked, that this creature was finally going to slump over dead.

Instead he watched as the creature slowly turned his head towards Reta, a small dent in its head where the bullet had impacted, a dark glare in its eyes.

"Well, aren't you certainly brave." It said in a sickly, raspy voice. Kuda was quivering now. It could speak?

There was another bang, and then another as he watched Reta's thin arms push against the recoil of the weapon. He could see it in her eyes, that stubborn, hot flame, unyielding, unfolding, beginning to fall away in the face of a true, honest, childlike terror. Despite how she carried herself, despite always willing to go toe to toe with anyone and anything, Reta was still a little girl, only barely Thirteen.

The gun clicked.

Empty.

"No!" Was all Kuda could scream as he watched the tail raise yet again, this time aimed for his daughter.

Kuda raced forward, grabbing the tail with his one good arm and pulling back with all he could.

"Run!" Was the only word he could roar as he used every muscle in his body to try to resist the pull of its tail.

He watched as Reta turned immediately to shoot towards the house. She was a healthy girl, a fast girl.

But not fast enough.

Kuda felt the tail rip away from him like a bullet tearing through tissue paper. He heard Reta's terrified, pain stricken scream shortly followed by that slurping sound.

Not Reta! Not my baby girl!
Kuda raced forward, seeing the sharp end of the tail embed several inches into his little girl's back. She'd collapsed to the ground upon being struck, he raced to her side as he saw her struggling to push herself up, to get back to her feet so that she might run away from this horrid fate.

He fell to his knees beside her, slamming a hand into his shoulder as he forced the joint back in place. The pain was excruciating, but he hadn't even flinched as both hands wrapped around the end of the tail and he began to desperately pull up.

"Daddy! Daddy please help me!"

Kuda wanted nothing more than to do just that.

"It's okay baby! It's gonna be okay!"

He pleaded, not sure if he was convincing himself or his daughter. No matter how hard he pulled, no matter how hard he strained, the tail wasn't coming out. He could hear the slurping sound as he pulled, the sound of Reta being sucked away as he saw large clumps begin to work their way up the tail and into this vile creature.

Then she started screaming.

He could see her torso begin to deflate, sinking into the ground like she was a deflated balloon. He watched as her eyes met his in a desperate plea for help as her internal organs were slowly sucked away.

He turned to face the monster and screamed in a hopeless despair, knowing that he wouldn't have the strength to pull this tail out. "Please! Let her go! Take me! Take me instead! I'm bigger! Just give me my daughter-"

He watched as the monster's face contorted into what Kuda had to assumed was its best interpretation of a smile.

It's lips parted, "Oh, don't you worry, you'll be on my plate soon en-"

Boom

Kuda watched in surprise as one second, this hideous monster was talking to him, the next, half of its face had disappeared.

He watched as the creature fell back, screaming in agony as it's tail ripped away from his daughter, holding what was left of his face with both hands. Slowly, it became still.

His ears still ringing, he turned his head back towards the cabin. Sitting on the grass holding her shoulder in a tight grimace was Coco.

Kuda's eyes widened as he saw what lay next to her in the grass.

She hadn't brought out the sniper rifle.

She'd grabbed the anti-tank rifle.

It'd been their last resort, their final weapon if the Androids had ever happened upon their humble abode, well that and the small bunker surrounded by 10 inch thick steel they'd had installed years ago. The weapon was so big and bulky that Coco had never actually managed to lift the thing on her own before. Kuda had been the only one with any real training with it, and even then his training had been limited to what he could learn by himself. Kuda had no idea how she'd managed to grab it herself and race back so quickly.

He watched as his wife pushed herself to her feet, clutching her injured shoulder where the weapon had bucked back into her. "Don't you dare touch my children again you fuck!"

Kuda quickly scooped up his daughter into his arms. He looked down at her with a concerned gaze. She still looked partially deflated, blood and chunks of red mush was dribbling out of the puncture wound in her back. He pushed his hand there, trying to keep what remained of his daughter inside. He could feel her body trembling, going into shock after what her internal organs had just gone through. Looking down at her, at the pain in her eyes, the low moans and cries of sorrow, Kuda couldn't tell if his young daughter could still be saved. She hadn't just been stabbed...she'd had parts removed that could be replaced, couldn't be restored, especially not out here miles away from the nearest hospital.
Kuda began to cry as Coco drew near. He could hear the slow, pained raspy breaths from his daughter grow further and further apart as she struggled defiantly against the cold grips of death.

Reta was a fighter, she always had been, and she always would be until her very last breath. Kuda watched as her hand tightened around his, and he whispered to her that he loved her, and that he'd never been more proud of her as his daughter. Coco was beside them now. He could see it in her face that she was coming to the same conclusion that he had. Tears were slowly trailing down her cheeks as she gently stroked her daughter's head, before leaning in and placing a kiss on the girl's forehead.

"We love you."
Kuda felt her hand slowly release his as she finally stopped fighting, and let go.

Kuda couldn't stand anymore as he slowly lowered himself to the ground. He set down the lifeless form of his daughter as his wife sat down next to him.

"P-please, w-where is Cray?"

He looked up to meet her gaze.

She didn't know yet. Kuda didn't have the words, his voice felt like it was stuck in his chest. He slowly turned his head until his eyes were resting on the pile of clothes next to the vile abomination still on the ground.

He heard a shaky gasp next to him as Coco understood.

She tried to scramble to her feet, to rush to the lump of clothes which had at one point contained their son, but Kuda grabbed her hand before she could and pulled her back to him. She tried to fight him at first, as if she could somehow revive their son if she could just get to him, but Kuda knew that she couldn't.

She knew that she couldn't.

She fell back, as Kuda wrapped himself around her. The two couldn't speak, What could they say? No string of words could possibly come close to describing the loss of what had been their entire lives.

Reta and Cray, their two children, were dead.

The two clung to each other tightly and cried.

Until it woke up.

---

And now the two of them were sitting inside their bunker, Coco dead in his lap. They'd fought it of course. They'd fired every last round into that creature to try to keep it down, but it just kept getting back up. Eventually the two of them retreated here. They'd felt safe, they had food and water prepared to last them weeks if it came to that, they were safe.

Until the door started to wane and creek, folding to the monster's will.

Kuda felt numb as he slowly opened the revolver and looked at the last of the bullets he'd loaded.

There were two left in the revolver, but he only needed one.

The door was down now, the creature was lowering its head so that it could properly step into the small space. He could see its eyes on him, trained on him like a predator staring down prey.

Well, enjoy your meal. I hope you choke on the bullet.

He thought as he slowly raised the barrel of the gun to his temple. He knew what fate his corpse and his wife would share, but at least they wouldn't have to experience it like his daughter had, like his son had.

He grimaced. He hadn't been able to protect his children. He'd failed as their father.

He looked over the creature's shoulder towards where he could see through a window out into the open, beautiful blue sky. He remembered Coco commenting on how nice out it had been before the two children had ran out to do the laundry.

Kuda somehow found the strength to smile as he watched a cloud slowly drift by.

If he was going to die, he wanted to at least have the last thing he see be something pleasant, something that could make him happy, and not this representation of horror incarnate before him.

I'll see you all soon. Coco, I hope you can forgive me.

He closed his eyes, picturing his family before pulling the trigger.

And it clicked.

His eyes snapped open. He could see the hellspawn's face inches away from his own now.

Its hand preventing the hammer on the gun from going down.

He stopped it? How? It had been across the room just a moment ago! And why did it stop it!?

Why? Why would it stop him from shooting him? He was going to consume him either way, why deny this act? Why go through the trouble?
"I know you're asking why right now." He watched in horror as the monster did it's best interpretation of a smile. "In all honesty, I just like it when I get to hear the screams. I like to know that they are feeling every last moment of being consumed."

He felt the tail pierce through his torso.

And then everything felt like it was on fire.

Kuda let out a blood curdling scream as he felt his insides being sucked out of him. It was like no other pain he'd ever experienced. He tried to think of his family in his last moments, tried to think of the fact that he'd spared at least Coco from this fate, but the pain was too blinding for him to concentrate on any of that. All he could think about was how much it hurt. How much it felt like he was being violated in the worst way imaginable. It was like he was being sucked away from himself.

Kuda died staring up at the monster who'd killed his family. He died in his last moments knowing true agony.

He died without knowing why, or what, or who had caused it.

Kuda closed his eyes for the final time.

---

-?-

...not strong enough…

The creature with no name loomed over the corpse of the woman before plunging his tail into her torso as well. It wouldn't inflate his power like the other had, but he was still hungry after having to reform so many times.

The creature growled as he acknowledged the fact that a handful of humans had managed to fend him off for so long.

He wasn't nearly strong enough to enact his plan yet.

He closed his eyes, using his senses to reach out for his next reasonably powerful meal to hunt. His sharp, cat-like eyes opened as he smiled. He'd found his next target.

I may not be strong enough now…

He Looked over to the metal door he'd managed to fold over itself to get inside.

But I will be soon.

.

.

.

---

-Eighteen, Two Days Later-

She was standing in what had become her new room after what Seventeen had affectionately called the 'ultimate slug bug incident' had occurred. It was bare inside aside from the leftover belongings of the people who had lived here before them. It looked like it might have been an old lady's room from the old fashioned bed and the smell. It'd taken some time to get used to the smell, which meant she'd entered the room, exited the room, and came back with two cans of febreeze.

The door was shut and locked as Eighteen stood before a body length mirror. She needed to pick out her outfit for today, and that meant wearing the wig and glasses along with it. She frowned at the glasses, tossing them over her shoulder.

I could have picked up contacts at some point.

It wasn't technically a lie, she was wearing contacts, even if they were meant to change her eye color and not correct her vision.

She'd chosen a simple attire for herself after going through her belongings and, despite having a massive library of clothing items, realized she had barely any workout clothes at all. The revelation had puzzled her for some time before she realized that she hadn't needed to work out for over a decade. She supposed that being an immortal almighty being with an unlimited pool of power would do that to a person.

She stared at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a simple white T-shirt as a top and some black spandex shorts paired with a set of sneakers she'd found in the back of her closet. It was all she had that seemed appropriate as a workout attire. She internally cursed herself for never expanding her knowledge on exercise fashion.

Her black hair was running freely down each of her shoulders.

She frowned. It's length was definitely going to get in the way of things if she tried to move about a lot. She did not want the wig falling off in the middle of…

Her eyebrows furrowed.

What would training look like? She'd asked for Gohan to teach her how to fly. How would he be able to do that if he thought she was just a normal girl? She had no idea how to explain flying to someone else. It was just something she could will herself to do, and her body responded. Would it eventually turn into a sink or swim situation? Would he lift her into the air for awhile and drop her after telling her everything she would need to know?

Pfft, this is goody two shoes Gohan we're talking about here. There's no way he'd do that.

…

Right?

She began to worry.

Eventually Eighteen had decided to tie her hair into a set of pigtails, standing in front of the mirror examining her new look.

Would a 'Videl' wear pigtails like this?

She cupped her chin in thought as she studied herself in the mirror for a time.

"...Nah, that looks ridiculous." She scoffed before pulling her hair out. She'd figure out a different style to keep the hair out of her face.

---

-Thirty Minutes Later-

Eighteen gently floated down into an empty alleyway a few blocks away from Gohan's apartment complex, she didn't want to accidentally get caught already knowing how to fly after all. In the end she'd decided to tie her hair into a simple ponytail with a single defiant bang resting on her forehead and over her right eye. She kinda liked the way it bounced with each step she made as she strolled down the street. There weren't too many people out and as she drew near to the bench she'd been sitting on only two days prior.

She looked around, a frown resting on her lips as she did so. She didn't see Gohan anywhere in sight.

Looking down at her watch she sighed.

Ten minutes early…

Scowling, the woman plopped down on the bench behind, resting her chin in her palm as she waited. Over the past two days she'd made little progress towards convincing Seventeen of anything, mostly because she hadn't wanted to talk to him without consulting an outside source first. She'd made herself scarce over those couple of days, avoiding Seventeen as much as she could without seeming suspicious. She didn't want him bringing up the topic again when she didn't have a concrete message to convince him prepared.

She groaned, rubbing her palms into her eyes out of frustration. Why did Seventeen have to be so difficult sometimes? She swore if he wasn't her little brother she doubted she would hang out with him at all. He was just so annoying at times.

"Long night?"

A smiled pulled at Eighteen's lips.

About damn time.

The woman lifted her head as she pulled her hands away from her face. She watched as Gohan and the boy Eighteen knew as 'Trunks' slowly descended before her, Gohan waving a friendly hand her direct. He was wearing his typical orange and blue fighting Gi while the boy seemed to be wearing some sweat pants and a black tank top. She noticed the boy's eyes widened ever so slightly as their eyes met each others, like a flash of surprise...or…

Does he recognize me somehow?

She thought as she began to worry. She watched as the boy's surprised expression eased into a smile. She internally breathed a sigh of relief, it didn't look like he'd recognized her.

Eighteen rose to her feet, adopting a pleasant smile as they landed.

"Not at all, I'm just not a morning person." That much was true.

She watched as Gohan rubbed the back of his neck, shooting her a sympathetic look. "Ah, I'm sorry about that. Did you at least eat a good breakfast?"

Nope. unless you count some of that fake hair that kept getting in my mouth when I was trying to get this damn wig into a ponytail.

She smiled politely and nodded her head.

"Awesome! Then we should get a move on, it's a long way to the-"

"Ahem," Trunks cleared his throat loudly.

Gohan raised an eye his direction. "What?"

"I think he's telling you to introduce the two of us." She added with a coy grin.

"Oh, right." The man closed his eyes with an embarrassed smile. "Trunks, this is Videl, Videl, this is Trunks."

The boy smiled brightly as he took a step forward, offering a hand to the woman.

"Nice to meet you, I imagine that Gohan didn't tell you anything about me."

Eighteen raised an eyebrow toward the boy. He was behaving rather...confident for some reason. She accepted the handshake.

"Not much. But I look forward to learning with you."

"Same, I never thought that Gohan would take on newcomers. It's cool to see someone else-" He paused after letting go of her hand, his brow furrowing before his eyes focused on her, not necessarily staring at her, but more like through her.

Eighteen raised an eyebrow as he continued to stare intensely. "Uh...Everything okay there kid?"

She watched as the boy's face relaxed, a surprised look about him. He looked over his shoulder to Gohan. "You're right! I can't sense anything from her!"

Gohan chuckled, "Yeah, it's a little odd, but no big deal."

Eighteen blinked.

The boy knew how to do it too?

"So...you can sense that life source stuff too huh?"

Trunks smiled with a swelling pride. "Gohan says I'm a fast learner."

Eighteen found herself increasingly not liking this kid. He was just a little bit...smug.

Of course I already didn't like the kid… so just more fuel for the flames I guess.

"Anyway," Gohan said jumping into the conversation. "If introductions are out of the way, we should probably head out."

Trunks nodded as he began to riffle through his pocket. Eventually, he pulled out a small capsule with a button positioned on the top.

Eighteen recognized the Capsule Corp logo on the side.

Raising an eyebrow, she took a step back.

There was a click as Trunks pressed down the button. The boy tossed it a dozen feet away before a cloud of pink exploded out from the capsule.

"Ugh, mom!" Trunks complained, a slight pink in his cheeks. Eighteen heard some snickering from behind her prompting the woman to look over her shoulder. There she saw Gohan doing his best to contain his laughter but failing miserably at it.
When the smoke cleared, there was a hot pink Jet Helicopter. At first Eighteen had been surprised, but then she realized that it made sense they had brought this. She 'couldn't' fly, and they couldn't train her to control energy anywhere near other people, meaning either one of them would have to carry her, which was off the table entirely, or they would need an alternative method of transport.

Speaking of 'alternative' means of transport...

A grin pulled at the woman's lips as she fought the urge to laugh. Written in bright purple paint along the side of the aircraft was the message: "I hope you have a wonderful time training today with your new girly-friend, love mom!"

Huh, so he told her about me...wonder what else they've talked about...

Eighteen raised an eyebrow towards the young man who had lowered his gaze so low that his lavender hair began to fall in front of his face. Despite this Eighteen was still able to just barely see his cheeks, which were scarlet red.

With shoulders still trembling with laughter Gohan took a step towards the Jet helicopter. "Well! No time like the present!"

"..."

Eighteen watched with an amused smile as the teen quietly climbed into the front of the aircraft. Eighteen frowned as she watched Trunks take the wheel instead of Gohan.

Understanding that she was expected to climb in back, Eighteen did so before asking. "Hey uh, quick question, why is the preteen driving?"
"I'm fourteen actually." Trunks grumbled under his breath, still clearly embarrassed by his mother's message.

Eighteen ignored his statement as she turned her gaze towards Gohan.

The man in orange smiled sheepishly as he raised his arm up. "Well, it's kinda hard to drive any sort of vehicle with only one hand. Plus Trunks has been taught by the literal creator of this helicopter, so he's probably the best pilot we got."

"Bulma Briefs is my mom." Trunks said with pride in his voice.

"Huh, neat." Eighteen responded idly as she peered out the side of the helicopter having already known that information. 'Briefs' wasn't exactly a common name afterall and she did have extensive knowledge on Bulma from her relation to Goku and Dr. Gero's spy drones.

She didn't notice the confused look Trunks shot Gohan, seemingly surprised the drop of his mother's name hadn't merited a reaction.

Her eyes were locked onto the rotors slowly beginning to spin. Of Course she was in no real danger if the kid accidentally drove the aircraft into the side of a building, but it would be hard for her to seem like a normal girl if she survived a helicopter crash without even a scrape on her to show for it.

Better drive well kid.

She internally worried as the helicopter began to lift off the ground. It didn't take long until they were flying over the city, zooming at a pace that was painfully slow for the woman. Eighteen's eyes soon pulled away from the window and locked onto the boy as he operated the machine with a surprising display of expertise. It certainly seemed like he had been taught how to fly by the creator of the craft, but that didn't ease the anxiety that was slowly building in Eighteen's gut.

She did not like being a passenger in this helicopter. She didn't like the idea of putting her faith in this child's piloting skills, in fact, she didn't like having to put her faith in anyone if she could help it. It made her feel weak, like she was displaying a need for someone or something else, that she alone was not able to accomplish what needed to be done without another. She liked when she was in control of a situation, or at least mostly in control. Like in the bar with Gohan, she'd been in control of the situation more so than he had. She knew the truth, she knew more about him than he did her giving the woman a slight advantage in the situation as well as more control over where the conversation went.

But here?

Here she could do nothing to aid her situation. She was stuck in this metal lunchbox in the sky and there was nothing she could do but hope that Trunks didn't mess it up.

"You okay back there?"

Eighteen blinked once before turning to see Gohan looking over at her with a raised eyebrow.

Recomposing herself, she responded. "Of course, why?"

He shrugged, "You just looked nervous is all. Are you afraid of heights?"

She thought about it. She was currently afraid of this height she supposed, or rather what would happen if they dropped.

I'll get found out right away…

"I guess you could say it's something like that."

Gohan frowned. "Well, I imagine that fear should go away when you start learning."

"Yeah, let's hope so."

---

-Twenty Minutes Later, Eighteen-

Eighteen had struggled to not rip the helicopter door off its hinges when the aircraft had finally landed. Stepping outside she raised her eyebrows as she took in the sight. There was nothing but dry, dusty desert going on for miles and miles. The woman couldn't even see the vague shape of a city on the horizon.

They were out in the middle of nowhere.

Eighteen blinked as she suddenly came to a realization. She'd just allowed two males to take her alone out into the middle of nowhere in a helicopter that she could not operate herself. If she really were this 'Videl' girl she was pretending to be, she imagined it would be pretty easy for the two of them to overpower her if it came down to it.

She shot a curious look towards Gohan. He hadn't seemed like the type...but anything was possible.

Perhaps Mr. Goody Two Shoes isn't as 'good' as I thought.

She idly thought to herself, not actually thinking it at all possible.

She watched Gohan step out of the aircraft shortly after her before taking a deep breath in and smiling brightly. "Man is it a great day for training!"

Trunks stepped out behind him, pressing on a button that reverted the helicopter back into a capsule.

He pocketed it.

"So, what exactly are we going to do to teach the newbie?" Trunks walked up to Gohan with his arms crossed, doing his best to appear as if he were a co-instructor in the situation.

Gohan smirked at the boy. "Well, you are going to get started on that super fun training I told you about the other day."

She watched the teen's face pale.

"W-what? But I thought we were going to teach uh, Videl was it?"

She nodded.

"I thought we were gonna teach Videl how to fly today!"

Shaking his head, Gohan responded. "No, I am going to teach Videl how to fly. You are going to work on some Ki control exercises." He paused before turning his gaze to where Eighteen was standing with her arms crossed. "Oh, By the way, Ki is the life energy that I told you let people use these abilities. I'll teach you more about it later."

Eighteen nodded again, an easy smile resting on her face. This was going well. If the brat was going to be away doing his own thing, then she would have more time to focus on orienting a conversation with Gohan towards her own problems.

She watched as the two bickered a short time longer, with Trunks complaining that he wasn't going to get to teach someone to fly and Gohan eventually getting the boy to comply by telling him 'You knew that this was my condition to keep training with me.'. Trunks had grown silent after that.

She watched the two disperse, with Gohan walking towards her and the teen grumpily flying off a far distance away from the two of them.

"So, ready to begin?" The man asked with a confident smile.

"Sure, I'm ready." she responded unfolding her arms. She was curious as to what the brat was going to be doing for him to have gone so far out, but she didn't really care all that much.

"Awesome, so the first thing we're going to have to teach you about is 'Ki'. Ki is the energy within your body that can be brought out in both fantastic and terrible ways."

Eighteen raised an eyebrow. This was a new concept to her.

"Which means that it's all the more important that if you do manage to learn how to control your energy, you be responsible with it. You've...already seen what can happen if someone with a lot of Ki decides to do something horrible with it." He adopted a more serious expression.

Eighteen paused, what she did when she fired off lazers and flew was manipulating 'ki'?

"Yeah...I guess so." She muttered in response, surprised at the fact that she hadn't known this about her own powers. She'd never explored into her or her brother's abilities before. Why would she? She was an Android, of course she had super strength, could shoot lasers and fly. None of the files Dr. Gero had implanted into her system told her anything about what she was doing when she used her powers, she just sort of…knew how to do it.

Maybe I'll actually get something out of this learning session.

"So I just need to know that you don't plan to turn around and somehow abuse these abilities if I teach you." The man was staring into her with a very serious expression as he said this. She could tell that the way she responded to this request was important.

She swallowed. "I have no intention to use the powers you teach me to do anything bad." Of course it's not like she could use any powers he'd taught her to do anything bad if he didn't manage to teach her anything she didn't already know.

She internally snickered.

This is going to be a piece of cake.

The smile returned to Gohan's lips. "Great! Then let's get started. The first and most important lesson to Ki control is knowing that it's there."

She tilted her head to the side. "Uh, you want to try that sentence again?"

Gohan chuckled lightly before continuing. "Ki is an innate part of everything that is alive. It's our life force, it's what grows stronger as we grow stronger as people. It's a reflection of a person's power and will. Of course, even if we all have Ki within us, you don't see the average joe down the street flying in the sky now do you?"

"Well, obviously."

"And that is because figuring out how to manipulate your Ki is especially difficult. It's something that you have to sense, like awakening a 6th sense if you will. You can't watch someone fire a Ki blast as you would watch someone throw a rock and get an understanding on how to do that."

Eighteen raised an eyebrow. He was making this stuff sound almost...complicated.

"So...what do I do then?" she motioned out with her hands in a shrug.

"Well, the way I learned was like this." She watched as immediately his legs folded beneath him and he dropped to the ground, sitting indian style on the dirt. She raised an eyebrow as he motioned for her to join him.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Meditation. A big part of finding your Ki is taking the time to actively search for it. Most people don't and that's why there's not a lot of people with Ki control. There's certainly other ways to do it, but I've personally found meditation to be the easiest way to find it. It Involves numbing your senses to the rest of the world, clearing your mind of all things and just focusing on your breathing. Once you get to that point, it's actually really easy to reach out and feel you own Ki. It's like with all the other senses pushed to the background, your Ki can finally present itself to you."

Eighteen stood unblinking for a long time as she processed everything Gohan had just told her.

What am i getting into?

She wanted to figure out a way to answer her question, wanted to figure out a means to get the information she needed. The only problem was the fact that there was no natural way to steer the conversation back that direction. She was quickly realizing the dynamic being established between the two of them. He, the teacher, and she, the student. She was supposed to be doing the majority of the listening while he did the majority of the explaining.

Damn it. I didn't think this one all the way through.

She was trapped. She couldn't leave without making them aware of the fact that she wasn't the person she said she was. She couldn't get a word in edgewise because Gohan was currently trying to teach her how to manipulate her Ki or whatever he called it. She was stuck doing whatever this dweeb told her to do for the rest of the foreseeable day.

She paused for only a moment, realizing this before accepting her fate. She would hate it, she always hated when she was told what to do, but she would be compliant in the effort to at one point during the day pick Gohan's mind for a fresh new answer to help her ever spiralling list of problems.

The woman sighed as she lowered herself into a sitting position, mirroring the man as she sat across from him.

"Everything okay?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

She forced a smile back at him. "Just fine, just don't like dirt is all." she lied.

Gohan nodded, she could see him considering something before dismissing it. "Alright, I'll keep that in mind for next time. Anyway, are you ready to begin?"

She nodded, internally acknowledging that he'd mentioned a 'next time'.

Oh like hell there is going to be a next time.

But instead of saying this, she said. "How long would you say it typically takes a person to uh...find their 'ki' as you put it." She wanted to know how long she needed to fake struggle at it before she could show she'd 'figured it out'.

She watched the man pause, considering the question before letting out a slow laugh. "Well, it kinda varies across the board. You could get it right away or you might not get it for weeks on end. My dad for example learned how to use his almost instantly. Apparently he saw someone else use a Ki blast and did it moments afterwards." He chuckled shaking his head. "I'm not sure I believe that story to this day because for me and Trunks it was a little bit harder to learn. For us it took a little over a week each to finally figure it out and get a hold of it."

Yeah, fuck that.

There wasn't a tissue paper's chance in hell that she was going to wait a full week before she could move forward with these 'lessons'. She needed these over so that she could just talk to Gohan freely about matters. She was hating her past self more and more for agreeing to this lesson.

She nodded, trying to appear nervous to hide her inner rage at the situation. "Well, I certainly have some work to do huh?"

Gohan smiled and nodded before closing his eyes and positioning his back in a manner that appeared far more relaxed. She watched the tension in his shoulders bleed away before he started to take slow, rhythmic breathes.

"The trick is focusing on your breathing. For me it sometimes sounds like the sound of the ocean tide coming in. The waves peacefully crashing down onto the wet sand before pulling away again, ebbing and flowing with the tide."

Eighteen studied the man before her, the ease in his face, the pleasant half smile on his lips as he continued to take slow breaths in, then out. He looked so calm in that moment. He looked so peaceful. Eighteen thought back to all the times they'd interacted with each other, all the times they'd fought or exchanged words. She realized in all that time she'd never seen his face so relaxed before. When they fought each other, their expressions were always so angry, so dangerous that she'd never really thought about how Gohan would look outside of that specific situation. She was so used to seeing 'Blondie' snarling and grimacing that seeing him like this was...different. There was no way that she could consider his facial features as 'handsome' or 'attractive', she hated the man to her very core. He'd fought she and her brother for years, how could she not hate him? But as he looked now...she supposed he could look worse.

She soon realized she'd just been sitting there staring at Gohan when she'd been expected to start trying to meditate.

...no harm in trying I guess.

The woman closed her eyes as she began to do what Gohan had told her, focusing on her breathing, letting all of her other senses fade into the background.

"When you think you might have it, cup your hands together as if your holding a ball, envision the energy you found being in your hands instead, imagine it moving down your arms and to your hands and if you're successful, it'll be there when you open your eyes."

I'll do this for an hour, max. Then I'll miraculously figure it out and wrap up this stupid training exercise.

---

-Forty Five Minutes Later-

It had only taken fifteen minutes for the Android to get bored. Ten minutes more and she'd started to get antsy, twenty minutes later, she was downright pissed.

This is literally the most boring, stupid, asinine, waste of my time I've ever experienced.

She briefly considered attacking the man before her. He was relaxed and definitely not expecting it. She could likely give him a fatal injury if she really tried and made use of this moment, just pull back an arm, get close and blast him with everything she could muster.

No Eighteen, we're not doing that, then all of this would go to waste.

She chided herself as she continued to sit still.

I only have fifteen more minutes before the hour is up and I can show that I figured it out, so I just have to wait until then-like hell am I waiting until then this is too damn boring!

She began to make her hands tremble, tightening her face into something that resembled a grimace as she did her best to convey that she was struggling to summon the power to her hands.

And then she felt it's familiar glow, the warmth of her own radiant power within her palms.

She opened eyes, staring down at the ball of golden energy with wide eyes.

"um...Gohan?" She said quietly, doing her best to sound like a young woman experiencing something borderline magical for the first time. The man's eyes opened.

"You did it!" Gohan exclaimed with a shocked expression, as if he hadn't been expecting her to get the handle of it so fast.

He probably didn't.

She thought to herself with a smug enjoyment. Watching him be baffled by her, stunned and shocked by her abilities much like he'd been shocked back at the bar.

It was still a nice feeling.

The man jumped to his feet as a bright, prideful smile spread across his face. "Wow! I've never seen someone get the hang of it so quick."

Eighteen felt a sheepish smile pull at her lips. "I guess I'm just a natural?"

The man ran his hand through his hair, blinking like someone who couldn't believe their eyes. "Yeah you are. Man that's incredible."

Her smile brightened. "Thanks." even if it was completely fake, for someone to marvel at her for something she'd done...there was something there that made her feel good about her accomplishment even if it was fake.

"How are you feeling?" He asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Huh? What do you mean?'

He raised an eyebrow, his gaze still focused on the ball of energy in her hands. "Well just don't over exert yourself. I remember the first time I used my Ki I felt exhausted immediately after. The same went for Trunks the first time he figured it out."

Eighteen blinked. She hadn't thought of that.

She looked down at the sphere of energy occupying her hands. She could tell that Gohan was watching her too, he was seeing how long she could sustain the ball of energy.

For some reason, she wanted to go above and beyond. It wouldn't be hard, and as long as she didn't make herself seem too strong to start off with, then it shouldn't matter.

Right?

Uncertain she asked. "Should I...stop then?"

She watched as an indecisive expression consumed his features. "...Only if you feel like you're on the verge of collapse. Don't overexert yourself. Using too much energy on your first try can be dangerous if you're not careful."

"Oh...okay."

She allowed the energy to sustain itself for half a minute longer, the entire time growing increasingly aware of just how excited Gohan appeared staring down at her 'accomplishment'.

It was...awkward to say the least.

The man she and her brother had spent a decade and a half trying to kill, was grinning at her like a goofy idiot.

She released the energy a moment later, letting herself fall back slightly as if the effort had exhausted her. Gohan lowered himself to a crouch beside her.

"How are you feeling?"

Is that concern I sense?

What a strange emotion for the man who'd so many times before had attempted to outright kill her, to be displaying towards her.

"Just a little tired is all," She made her breaths a little heavier, emulating how she imagined a runner would sound after a light jog. "I think I'm fine."

"That's good, you should probably take it easy for the rest of the day, anymore and you'll probably hurt yourself." His smile was unwavering, almost infectious she found as she felt the corners of her own lips beginning to curve upward from just seeing it. She found herself smiling back at him for a moment, before she realized something.

She blinked, wait...what had he just said?

"Wait, you want me to...wait am I not going to start flying today!?" her eyes widened in distress, was that it!? Was this today's class!?

The man chuckled shaking his head. "Trust me, you've accomplished something that some take months or even years to learn. I almost can't believe it myself honestly. You sure you don't have any experience in Ki control?" he joked with a smile.

Eighteen's face fell as she heard his words. Shaking her head slowly in response, she came to a realization she hadn't seen before.

She would have to come back, again, in order to commit to her lie and 'learn' how to fly as she'd said she'd wanted to before.

Fuck!

She did not want to have to sit through another ridiculous hour long meditation session in order to convince this dumbass that she was learning this Ki control nonsense legitimately.

She fought the urge to scream in frustration. This was supposed to be a special moment for her,or at least, for the Videl character she was pretending to be. She knew that any normal person would be ecstatic to have figured out how to summon their Ki for the first time, to have proper, tangible evidence that they would be able to do the things the oh so incredible 'Golden Warrior' could do. She needed to reflect that, she needed to appear happy that she was making 'progress'.

She fought to return the smile to her face. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. You are the expert after all."

Yeah, and a moron.

She internally scowled.

---

-Gohan-

She's an absolute natural.

Gohan was blown away by Videl's progress, he'd never seen someone achieve such a secure grasp on Ki so quickly before. Even Trunks, who Gohan had already deemed a prodigy from how swiftly he gained a grasp on even the most complicated of techniques, still required a full week and a half of dedicated training to form even the most basic display of Ki control.

She'd figured it out in less than an hour.

He'd expected it to take the whole day before they'd even begun to see even a glimmer of Ki control from the woman. He'd expected maybe short sparks or flashes of energy from the woman like he'd seen from Trunks, not a full, uninterrupted minute of controlled, completely stable sphere of golden energy.

If Trunks was a prodigy, he didn't know what to call Videl.

Despite his excitement, he couldn't help but notice that she looked like she was almost...disappointed, as if she'd expected to be able to fly today.

The woman rose to her feet, brushing the dust that had settled on her legs off as she sighed. "So, what now? If I'm done, does that mean we go back?"

Gohan raised an eyebrow as he watched her rise. She'd been breathing heavily before, but now she seemed completely fine, as if she hadn't just completely drained herself manipulating her Ki for the very first time. For a moment, Gohan wondered if the woman would have been able to maintain the ball of Ki for even longer had he not told her to be careful.

You're being silly Gohan, she's brand new to this. There's no way she would have been able to maintain her energy for much longer.

Still…

"Um...well," He began awkwardly as his gaze shifted towards direction Trunks was training. He could still feel the boy out there, training as he instructed. "Honestly? I expected this to take the rest of the day, so I'm not entirely sure what to do now."

He watched as she shifted her weight to one side, a hand resting on her hip. "So what, we just stand around now?" He couldn't help but get the feeling that she was annoyed with him for some reason. What was she expecting from him? Some kind of reward?

His eyes flashed wide.

"Uhh, no! Actually, there is something we do when a new student first gains control over their Ki." He did his best to sound as if this was rehearsed, or at the very least planned.

"We celebrate!" He grinned at her, waiting for a reaction.

He watched her shift her weight from one hip to the other, an eyebrow raised. It almost seemed like she was more upset with a celebration than nothing at all!

What does this woman want from me?

Gohan began to panic.

"Doing what exactly?"

Gohan froze for a moment, only a moment, before relaxing himself again, hoping she hadn't noticed the sudden stiffness in his shoulders and face.

---

-Eighteen-

Why did his shoulders just tense up like that? And what the hell was the matter with his face?

Eighteen's internal scowl had been growing with immense progress for the last minute or so. It was obvious that he hadn't planned anything for the rest of the day in the 'unlikely' chance she gained control of her ki on the first day. Watching him fumble with his words had only proven to better cement that realization.

This is going to be a total shit show.

She felt the tension from the corner of her lips wanting to curve downward intensify.

"Well..." She watched him rub the back of his neck, his eyes darting away from her for a moment, his eyes looking out across the desert towards where she knew the boy was.

"With Trunks, it was pretty simple, we just went to an arcade afterwards and had a lot of pizza," She watching him release a short chuckle reflecting on the memory. "Of Course that was for a young boy. I imagine that you probably wouldn't like that."

Eighteen blinked considering the option, it didn't sound like an idea she would personally dislike. Despite never participating with Seventeen whenever he would go to an arcade once they'd been cleared out of screaming people, that didn't mean she didn't enjoy playing games over all. Earlier in their reign over the world Eighteen would often sit down and try some of the games her brother offered to teach her. She'd never get to play more than a few hours worth however, as soon enough she was beating him. And, much to no-one's surprise, finding out that his sister was better than him did not sit well with Seventeen's rage. The moment Seventeen discovered that his sister had succeeded in beating him in any videogame of any variety, he would promptly destroy the game, leading to Eighteen never actually learning a game she enjoyed, and those she did, were often destroyed soon after. She'd given up on arcades and videogames altogether after that, since the only person she could play with at the time was Seventeen, it didn't make sense for her to pursue the hobby any further.

Eighteen took a moment to consider what an arcade experience with someone who wasn't her brother would look like, but decided against revealing this interest to Gohan. She was more curious what Gohan had decided would be a more appropriate way for her to celebrate.

Let's see how well you think you know me Blondie.

She watched his lips pull into a frown, clearly thinking as he cupped his chin with a hand.

Suddenly, his lips contorted into an expression she'd never seen the man wear before.

A shit eating grin.

"How does going to the Blue Dragon again sound? Drinks on me." He proclaimed confidently.

Eighteen blinked, considering the idea.

...Lucky guess…

---

-One Week later-

Eighteen sat at the edge of her bed as she pulled on the workout shoes she'd purchased the day before. Her outfit hadn't changed by much, mostly because she didn't need to change it by much. It wasn't like the training was hard by any means, or like she could actually work up a sweat even if it was, meaning there was no danger of her white top going see through with sweat.

She paused as she finished tying the last shoe, staring down at the floor with a frown so subtle had you not been staring you would miss it.

What the hell am I even doing?

It was a question she'd been asking herself over the last few days. She'd decided to slow her progress towards actual flight in an effort to not stand out too much, deciding that she would wait a day extra before making any major advances. Thankfully, she hadn't been forced to meditate any more after day one, seeing as she'd already 'discovered' her Ki and didn't need to find it again. This had lead to to Gohan actually showing her more about Ki, controlling it, manipulating it, learning how to direct it and push it to where she wanted it to be.

And much to her surprise, it had actually been...interesting.

He'd shown her that Ki control was more than just firing a blast of energy at something. She'd actuatually been impressed when he'd pushed out a ball of energy before stopping it in place, willing it to move to his will in multiple directions. Hed brought it inches away from her, telling her to reach out and touch it. She'd been skeptical at first, convinced that if she listened, it would blow up in her face, but knew she had to comply simply because Videl wouldn't know to question this action. Videl didn't have a single shred of experience with 'Ki' and energy besides what had been seen on the News.

So she'd closed her eyes, reached out, and touched it.

And to her surprise, it merely pushed against her skin, almost like a ball, like a water balloon filled with energy.

It had mistified her.

So not only was there a mystic, magical energy signature that people could sense, but you could move energy to your will too?

If that's the case...how much more didn't she know?

She scowled as she sat on the bed, her mind drifting back to the set of wrinkles and white hair that composed what had once been Dr. Gero. Though a brilliant scientist in his own right, a veteran fighter he was not. Sure, he'd done extensive research on traditional martial arts well documented throughout the world, and he'd even managed to figure out how to reproduce energy blasts via biomechanical means, but that didn't mean he'd had a strong understanding on the nature of Ki itself. He'd downloaded into them a bare bones understanding of energy manipulation, the more obvious, combat oriented techniques like energy shields to wrap around themselves when in danger or how to fire a strong wave of energy at an opponent, but the more complex stuff?

That was all new to her.

Am I out of my mind?

The second question she'd been contemplating for some time now. She'd been given multiple opportunities to talk with Gohan, to steer the conversation towards the dilemma with her brother, to get an answer she so desperately needed to assure their survival.

And yet...she hadn't.

For one reason or another, she'd either rationalized, excused, or flat out forgotten about her original goal in the pursuit to continue these lessons uninterrupted. Even when she'd spent time with the one armed wonder outside of training time, the subject never seemed important enough to bring up.

Her head fell, her face buried in her hands.

Why the hell did I accept to go out for drinks that second time? Why the hell am I currently dressing up in a ridiculous get up to go out and spend the day with that idiot again.

She fell back, her eyes studying the tiny bumps in the ceiling.

What is wrong with me?

She wanted to hate the man. Every fiber of her being told her that she should, that she should view him as her mortal enemy which he technically was considering all the times he'd attempted to kill her and vise versa.

She felt that she was supposed to hate him, she'd done so for so long, hated his guts, painted the perfect picture in her mind of her hand piercing his chest, watching the light fade from his eyes as he slowly went limp. So many times the very thought would bring her comfort.

But now?

Now the image was harder to form, now it wasn't 'Blondie' dying before her, it was Gohan. The guy who invited her out to drinks, the guy who was hilariously socially awkward despite his many attempts to appear natural.

The guy who looked at her like she was made of magic every time she would take another step towards mastering her Ki…

The guy who had that cute grin whenever he was about to tell one of his clever, often times silly jokes…

She sighed.

She didn't hate him, couldn't even. He wasn't the self-righteous, pompous, asshole she'd been expecting him, no, hoping him to be. He was Blondie afterall, of course she'd assumed he had to be an asshole.

Instead what she'd gotten was a down to earth, semi-socially awkward, intelligent, and dare she admit it charming young man.

She scowled for admitting that to herself. It still felt wrong to compliment him, even if it was just mentally.

But he wants me dead, isn't that enough for me to hate him?

It made sense to her, he wanted to kill her, wanted to destroy both herself and her brother. It wouldn't make sense for her to actually like the guy...would it?

He wanted them dead.

That meant that he was her enemy and that she should hate him, simple as that.

But at the same time…

Can I even blame him?

Thinking about it, Eighteen realized that she couldn't necessarily blame him for wanting herself and her brother dead. From what she'd learned of the man, he'd been raised since birth to save the Earth from world shattering figures without being taught that running was ever an option.

They'd personally killed nearly every important figure in his life before the age of ten.

They'd personally destroyed nearly all of humanity.

They'd personally tortured him and beat him to near death everytime they engaged each other in a fight.

Hell, they'd even dismembered him recently.

How could he not want us dead?

All in all, how could she be mad at him? The most he'd ever managed to do to either of them was ruin a nice shirt or delay their play time for maybe twenty or thirty minutes. In contrast, they'd taken nearly everything from him save for his very life.

Her lips curled into a frown.

Her mind went back to when she and Seventeen had been human. She recalled the times they would try and shop lift only to get caught by the security guards stationed there. They'd have to wrestle them to the ground and take the things they'd stolen back, but Eighteen had never blamed them for doing it. It was their job, just like a cashier's job was to scan your items, or a mechanic's job was to fix your car. If they didn't try to catch her or her brother, then they wouldn't be doing their jobs, they could lose their jobs.

How was Gohan any different from that?

He was the security guard and they were the shoplifters trying to ransack the shop.

She scoffed. Well, we've done a little bit more than just ransack…

But she felt the analogy still made sense.

Gohan was the only person around who could hope to challenge them. The only person able to physically stop them from destroying cities, ending lives, annihilating everything that he stood to protect. To him, this was his shop, this was his to protect because no one else could. He was doing a job, because if he didn't...who would?

We'd keep destroying and destroying until all that's left to destroy is ourselves...

Eighteen scowled as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

When the hell did I start sympathizing with the enemy, ugh. Even if I understand why he challenges us, doesn't mean he doesn't want us any less dead.

She had to remind herself that.

Gohan wanted her dead.

It would do her good to remember that. That she was only pretending to be the girl who wanted to learn to fly. She was only pretending to be an innocent young woman who enjoyed drinks after training. She was only pretending that she genuinely enjoyed his company…

Because the real her was still a monster.

Hell...I'm not even doing this because I find killing and destroying wrong. I'm only doing this because I have myself convinced that if I don't figure out a way to stop Seventeen and I, we're going to end up destroying ourselves. I don't give two shits about those pathetic humans at the end of the day.

She was doing this for selfish reasons, for herself, and no one else.

She smiled at that, the idea comforting to her.

Suddenly, the wrist watch she'd purchased a couple days ago started beeping wildly. Her eyes bulged at the alarm as she abruptly scrambled off of her bead and started to stuff her wig into a small backpack she flung over one shoulder. The alarm meant that she was running late.

She quickly pulled out her phone, shooting a short text to Gohan that she was running late but was still coming as she pulled the door open and started down the hall.

Only to run head first into Seventeen.

"Agh! Hey!" He snapped staggering back as she did the same. "Watch where you're going dumbass!"

Eighteen hardly paid him any mind as she stuffed the phone into her back and started to float down the stairs towards where she knew the kitchen to be. She needed to fill up a water bottle and put it in her bag, not because she would be getting thirsty later, but because 'Videl' would likely need water training in a literal desert.

"Hey!" Seventeen shouted after her, watching her with a furrowed brow as she made her way towards the kitchen. "Hey! I'm talking to you sis!"

Eighteen's head whipped towards him, snarling as she snapped back. "What do you want dickhead!?"

I don't have time for this shit!

She complained internally.

She watched as her brother's face contorted into one of rage, obviously pissed, before softening as his eyes narrowed.

What is he looking at-

Her eyes widened.

She realized what he was staring at before he even got the question out.

"What the hell are you wearing?" He said raising an eyebrow her direction.

She took a moment to look down at her outfit, A white T-shirt, spandex shorts, and some jogging shoes. She knew her brother didn't have much of a fashion sense given what he liked to wear around most days, but he'd lived with her literally his entire life and knew what she would normally wear.

This was definitely not it.

Fuck-Fuck-Fuck-Fuck-Fu

Her mind scrambled to find an answer internally thanking herself that she had yet to put in her contacts, but also acknowledging that she'd already applied the foundation to mask her normally pale skin.

Fuck!

She watched as he slowly descended the stairs, his face wearing a confused expression.

"Why do you look like you're about to go on a jo-"

"I think I'm getting fat!" She suddenly blurted out, her head low her hair fell into her face in a desperate attempt to hide the makeup. It was a spotty excuse at best, an obvious lie at worst, but Eighteen couldn't think of a better lie on the spot.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as he froze, eyes wide, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"What?" His lips curled into an incredulous smile before he started to lightly chuckle. "But that's ridiculous, you know we can't get fat-"

"I've been eating a lot lately!" She once again blurted out. "Stress eating, uh, I've been really stressed trying to uh, figure out a way to explain what I meant to you."

She pinched a bit of skin at her hip, trying to stretch it out to make a point, but finding very little purchase.

Damn my naturally perfect body!

"I-I don't know if I'm actually getting fat, but I've been, uh, exercising to try and make myself feel better."

She watched out of the corner of her eye as his expression changed, shifting from jovial and light hearted to a suspicious glare, his brow furrowed slightly. He leaned against the wall still halfway down the staircase as his eyes burrowed into her.

"Is that right." The cheerful tone in his voice had dropped entirely as he crossed his arms.

Eighteen felt that if she had been physically capable of sweating, she would have been in that moment.

He knows something up. He knows I'm hiding something.

She panicked.

"Yep, so I'm gonna head out now, seeya later." She turned on her heel and started towards the front door completely forgetting about the water she'd planned to collect before.

I'll just grab something on the flight over.

She quickly decided as she reached the door.

It creaked open as she heard Seventeen's voice call after her. "You know, I've noticed that you've been gone a lot lately...I'm guessing you've been 'exercising' a lot recently, huh?" the emphasis on 'exercise' that he meant it to mean something else.

What he thought it meant she had no idea.

Eighteen paused at the door, but didn't answer. There was nothing she could both knew that he knew something was up, and nothing she could come up with was going to convince him otherwise.

She could hear his footsteps slowly approaching her from behind. "You know, you never told me who filled your head with all that nonsense you were spouting the other day…"

Eighteen decided that was her que to leave.

She shot up and into the open sky, moving as fast as she could as she tore through the atmosphere going the opposite way of her destination. She didn't think that Seventeen would actually chase her down, he was her brother after all, but that didn't mean she was going to stick around for him to piece everything together.

Looking over her shoulder, she found that her assumption had been right, Seventeen wasn't chasing her.

She breathed a short sigh of relief at that fact, realizing that she hadn't been as certain that he wouldn't chase her down as she'd thought.

He knows now that something is up. He suspicious of me now.

Eighteen cursed herself for being so sloppy. He'd been in his room for the past week yelling at his screen for the game being 'Cheap' or 'fucking stupid bullshit' as he put it.

She hadn't actually thought she'd run into him in the hallway.

Stupid Eighteen Stupid!

She scolded herself.

She began to slowly turn, looking over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed as she started to make her way towards the meeting point by Gohan's apartment.

She'd have to come up with a better excuse later. Something that would shake Seventeen's suspicions before he started to actually follow her to her training sessions. She could just imagine how well that would go, him seeing her talking all chum like with the man he'd thought she'd finished off only a week ago.

She rubbed her forehead slowly as she realized how absolutely fucked she was.

She felt heard her phone ping from inside her backpack. She fumbled with the zipper for only a moment before pulling the device out and reading Seventeen's message.

'We need to talk later.'

Eighteen sighed, returning the device back to her bag.

Yeah, yeah we will.

---

-Seventeen-

She actually ran away from me…

Part of him was stunned, another part of him was hurt, but the largest part of him, the part of him that he listened to most frequently, was angry.

His fingers curled into fists as he spun around and started to march up the stairs, his feet cracking the wood with each step.

He couldn't remember the last time she'd kept a secret from him. He was her brother, her family, the one person in her life that would do anything for her. They shared everything with one and other, bar the inappropriate bits of their lives. He remembered the one time when they were younger her sharing about her time of the month and him running from the room, fingers in ears shouting 'lalalala'. And it wasn't like he was going to share his browsing history with his sister any time soon.

But those were frivolous things, unimportant things.

This did not feel like that.

This felt like something much, much more important.

She was wearing makeup...why the hell was she wearing makeup?

Seventeen knew that he wasn't the most observative person around, but he knew what his sister looked like, and he knew that she was trying to darken her skin for...some reason.

Is it a guy?

His brow furrowed as he turned down the hallway towards his room. It wasn't like the two of them hadn't had relationships before. Usually it didn't stretch past the physical aspect of the relationship since they were both equally disgusted with humanity as a whole, but that didn't mean they didn't still have needs.

Seventeen snickered.

Funny how willing some people are to fuck monsters when they're faced with that or certain death.

They'd find someone, lure them into a false sense of security, do what they wanted and then wash their hands of it. Hell, Seventeen would even let his partners live most of the time afterwards, just as long as they didn't come running up to him while he was destroying a city thinking they had some emotional pull on his heart.

He scoffed at the idea.

It was something they took care of from time to time, and sure, they didn't openly share that aspect of their lives with one another, but that didn't mean they actively sought to hide it either. Eighteen had told him about guys before when he'd asked, and he'd never taken issue with it.

It wasn't like there was a man alive that could hurt his sister, so there wasn't anything for him to worry about.

So why would she hide one now?

It made no sense to him,why had she been wearing workout clothes and makeup?

And why had she been disappearing throughout this whole week?

The Android paused once he reached his room, a finger scratching the side of his face. He couldn't make any sense of it!

How can she not trust me!? I've never betrayed her trust! I've never went behind her back about anything! It's not like I have anything to hide! We're mass murderers! What the hell could she be doing that's so bad she can't share it with me!

He looked up, staring at his open window. As far as he was concerned, he was a good brother. Sure, maybe to the world he was a monster, but to his sister? He'd always strived to be a good brother to Eighteen. He'd even listened to her stupid ramblings a week ago! He'd agreed to not go out and destroy anything for two whole weeks just to make her feel better as she went through what he had to only assume was a dumb girly phase.

He blinked, realization dawning on him.

If she didn't want to trust him anymore, if she didn't want to listen to him or at least let him know what was going on, then he wouldn't listen to her anymore either.

He started to pick up his clothes, looking for something suitable to make his grand reappearance.

He wore a sinister grin as he began to get dressed. He was actually looking forward to annihilating a city, it would be a good way to let out a little stress since his sister was being such a bitch.

Cherry on the top, It's not like I'm going to be having any interruptions now that Mr. one-arm is gone.

Seventeen laughed to himself as he stepped out from his window and took to the air.

It's time to have some fun!

---

Author's note:

Boy this chapter kicked my ass to write. I apologize if this chapter is a little less polished compared to some of the previous ones. My overall opinion towards my writing as a whole has been...poor at best, so I just didn't have it in me to proof read it to my typical standards, listening to it as I slowly comb through each and every paragraph (it's exhausting to say the least!).

I apologize for the wait, but as said previously, my motivation to write has been close to zero most days. Inspiration is a big deal for my writing, and even if I have the entire story currently planned out and outlined, that doesn't mean that the inspiration to see it to completion is there.

That being said, I'm not quitting the story obviously, I just have never been big on schedules or maintaining a steady chapter output, but I don't think a month's wait is too bad…(I mean, 8 chapters in a matter of three/four months? I'd say that's pretty good considering the length of each of these chapters!)

As many of you noticed there was a small time skip in this chapter. I do plan to have time skips from time to time depending on if it's necessary for progressing the story at a reliable pace. I didn't want you all to have to wait 2 more chapters of Eighteen pretending to learn how to control her Ki before the story moved forward. I want each chapter to actually progress the story forward narratively, for things to actually happen and not to fall into this weird trap that often befalls stories that center around Gohan.

Something I notice with dbz fics (ESPECIALLY Videl x Gohan fics) is that there will be like, 4-5 chapters in a row that barely move the plot along for the sake of writing out empty scenes between characters that we've all read time and time again. I mean, how many times have you read through the over-done formula of 'Gohan lets something slip about his true identity and Videl picks up on it' routine.' or the classic 'Gohan tries to do something that a normal person would do but overdoes it GASP' (typically followed by Videl or another love interest noticing and thinking it weird as Gohan tries to explain it away)

I really don't want to do that here and waste my time redoing scenes over and over again that you've all already read over and over again. That's why I didn't write out the scene where Eighteen and Gohan go out for drinks since you've all already saw that.

Also to those of you who thought it unrealistic that Cell was actually harmed by a man made gun, may I remind you that the cell we've come to know in the series waited until Trunks was Sixteen (Current Trunks is fourteen) before he made any move on the time machine, and even then he still needed to consume a few more cities in the main timeline before he was ready to fight Kami-infused-Piccolo(who was arguable as strong as Seventeen at the time) who he fled from by the way.

Cell in at this time is a far, far weaker version of himself, but I assure you that he will be playing a prevalent role in the story, what his role will be?

Well you'll just have to find out now wont you? I just wanted to show that Cell is around in this timeline, biding his time, slowly getting stronger as he does his best to avoid both the Androids and Gohan considering how easily they would be able to destroy him at this point.

It was also interesting to depit Cell in such a sinister light for once. I feel like some fans of the dragonball universe forget just how much of a monster Cell truly is since we always get to see his impact on the world through Goku and the gang's filter, which I feel trivializes it to a degree. This was what I Imagined Cell would seem like to your every day, average joe.

The amazing cover art of this story was designed and completed by the wonderful:Upstart Psycho! If you'd like to check out their instagram where you can see all their other amazing work, please look them up saintswakeart. They appreciated the story enough that they wanted to add their touch to the tale, and I absolutely love it! Their commissions are currently open, so hit them up using the previously mentioned tags if you want more incredible artwork!

Anyway, this AN is getting rather long so I'll cut it off here. If you enjoyed or even if you didn't please drop a review and tell me what you thought of the chapter! Reviews/follows/favs are genuinely what motivates me to continue writing the story. Support is just that, support, and considering I'm doing all of this writing for a total of 0 munny, it feels good to know that you guys are appreciating it. :)

Until next time!