xSonallyGirl129x: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Truth be told, I actually took some inspiration from the Lost Hope chapters of your Rewrite the Stars fic, so that I could add some more heart into that chapter. Plus I wanted to flesh out on Future Gohan's character development to show how losing almost everyone he loved affected him so badly, and I wanted to show how he lost his leg. Overall, I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you continue to enjoy the chapters that are still to come.

Guest: I do plan to go onto Super with this fic, regardless of the rather… mixed reception it has amongst the fanbase. As for the Zamasu arc, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, but I like the way you think. If you have any other ideas, don't be afraid to pitch them. I'm curious to see what else you come up with.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While the battle and the chase scene were raging on, Upa had brought Goku back to his home on Mount Paozu and given him the Heart Medicine, and now he and Chichi were watching over him in concern "Please Goku, we need to to stay with us. If you can't get back out there and beat the Androids then none of us will stand a chance."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kai was flying through the rocky landscape in search of Android 20, his Namek-Ken powered aura flaring wildly around his body 'Wait a second, so just because he's a machine I can't sense him to track him down? That doesn't even make any sense. You know what screw it, Ki sensing is just a bunch of bullshit.' he landed on a cliff in the middle of the landscape "Hey what's the matter old man, why are you hiding? Are you just scared because I blew up your friend? I would go so far as to call it your sexbot, but as you're currently demonstrating, you don't have any balls underneath those ridiculously baggy pants of yours! Dammit, this rocky terrain is littered with all sorts of places he can hide in.'

What he didn't realize was that Android 20 was hiding only a short distance away 'Yes, the boy is desperate to find me. All I have to do is wait him out.'

"Oh wow, I sure do feel winded after using that blast to blow up your robosexual life partner back there. It sure would suck if you jumped me and absorbed all of my Ki and I was powerless to stop you. Oh no, some dust in my eyes! This is the worst!"

'Any minute now…'

"...GET THE FUCK OUT HERE!" Kai soared into the air and prepared to fire a large one handed Ki blast.

What he didn't realize was that Yamcha was right below him "Hey Kai thanks for waiting for us, anyway we finally caught up with you and- What the hell do you think you're doing?! We're down here!"

"Just fly up dammit!" Kai promptly fired an Explosive Demon Wave down towards the rocky terrain below.

"Yes, now's my chance!" seizing the opportunity, Android 20 sped out from his hiding place and held out his hands, absorbing the Explosive Demon Wave as soon as it had made contact with his body "And now your energy belongs to me!"

"Believe whatever you want He Who Lacks Gearsticles, that's exactly what I was planning on the whole time. I knew you couldn't resist draining as much of my energy as you could, so all I had to do was flush you out and finish the job. And now you're all mine you old son of a-"

"You won't get another chance boy!" Android 20 promptly blitzed away through the rocky landscape.

"Hey get back here, I wasn't done!" Kai promptly blitzed after him, only to quickly find that he had lost him again "Okay you know what, this tactical shit gets old really fast. Now do the sensible thing and get the fuck out here and fight me blindly like a man! Or a mandroid, or whatever the fuck you are!" he failed to notice Android 20 hiding on top of the rock plateau directly above him 'Yes you may rival the power of a Super Saiyan Kai, but you're still nothing more than an arrogant little brat aren't you? He's become so accustomed to tracking Ki signatures that he's lost sight of his eye for movements, I can observe every single step he makes while I remain invisible until there is a prime opportunity to strike.' and he promptly blitzed away from the scene.

"Olly olly oxen bitch!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Android 20 landed on top of a plateau a fair distance away in an attempt to recoup and come up with a new strategy 'I must admit all things considered, I never calculated for this level of power from any of Son Goku's companions, let alone a boy of his age. What do I do next? Taking his reputation for vigilance into consideration, the most logical move would be for me to return to the laboratory. Such a step is one that I would've preferred to avoid, but this situation has forced my hand.' he glanced behind a rock and saw Tarble out looking for him a short distance away 'I see, so that one is here to.' he looked around and saw Tien, Yamcha, Nail and Raditz all looking for him in different directions 'Oh why the hell are they even here?! No I can make this work, these fools are practically lining up to give me their power. This is actually proving to be quite a fortunate turn of events, once I drain all of their energy and add it to my own I will be more than powerful enough to defeat the remaining fools without batting an eye! The question is, who do I start with?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yamcha whipped around at the sound of rocks crumbling, only to find a few woodland creatures running away 'This is ridiculous, since I can't sense out the other Android I'm getting set off by a bunch of prairie dogs. I can't let it get to me though, he has to be around here somewhere. Not like it's going to make a difference even if I do find him, unless I max out my Kaioken I don't have a chance in hell of beating that android. At this rate I would've been better off staying back at the island with Bulma and Bulla, at least then I can make sure Bulma doesn't do anything too stupid or reckless.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Android 20 looked around at the potential targets 'Well now I suppose it's time to make a decision, whose energy should I absorb first.' he looked around and his devious smirk only widened as he set his sights on Nail 'Excellent, another of Piccolo's species with a power level on a similar level. His energy alone should be extremely sufficent in meeting my goals. This is excellent, those impudent fools don't stand a chance.'

Nail was still searching for Android 20, completely unaware of the danger closing in on him from behind 'This is bad, for all we know he may have already escaped. If that is the case then perhaps it would be for the best for me to join up with the others-' his thoughts were rudely cut short by Android 20 grabbing him from behind and slapping a hand over his mouth, both draining his Ki and preventing him from calling out to anyone for help.

"Hello there my green friend, there's no use in struggling. No one can see us, I know the location of every last one of your companions. Now I believe that you have something that will be of great use to me."

Nail reached up and grabbed Android 20's hand, but quickly found that he was lacking the strength to pry it off of him 'Dammit… the only I chance I have is to use my telepathy and hope that one of them reaches me in time! Piccolo, Piccolo if you can hear me then I need you to come to me as fast as you can!'

"Does that mean the Android got you? Where are you right now?"

'Just lock onto my Ki signature and hurry, at the rate he's draining me I don't have much time left!'

Android 20 let out a malicious cackle "Yes I've almost completely drained every ounce of energy from your body, it's only a few more seconds before you meet the blissfulness that is death!"

"We'll see about that!" that was when Piccolo dropped down onto the scene and instantly smashed Android 20 square in the head, sending him crashing to the ground and knocking his hat off into a nearby ravine.

Nail lowered himself to the ground and breathed a sigh of relief "Thank you Piccolo… you arrived just in the nick of time…"

"I didn't expect you to let your guard down like that."

Android 20 quickly took back to the air "It shouldn't be possible, how could he have found us so quickly?"

"Well what the hell do you know?" that was when Kai and the others showed up on the scene ready to fight "Look who finally took the time to install a pair."

'Dammit it's still too soon, I'm not yet powerful enough to defeat all of them. I have to stall for time and try to take as much energy as I can from the others. Well I must admit that this is rather awkward, perhaps we could have some dialogue and work this out-"

"How about no."

"Oh. Well bullocks."

Nail pulled himself back to his feet "Krillin, I don't suppose you would mind handing me one of those Senzu Beans?"

"Right you are, here!" Krillin promptly tossed him one.

Nail caught the bean and swallowed it, and as he did his body bulked up slightly "I suppose you can call me the can opener, because I'm about to bust open your metal ass."

"Yeah here's the thing Nail, take my advice and leave the one liners to me." Kai told him, his tone flat "Besides the old man is mine, I called dibs and I quoted Deadpool."

"Really this is me doing you a service, I always believed that you wouldn't want to sully your hands on such a weak opponent."

"...You know the funny thing is that I know you're playing me, but you're right. I say he's all yours."

"Glad to see you're being so understanding."

"Oh please." Android 20 let out a scoff "You can pit me against this fool as many times as you like, I've already consumed enough energy from him to match him three times over! All this will do is hand me another opportunity to steal his energy, and the second I do…"

"That second will never come." Nail blitzed in front of Android 20 and dealt him a brutal knee to the jaw, sending him crashing into the cliffside behind him.

20 pulled himself out of the cliffside, his mind racing with fury 'This can't be happening, I prepared for every possibility. I just let my guard down, that's all. You won't be getting me a second time!" he charged towards Nail at full speed.

Nail dodged the attack with ease and dealt 20 an elbow square in the brain case where his skull would be, sending him crashing to the rocky terrain below.

20 pulled himself out of the rubble, still in denial "That- That shouldn't be possible! I can't think of a single reason I shouldn't be able to defeat this one, I was far more powerful even before I added his strength onto my own! Even allowing for error in my calculations, he shouldn't be able to swat me aside so easily!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While the incredibly one-sided battle was underway, Future Gohan from the year 777 had returned and was overlooking the chaotic mess that had been left behind on the island 'Well from the looks of it I would say that I'm too late, I can't see Father or Kai or any of Dr Gero's horrible androids anywhere, and the island is a mess. What happened here? I would try to go back further in the time machine but I barely have enough fuel in it to get back to my time as it is, that would be too big of a risk. Besides the machine isn't very precise, there still isn't any guarantee I would land in the right place.' he glanced over in the direction of the battle 'I can sense multiple Ki signatures gathered in one place, and from the looks of it they're in the middle of a fight. That must mean that they just chose a different location!' he wasted no time in blasting off in that direction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yajirobe still wasn't keen on being dragged along by Bulma "There's a long as fuck list of bad ideas and this one is at the top, you get that don't you?"

"I absolutely refuse to just sit around and not be part of the action anymore." Bulma told him firmly "Do you know that even though I went to Namek I never even saw Frieza while I was there, not even once?"

"I'm pretty sure no one ever complained about not meeting Hitler, I mean some people do but they're fucked up."

"This isn't up for debate!"

"You do know your kid is in the plane right?"

"Oh lay off that, she doesn't know what's going on."

"That's not the point I'm trying to make! Also she keeps trying to feed off me."

"Don't worry about that, she'll give it up once she realizes that it's a dry well."

"Yeah about that, have you ever seen what an all Senzu Bean diet can do to a man?"

"...Come again?"

"Korin likes it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nail dodged an attempted lunge from Android 20, kneed him in the gut and dealt him a knife hand attack to the back of the head, sending him crashing into a large plateau 'I'm beginning to think we overtrained for this, not that I would ever let Kai say it. But in all seriousness, I suppose the three years of training did more for me than I had anticipated. I don't wish to be arrogant but I believe my power level is close to that of Raditz and the others when they're in their Super Saiyan forms.'

"Why you little-!" Android 20 burst out from beneath the rubble and charged at Nail in a blind rage.

Nail blocked his attack and slugged him in the gut "You should watch your back." he blitzed behind 20 and dealt him a kick to the spine, sending him hurtling through several rock plateaus as a result.

20 burst out from the rubble and reached out a hand towards Nail as they were both enveloped in a massive dust cloud.

When the dust settled, it revealed that Nail had easily caught 20's hand before it was able to reach him "Considering how this battle is panning out, it's only fair that I inform you of a factor that you were clearly missing. All of us have learned how to amplify our basic Ki in short intense bursts, it allows us to add extra emphasis to our attacks." without missing a beat he promptly used a knife hand attack to cut Android 20's hand clean off "You see, even if you had succeeded in stealing all of my energy, the difference made by it would still be little to none, mainly due to the fact that you clearly have no knowledge on how to use it properly. This battle is progressing heavily in our favor, which should be considered a good thing. But something doesn't seem right, why do I feel like there's something we're missing?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Future Gohan…

Future Gohan had made his way to the sight of the initial battle, but all he found was the remains of Android 19, much to his horror "Oh my god, Chiaotzu is dead! And he really let himself go in this time. And he's an android. And that's not Chiaotzu. Oh crap baskets." he knelt down to get a closer look at 19 "I've never seen anything like this before, I thought I had prepared everyone but even I don't know what they're up against now. This isn't right, this wasn't how things were supposed to turn out." he glanced over in the direction of a spike in Ki levels and a powerful explosion in the distance "Wait a second, the battle must still be going on!" without missing a beat he blasted off towards the battlefield, his mind racing 'I don't understand, how could this happen? That android wasn't anything like the ones from my time, I know there weren't three of them in my time so how could things have changed so drastically?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Android 20 pulled himself out of the rubble, his rage growing even further "How can this be happening? I know I calculated for every contingency, I left nothing to chance!"

"You clearly missed some possibilities." Nail pointed out "According to my understanding, the battle we're currently fighting was initially supposed to end with the defeat of the others and myself by two Androids created by Dr Gero. However, it would seem that history has changed considerably. Either you aren't quite as powerful as we were led to believe, or perhaps we're all far stronger than your so called calculations could ever have accounted for."

"Yes we did it!" Gohan pumped a fist "We didn't need dad here to change the future after all, we won!"

"Don't get too cocky just yet." Kai told him "Yes I know that's hypocritical considering how much of a cocky douchebag I am, blah blah. Dr Gero might be an evil scientist from a cartoon or whatever but I know he wasn't stupid, he might still have some kind of contingency in case these guys go down."

"Like what, does that mean he has other Androids?"

"We'll deal with the possibility of that later, right now let's just go ahead and send the old man to join his sexbot."

"Yeah good idea- Wait a second." Gohan glanced over to see a figure approaching the scene from the distance "Hey it's him, he came back!"

Sure enough, at that moment Future Gohan blitzed onto the scene and took a slight breath to calm himself "Oh good, you're all still alright."

"And you're late as fuck." Kai pointed out dryly.

"I know and I'm sorry about that, but the time machine isn't as precise as any of us would want it to be and- Wait a second." he glanced down at Android 20 "What the hell is that thing supposed to be?"

"What do you think, that's the android."

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is."

"No it's not!"

"Yes I am." Android 20 cut in.

"You stay out of this!"

'Great, now there's another one of them? Who is he, where did he come from? I don't have any information about him in the database, how could I have missed this! In any case it's clear that I've made some terrible miscalculations, if the battle continues at this rate then I'm as good as dead. It would seem now that I have only one option remaining, I must return to the laboratory right away.'

"Don't tell me that this is the Android that you've been fighting!"

"Yeah, and the one who's ass Nail has been kicking for about 20 minutes." Kai told him "So pull that stick out of your ass."

"But that's not the Android that kills you, I've never even seen him before!"

"Hey you said two Androids and we've met too, I blew the other one to hell and Nail beat the shit out of this one."

"Why the fuck didn't you tell us what they looked like then?!"

"I didn't know there were more Androids, I only ever met the two from my time!"

"Well look at that, we've only even seen this guy and the fat sexbot!"

"How was I supposed to know there were more Androids?!"

"You're supposed to be Gohan, you're supposed to have enough brain cells to think these things through god dammit!"

Android 20 lowered himself to the ground, his mind racing 'Now then, what to do? I have to get to the laboratory but if I fly then they'll almost certainly catch up to me, the only thing I can do in this situation is go on foot and keep hidden amongst the rocks.'

"So what the fuck made you turn as stupid as Goku?!"

"Hey you guys!" that was when Bulma and Yajirobe flew onto the scene "Sorry we're late but I hope we didn't miss any of the good stuff!"

"The robot without any gearsticles is over there." Kai jerked a thumb over at Android 20 "Are you happy now so you can get lost?"

"Wait… is that Dr Gero?"

"It's way too dangerous for you to be here!" Future Gohan barked at her "You have to get the hell out of here right now!"

"That's it, now's my chance!" Android 20, now revealed by Bulma to be Dr Gero, promptly rounded on all of the others "I was stating a fact when I told you that none of you have any chance of victory, the moment I'm gone Androids 17 and 18 will be here in my place and they will avenge me!" and with a maniacal cackle, he unleashed a massive Photon Wave blast, engulfing the entire area in a blinding explosion while he wasted no time in bolting away from the scene amidst all of the chaos.

Piccolo and the others were forced to shield themselves from the light of the explosion and all of the flying debris, and once they could see again they found that Dr Gero had long since vanished from the scene "The devious little bastard!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bulma opened her eyes and found herself on the ground, significantly shaken up but alive and well, thanks to the actions of Yamcha "Wow, for a second there I thought I was going to end up being a wish- Oh god the baby!"

"It's alright, she's right here and she's fine." as it turns out, Yamcha was only about two feet away, trying to stop Bulla from crying "It's alright sweetie, I swear I won't let anything happen to you."

"Plus it's just an explosion, those happen a lot around mommy and daddy."

"Not something that's going to calm her down."

"It was more for you and me than for her to be honest."

"Fair enough. Hey by the way, wasn't there someone else in the car with you?"

"Hmm?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As it turns out, her extra passenger, that being Yajirobe, was lying on his back in a large pile of rubble "Hey note to self Yajirobe, next time Korin tries to have you do anything for this pack of freaks, just take his cane and shove it up his ass with a bottle of ranch dressing." and then a rock fell on his face "I got a rock up my butt."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, back with the characters who actually do shit…

Kai was pretty much in a comical rage over Dr Gero escaping from the scene "Oh you've gotta be kidding me, he got away AGAIN?! And not a nut or bolt to be found, not that he had any nuts to begin with!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And now with a few of the characters who aren't psychotic…

"Bulma!" Gohan and a few of the others quickly rushed towards her "Bulma, Yamcha, are you guys alright?"

"Don't worry guys, we're all fine." Yamcha assured them "Good thing I got to them before the blast hit the car, I don't know what I would do if I lost either of them."

"Hold that thought." Future Gohan promptly blitzed into mid air and stopped Kai from flying away "What the hell is your problem, they were in trouble and you didn't even lift a finger to help them out of that!"

Kai rolled his eyes "You say that like I needed to, Yamcha had it covered."

"That's not the point, what would you do if something happened to them and you could've stopped it but didn't?!"

"Gather the Dragon Balls and just wish them back, it would probably only take a few hours or so."

"...Oh. Huh."

"Yeah."

"Well maybe but still, you're saying that like death doesn't have any consequences."

"At this point it really doesn't, we spent months literally waiting to bring them back. Hell the next time it happens Krillin and the Pokemon get free sundaes."

"...You are seriously deranged."

"You're just figuring that out now?" Kai promptly lowered himself further towards the ground and looked around for Dr Gero, to no avail 'Any of us would've been able to see it if he had taken to the skies, he's trying to run away on foot and keep hidden among the rocks scurrying away like some sort of pathetic rat. Still that explosion didn't last for too long, so he couldn't have gotten very far just yet.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dr Gero bolted through the rocky landscape on foot at full speed, his mind racing as fast as his body was 'Alright, so I made a miscalculation. A couple of miscalculations. I lost an android and one of my hands, and I think my brain case is loose.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bulma glanced over at the others "So that crazy old guy that tried to blow us to kingdom come was an android? I mean his brain was totally on display."

Raditz nodded "Yeah he was an Android, I mean he could absorb energy and he tried to blow us all to hell, where are you going with this?"

"Well it's just kind of weird, I mean the last I heard Dr Gero always used to be a full blooded human being."

"...Wait what?"

"Well yeah I've seen him in science journals, I can't believe he's an Android now."

"Wait you mean that guy with the brain in a jaw was actually him? I saw his picture in a few of those journals too, I just figured he had such a big ego that he modeled one too look exactly like him."

"Well maybe he just converted himself. But I never knew you were into those science journals I keep lying around."

"I needed something to occupy myself whenever me and Kakarot weren't training or driving cars and singing Highway to HFIL, and besides my father was a scientist who created a technique that Saiyans used to create fake moons so we could turn into Great Apes. But enough about that, we need to tell the others about this." Raditz looked up towards the others "Hey you guys listen to this, Bulma says that old looking Android was really Dr Gero!"

"Hold on, what?!" Future Gohan and the others quickly floated down towards her "But there's no way that could've been Dr Gero, the Androids should've killed him a long time ago!"

"Call it what you will, pictures don't lie and neither do scientists with egos bigger than the hair falling down my back."

"But that doesn't-"

"Use your head Future Spike, you're smarter than that." Kai shut him up "Putting aside the brain sticking out of a jar where his skull should be, if the guy was able to make Androids that could hold their own against Frieza then he can easily pull his brain out and stick his head in the aforementioned jar."

"Hey drop the scowl, you're scaring my daughter." Bulma told him dryly "Look we scientists know how to be a contrary bunch a good chunk of the time, but any one of us can agree on the fact that Dr Gero was a genius."

"Yeah I know that, why do you think I read waterproof copies of those journals whenever I take a shower? Besides, anyone can also agree that he was a bigger asshole than I am. Speaking of which…" Kai promptly rounded on Future Gohan "When the actual fuck did you become such a failure?!"

"Hold on a second, I-" Future Gohan was promptly cut off.

"You said that Goku dies of the heart virus, then 6 months later we deal with two Androids that 69'ed Gero-"

"It's 86-"

"I know what I said! You said two Androids on May 12 at 10 am in South City, and then what happens? You make us waste our time on the wrong fucking Androids!"

"Look the fact is that events are unfolding differently than any of us could ever have been able to anticipate, and my messing with the past is probably what caused it."

"You can thank the Butterfly Effect for that one, did you never even think before you pulled all of this crap?!"

"Of course I-"

"Arguing isn't going to help anyone right now." Piccolo promptly shut them up "Look, the old man mentioned 17 and 18 before he up and vanished, so those two must be the pair from your future aren't they? We can't waste anymore time or be more careless than we already have, we need you to tell us exactly what they look like."

"Right, I understand Piccolo. Okay, so 17 is a young man with black hair that goes down to his shoulders and a scarf tied around his neck. 18 is a young woman with blonde hair going down to her shoulders, if she wasn't evil I'd call her cute."

"Sounds like she's worth masturbating to." Kai noted dryly.

"The you from my timeline tried grinding on her once and she blasted one of your eyes right out of its socket. And then you posted a picture of that on Facebook."

"...I think I like my future self."

"They both wear matching pairs of gold earrings so that should help you to identify them, and the looks in their eyes are as cold as ice."

"Anything else we should know about?" asked Nail "As in do these Androids have the ability to siphon energy from their opponents?"

"If they did then they haven't used it in front of me before, but what they do have is far more dangerous. They have limitless reserves of energy and stamina. Either that or I just wasn't strong enough to actually make them waste any of their power. But that doesn't matter anymore, where is Father right now?"

"Screaming blood into his pillow." was Kai's dry response "Yeah thanks to something fucking with our timeline he didn't come down with it until he was fighting a fat sexbot, so that's a much better way to go." he glanced over at Bulma "Alright Mother of the Year, just tell us you know where Dr Gero set up shop with his lab. Anyone with half a brain cell would have to know where that is."

Bulma frowned in thought for a moment "Last time I checked Dr Gero was reported to have set up a lab somewhere in the mountains outside North City, rumor had it that some empty cave into a secret hideout."

"So he's trying to be Batman."

"So what now?" asked Krillin "How are we going to catch up with him now that we've been standing here talking for like 15 minutes?"

"It depends on whether or not you actually think for a minute, none of us saw the old man fly away now did we?"

Gohan and his future self shared a knowing look "So that means that he's fleeing on foot and using the rocky terrain to camouflage himself from us so he can make it back to his lab!"

"The explosion was still pretty weak so I doubt he could've been able to get very far in the time he had."

"I think I get it, so you're saying that we should still have enough time to beat Dr Gero back to his lab and destroy these Androids before he has a chance to activate them, does that sound about right?" asked Raditz.

"Well that's one way to look at it, and if we don't beat him back then we'll just have to go ahead and stick with Plan B."

"Which is?"

"You're a Saiyan should you already know, we'll punch and blast the ever loving fuck out of them until there's nothing left but blackened metal and charred bones."

"...You frighten me sometimes you know that?"

"It's a gift." Kai flared his aura and prepared to blast off like Team Rocket.

"Kai hold on a second!" Future Gohan grabbed him by the arm "You don't understand just how powerful the Androids really are! Raditz is right, this might be the only chance we have to destroy them before they can be activated."

"You just keep thinking that."

"Look if you have to fight them no matter what then at least wait until Father has fully recovered from the Heart Virus, don't go into this fight by yourself!"

"Why the hell would I bother to wait for him? I'm just as much of a fighter as he is, what just because I'm not a Saiyan I can't do anything? What kind of cheap bullshit writing tactic is that supposed to be?!

"I'm not doubting your abilities, I'm trying to stop you from getting yourself killed!"

"I'm smart enough to know when I'm in over my head, but I'm also smart enough to know when I can wreck some shit without your help, now get the hell out of my way!" and so Kai promptly blasted off into the skies.

"Dammit that idiot, what the hell is he thinking?"

"He might be right though." Gohan muttered "I fought Kai with everything I had once during training, and he was able to go toe to toe with me even when I was a Super Saiyan, and he's only grown stronger since then, so for all we know he might very well be stronger than me or dad right now. Maybe we really can take care of all of this on our own."

"I'm more aware of that than you think, the Kai from my timeline was able to use the Namek-Ken technique too and he was just as powerful as I was back then, maybe even slightly stronger than me. But we both fought the Androids at full power and we still weren't powerful enough to stop them, we were barely able to slow them down. And then a year later Kai ended up facing them alone, and sure he killed one of them but he still died in the process. I don't care what he says about it, I'm not going to let my best friend get himself killed, not again!" and on that grim note, Future Gohan promptly flashed into Super Saiyan and soared off into the distance after Kai.

"Oh man, I can't even imagine the kind of stuff he must have gone through over the years in his timeline."

"With any luck you won't have to." Piccolo told him "That's what this fight is about after all, to make sure you don't turn into him."

"And to make sure dad doesn't die from the Heart Virus, but that happened 6 months later than it was supposed to, so what does that tell us?"

"That clearly the situation is proving to be a lot more complicated than any of us had originally anticipated."

"Sounds about right, but we can't waste anymore time. The rest of us need to hurry up and find that lab before Dr Gero gets back there, we'll be able to save ourselves a lot of time and energy and maybe even a wish on the Dragon Balls if we can destroy 17 and 18 before they can be activated."

"That's the best thing we can do right now."

"I think so too." Gohan glanced over at Bulma "Hey Bulma, do you think you could tell my dad that we're out looking for Dr Gero's lab? Oh, and if he's feeling up to it then he should join us as soon as he can."

"Well yeah sure, but how the heck am I supposed to tell him anything? In case you guys forgot, my car got blown up." Bulma pointed out dryly.

"Oh yeah, right."

"Don't worry about that guys." Yamcha cut in "I'll take Bulma and the baby and get them the hell out of here, you guys go on ahead and see if you can track down the Androids. I'll join you as soon as I can, but with any luck dismantling a couple of offline Androids is something you won't even need me for."

"Right, just be sure to be careful with them."

"Alright, enough talk." Piccolo got everyone's attention "Let's head out guys, we need to track down Dr Gero's lab before he can get back there and activate the other Androids."

"Right!" so Gohan, Piccolo and the others all promptly blasted off.

Yamcha quickly wrapped his arms around Bulma from behind "So how fast is it safe for me to go with you guys?"

"I say go as fast as you want." Bulma told him flatly "But keep in mind that we have a baby on board."

"Yeah, our baby so I know that."

"Hey assclowns, aren't you forgetting something?" that was when Yajirobe pulled himself out of the rubble "I got a rock up my butt, so can you help a brother out?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dr Gero continued blitzing through the rocky terrain on foot 'This should be far enough, if I take to the air from here then I doubt any of them will be able to spot me.' that was when he detected something and hid behind a cliffside just in time to see Kai soaring past him, with Future Gohan right behind him, though he avoided being spotted by either of them 'Kai and that other unknown warrior, they're still searching for me are they? Honestly, they're relentless. No don't tell me, they're both making a beeline in the direction of my hidden laboratory! No that can't possibly be their destination, it must merely be a coincidence. What else could it be? After all they have no idea where my lab is secretly hidden away, only a handful of scientists throughout the world know it even exists in the first place- Wait a minute, that woman that arrived on the scene earlier! That's Bulma, the heir to the Capsule Corporation! Does her father know about my lab, what if she inquired about me?' that was when his sensors went off again and he once again hid, this time avoiding being spotted by Gohan, Piccolo and the others 'Dammit I was right to worry, their current trajectory will take them straight to my lab! Dammit, the meddling wretched do-gooders mean to destroy 17 and 18 before I have a chance to activate them don't they? They shall all rue the day they interfered!' once they were out of sight he promptly took to the skies 'I am the only one who knows the precise coordinates of my lair, they can search until they're blue in the face but even though I have to take the long route I'll still be able to beat them there with ease.' and he promptly soared off in the direction of his lab.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kai continued soaring in the direction of North City, but he looked back to see Future Gohan still keeping pace with him with ease "So you're really planning to ride my ass all the way until we get there, then I say keep up if you can!"

"Dammit this is exactly what I'm talking about!" Future Gohan soared after him "You know I can still turn Super Saiyan right?"

"Yeah and I say fuck that and power levels and Saiyans in general!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the others…

Piccolo, Gohan and the others continued soaring towards North City "Alright Tien, how far away from Norty City are we by now?"

"From here, I would say it's just up ahead." Tien told him.

"I see it up there!" Gohan pointed to the city in the distance "So then where are Kai and my future self?"

"It doesn't matter, we need to find the Androids and take them out before he does anything stupid or reckless." Raditz pointed out "Even in the unlikely situation that he doesn't, we'll still have one hell of a gigantic problem on our hands."

"Kai is a lot of things, snarky and overconfident being at the top of the list, but he's not that bad you know." Gohan told him.

"Yeah yeah I get it, you're biased because he's your only friend that's your age."

"My point is that even he would never go out of his way to let people suffer just for the sake of a fight, he just has a lot of pain in his heart that no kids our age should have to deal with."

"We can discuss Kai's clear emotional instability later, we have other things to worry about at the moment." Nail pointed out "From what we've been told, Dr Gero is hiding his laboratory in a cave in one of these mountains."

"Yeah, just great." Krillin muttered "You would think he could've picked a place that was a hell of a lot warmer.

"So what course of action should we take from here? Considering the vast amount of territory that this mountain range covers, combined with the fact that Dr Gero is able to detect our Ki signatures without giving off any of his own for us to use to locate him."

"We'll have to split up and search." Piccolo told him "If you manage to find anything then be sure to signal the rest of us, don't risk going it alone."

"A signal, but what do you have in mind for that?" asked Gohan.

"Just spike your Ki signature as high as you can, that will be enough for the rest of us to notice pretty fast."

Krillin suddenly found himself inside of a literal block of ice as a cold wind surged right over his body "Oh for crying out loud, how the hell can it be so cold?!"

"Tough it out, you're not the only one feeling the cold." Raditz told him flatly "For crying out loud, humans are so delicate it's ridiculous. I can't help but wonder how they survived for as long as they have."

"Welcome to the club." Piccolo muttered "But let's get back to the task at hand, we need to find these Androids as fast as we can."

"Right, let's get to it then, and don't forget that if we do this then this entire world and everyone in it is as good as dead."

"Wait a second!" Krillin stopped them from flying off.

"Yeah we know it's cold, why else would your nipples be rigid."

"...Ignoring that, I was thinking that we should divide up the rest of the Senzu Beans just to be on the safe side."

"That's actually not a bad idea."

"Okay then." Krillin promptly divided up the Senzu Beans between them "Okay so there's a little over half a dozen left, divide that by the 7 of us that means we each get one."

"Well if everything goes according to plan, we won't even need them. Now let's get moving before the old man makes his move."

"Right!" and so everyone promptly blasted off in different directions.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

What none of them realized was that Dr Gero had been watching them from his hiding place on the ground "It would seem that my theory was accurate, they know about the existence of my lab but I think they'll find that tracking it down is another matter entirely. You wretched fools, I hope you're prepared to be faced with the consequences of your failures." he wasted no time in bolting across the ground at full speed "You can snoop around as much as you want, you'll be dead within a matter of hours." he continued bolting across the landscape, only to stop when his sensors detected Raditz searching for him nearby "So the brother of the hero, his energy will be quite adept."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Come on old man, where the hell are you?" Raditz bolted across the grounds of the mountain range, only for his foot to be caught by Dr Gero as he burst out from underground and hurled him into a nearby boulder, then attempted to follow up with a knee to the face.

Raditz caught the knee and dealt him a sharp kick to the torso, sending him flying backwards a short distance "I already know what you're thinking old man and it won't work, I think you'll find that I'm far more capable then you're giving me credit for."

"Be silent you wretched simian!" Dr Gero let out a scoff "With a power level as negligible as yours, you're practically useless to me."

"You just love to hear yourself talk don't you? Well, I hate to break it to you old man but I have a trump card or two up my sleeve as well."

"Enough of your arrogant prattling, I'll go ahead and put you out of your misery." Dr Gero then prepared to attack again, only to stop when he noticed Gohan flying around and searching for him nearby 'Great, now Goku's son as well? I have enough time to dirty my hands with one of these fools but not two of them. Congratulations Saiyan, you'll get to live a little bit longer than expected. No need to show me any gratitude, after all I do only mean a little bit." and then he promptly blitzed away across the mountainsides.

'Should I alert the others? No not yet, I think the best course of action would be for me to follow him until he leads me back to his lab and then I can take him down and destroy the Androids before they're activated.' so Raditz promptly blitzed across the landscape after Dr Gero, but he made sure to avoid taking to the skies so as not to alert him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yamcha was slowly but surely flying Bulma, Bulla and Yajirobe back home, but he had some concernes about something "Hey I don't know Bulma, are you sure it's safe to hold our baby daughter like that while we're flying thousands of feet in the air?"

"Well it's not like I have any other options." Bulma pointed out "I mean what else am I supposed to do with her?"

"Give her to Yajirobe?"

"Not a chance, frankly I'm afraid he'll either drop her or eat her out of spite."

"Oh come on, he wouldn't-"

"I am pissed and hungry, she is right to fear me." was Yajriobe's blunt statement.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It didn't take long for Dr Gero to reach the cave where his lab was hidden 'There you are, home sweet home and yet ever so humble.' he prepared to make his way inside, but stopped when his sensors detected something and looked back to see Raditz closing in on his location, but still a fair distance away 'So he tried to track me on foot to prevent me from noticing him, and now he's deciding whether or not to summon the others or take me out. Go ahead and do whatever you wish you foolish simian, they'll never make it in time for you to be able to stop me but by all means feel free to hasten their doom along with yours.' he quickly punched in the access code for the lab and made his way inside, the door shutting behind him 'I can't believe the likes of them have forced my hand to the point where I may have to resort to using 17 and 18. Perhaps I should measure my choices, I can't be too careful with-'

"You're not getting your way old man!" Raditz's voice roared from outside the door, followed by a loud smashing sound and the doors shaking, but not breaking down "Dammit my wrist!"

'Caution to the wind it is, I'd rather not bring the two of them back online all things considered but with how events are unfolding I don't have a choice in the matter.' he pulled out a remote and pressed a button, opening one of the chambers.

From the chamber emerged a young man with shoulder length black hair and a scarf tied around his neck, and he looked around 'So the old man activated me again?'

"You're awake. Tell me 17, how do you feel?"

'And he's holding the remote to do it, not smart old man. Good morning doctor, thank you for awakening me again."

"My word, did I just hear you thank me?"

"But of course, I owe my existence to you."

'Excellent, the personality reprogramming worked!'

'And the old fool has no idea. So tell me doctor, do you intend to wake my sister as well?"

"Indeed, I require the assistance of both of you."

"With what?"

"I'll knock this door down like the goddamn Hulk!" and cue Raditz slamming into the door again, followed by some groaning in pain "Dammit my other wrist, what the hell is this door made of?!"

"...I withdraw my question."

"Indeed, desperate times call for desperate measures." Dr Gero activated the next chamber with the remote.

From the chamber emerged a young woman with shoulder length blonde hair. She glanced over at 17, then at Dr Gero as she noticed the remote in his hand "I wish a good morning to you, my dear Dr Gero."

"A displayal of even more cordiality than 17 here."

"No less than is called for in regards to my creator."

'How very obedient my weapons have become, just as I like them.'

"I see that you too have become an Android since we were last activated."

"Indeed I have, eternal life was far too great of a prize to not seize. I will admit that your demeanor is quite a relief, in order for your perpetual energy reactors to function properly I had to disable the behavioral limiters I had wired into your firmware, it rendered you, well I suppose I should say contrary. You refused to obey any of my commands, but we do seemed to have cleared that up that little streak of independence."

"I'll go Hulk on this thing's Loki dammit!" Raditz contiuned attempting to bust down the door, only to have little luck "Dammit now my shoulder, seriously what the hell is this thing made of for fuck's sake?!"

"And on that note I say it's time to start earning your keep. As I'm sure that little display has made clear, Son Goku's comrades are heading towards this laboratory as we speak and one of them is currently knocking at our door, or at least trying to. Go and eliminate the lot of them, be sure not to let any of them survive."

17 and 18 nodded "Understood, we shall follow your wishes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Raditz continued slamming against the door to the lab as hard as he could, but he could barely make it budge "Dammit, now there goes my other shoulder."

"Looks like we've missed some of the action." that was when Piccolo, Tien, Gohan and the others arrived inside the cave.

"It took you long enough to show yourselves, I've been trying to break down this damn door for about 10 minutes and I've already lost all feeling from my shoulders and down my arms."

"And judging by the fact that you're doing so much damage to yourself without restraint while trying to break in, I'm guessing that means you didn't beat Dr Gero back to the lab."

"No, he ambushed me so I tried to follow him on foot and I saw him go inside."

"Which means that we might already be too late to stop him from activating the other Androids, is that what you're saying?"

"Pretty much yeah."

"Shit!" Piccolo slammed into the door full force "Dammit my wrist!"

"Welcome to the club."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dr Gero glanced over at the door as he heard the chaos outside "And judging by that I assume it means that Piccolo and the others have arrived as well, how eager these fools must be to meet their inevitable gruesome demise. See that you don't disappoint them my servants."

"We have no intention of disappointing them." 17 and 18 shared a subtle glance with each other behind Gero's back.

"Now go and teach them the meaning of pain and suffering."

"That we do have every intention of doing, but before that…" 17 promptly snatched the remote from Dr Gero's hand before he was able to react.

"What the- What the hell do you think you're doing 17, give that back this instant!"

"I would if it wasn't for the fact that this remote looks like something you could use to shut us down whenever the hell you want. But I know you would never do something like that, but just to be safe…" he promptly crushed the remote in his hand "Yeah, I don't think we'll be needing that."

"Is this your idea of a joke 17?!"

"Oh I'm done joking with the likes of you, let me just make it clear to you now that there's no way in hell you're ever putting us to sleep again you stupid old bastard."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Raditz slammed his leg into the door, only for it to go limp "Well it's official, I'm totally out of limbs now."

"Looks like the two of us are late for the party."

Raditz glanced back to see Kai and Future Gohan making their way into the cave "And from the looks of it someone has to be fashionably late."

"Only because of this asshole's constant backchat."

"Because a certain someone flew 200 miles past North City." Future Gohan pointed out, his tone dry and somewhat frustrated.

"Because I was distracted by your futile attempts to dissuade me from fighting the Androids if they've already been activated. Speaking of which stand back, there are times to fuck around and times to take action, and this is a time to blow shit up." he held out a hand and prepared to blow it clear down.

But then a voice from inside got their attention "I am your creator and as such you shall do whatever I tell you to do, do I make myself clear 17?!"

"...I'm guessing you guys heard that, mainly judging by the puddle Krillin is standing in and the wet spot on his pants."

"Oh we heard it." Piccolo took a few steps away from Krillin "That means the Androids are awake."

"Somebody spray some air freshener around the bald little troll with the bladder control issues, I'm doing something about this so stand back."

"No don't do it!" Future Gohan protested "We can't do this without Father, we have to get out of here as fast as we can! If you try and fight them now then there's no chance of you being able to defeat them!"

"Only one way to find out! Masenko!" Kai promptly fired a Masenko at the door, blowing it to bits in an instant.

17 and 18 just stood there as the smoke cleared, calm as can be "Hey, how's it going?"

"A young man with black hair going down to his shoulders with a scarf tied around his neck, matches the description of 17. 18 is the blond woman with hair going down to her shoulders, yeah that one's definitely a looker. So tell me something Mirai, yeah that's what I'm calling you now, are these the Androids that you actually came back in time to warn us about?"

Future Gohan nodded "Yes that's them, no mistaking them."

"And there's no mistaking thiis, you're becoming more of a disappointment by the second, aren't you?"

"How did I forget about your love of pissing people off?"

"You tell me."

"...I'll deal with the brain cells you kill around me later, right now we have much bigger problems to deal with. Don't let their lack of intimidating demeanor fool you, we learned that when we dealt with Frieza. I can assure you that these Androids are the greatest threat that the world will ever know."

"Give it a few years."

18 let out a low whistle "Wow, quite the whole hot mess of these guys over here."

"These are the meddling companions of Son Goku I mentioned earlier." Dr Gero let out a low sounding growl "They'll put up quite a fight, they destroyed Android 19 earlier and they almost did the same to me as well."

"You built another Android, seriously?"

"Wait a second, was it that fat clown thing?" asked 17 "I thought that thing was just some stupid joke."

"Well clearly it was, it's dead now."

"Good thing too, that thing was just wrong on so many levels. So anyway old man, I'm guessing that you had 19 convert you into an Android after you shut us down. I'm guessing he was one of those with the energy absorption tech?"

Dr Gero grited his teeth "Yes that's correct."

"Doesn't sound like that makes a lot of sense, why use the older tech on a more recent Android model in the first place? Maybe you found perpetual energy models like us too powerful to keep under your thumb right?"

"Maybe."

"No wonder they beat you so bad, Android or no Android you're still weak."

"Be silent you ungrateful wretches! What I built and why I built it doesn't matter, just destroy the lot of them before they wise up and try to escape."

"How about you do the world a favor and shut your trap, we'll fight when and if we feel like fighting."

"What did you just say?! Damn these perpetulate Androids, if only the remote to shut them down was still functional.'

18 calmly crushed the remote underneath her boot as she made her way towards another pod lying in the back of the lab "Android 16 huh, another model with the limitless energy reserves like us, but somehow it seems different. It definitely looks a lot bigger than the two of us, not to mention- Wait a second, did you really build a ginger Android? Okay, there's a soulless machine joke in there somewhere but that's beneath me."

"You get away from that container this instant, I'm warning you! Don't even think about touching that pod!"

Future Gohan was now sweating considerably 'There's an Android 16 too? I don't understand, how could I have not known about this? What else is different?'

"And that sounds like three Androids you missed." Kai noted dryly "You wanna try and go for four?"

'No no no no no, this can't be happening!'

"Well how about that." 17 and 18 shared a grin "So what do you say we wake him up and get to know our new brother already."

"Don't you dare you foolish ingrates!" Dr Gero rounded on them "Are you trying to get all of us killed and destroy the planet, is that what you want?! It wasn't mere disobedience like with the two of you that forced me to turn 16 off, he was a dangerous failure!"

"So what if he's not properly programmed, how many of us are? "Howdy folks I'm Android 13, look at my trucker hat!" That sound familiar to you old man?"

"I was going through a phase!"

"A phase inspired by that Spongebob special."

"You mean Pest of the West?" asked Gohan.

"That would be the one squirt, oh and 18 do the thing."

"Don't do it!" Dr Gero let out a snarl and lunged at 18 in order to stop her, only to end up being grabbed by 17.

"Why don't you watch where you put your hands on my sister you dirty old man."

"You insubordinant little-"

"Hold up a second." Raditz promptly made his way into the lab "Something doesn't add up, if 16 is as dangerous as you claim him to be, then why did you hold onto him until now? You don't seem to have anything other than him and these two, so you must have dismantled those, but why not this one?"

"I'll have you know that I intended to give this one a complete overhaul, now stay out of this you primate!" Dr Gero turned his attention back to 17 and 18 "Let me make this clear, if the two of you reactivate Android 16 then you will have doomed all of us and this entire planet!"

"We're all doomed are we? I think I'll be the judge of that." 17 stepped towards 16's pod and promptly scanned him "My sensors indicate that I'm stronger than him, that makes you even more of a pathetic coward."

"Yes but you're-"

"Fine then, 18 go for it and fire him up so we can get this show underway."

"That's enough, you just shut your trap already! The two of you are just as bad as 16, maybe even worse! You won't get the chance to activate him you failures, I'm shutting the both of you down for good this time!"

"Incase you forgot old man, I broke your little switch less than 5 minutes ago."

"Fine then I'll just make a new one, you exist only to obey me and if you won't do that then I'll just wipe you from the face of the-"

"Yeah no." Raditz promptly stuck his leg (the one limb of his that wasn't dangling due to being dislocated from his attempts to break down the door) straight through Dr Gero's chest "You were getting on my nerves, Saiyans do have heightened senses you know."

"You… You wretched primate… How dare you… I will stain this world… with your blood… and then that of… Son Goku…"

"Yeah change of plans."

"No arguments here." 17 took the chance to kick Dr Gero's head clean off his body, letting it roll across the room, and then he flew over and promptly crushed his head clean underneath his foot, splattering its remains across the floor. Then he glanced over at Raditz "I'll be honest Sonic the Hedgehog, I didn't expect you to actually side with us."

Raditz gave a shrug "Well a few reasons. First, he wants my brother dead. Second, he was getting on my nerves with his obsessive prattling. Third… I know what it's like to be controlled by a monster."

"...Good to know, taking that into consideration I think if we do end up killing you guys then you'll be the last."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Well find out later, in the meantime we'll be activating the other Android."

"You know I can't let you do that."

"I also know you won't be able to stop me."

"I guess there's only one way to find out." Raditz dropped into a stance, with 17 preparing to do the same.

"Not a chance in hell!" in his rage, Future Gohan promptly flashed into Super Saiyan "There's no way in hell I'm letting you two activate another Android, not as long as I'm still alive to stop you!" and without thinking he unleashed a full power Masenko, engulfing the entire lab and everyone in it in the explosion that followed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After Future Gohan's outburst and the explosion that followed, it took a few minutes before everything calmed down.

Gohan let out a few shallow coughs of smoke "To be honest, stuff like that makes me wonder if you're really Kai's future self instead of mine."

"Hey it's more than you guys did!" Future Gohan snapped at his present self "All you guys did is just stand there staring at them!"

"Well to be fair we usually do that a lot, I just assumed it was a thing we did. But anyway your attack didn't do any good, see for yourself." he pointed to where the smoke was finally clearing, and 17 and 18 were standing there with 16's pod, totally unharmed.

"What the- How did they- They're still alive and they weren't even hurt, but that was my strongest blast!"

"So you just assumed that they were dead." Raditz noted.

"You guys do that a lot too."

"Besides, what exactly changed from you in the future and now?"

"A lot more than I thought, a lot less than you would think."

"Good to know, anyway since I can't feel my arms would you mind sticking your hand in my pocket and getting a Senzu Bean? Who knows, I might even get a slight Zenkai."

"Yeah sure, just hold still."

"Um, hey guys?" Tarble pointed down at the Androids "I think it's safe to say that the plan to keep the pod closed isn't exactly going to pan out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

17 glanced up at Raditz and the others, then over at 18 "Well we'd better get the tall bastard out of there fast, all of the support systems got blasted to hell."

"Whatever, let's just pop that bad boy open." 18 placed 16's pod on the ground and pressed the activation button, causing the pod to slide open, before she kicked off the door.

16's eyes flashed open, and he slowly stood up, revealing his red mohawk and green armor with the Red Ribbon symbol on his chest "Activation complete."

"Damn, you are one tall bastard." 17 noted "Krillin and the Saiyan with the spikyhair and the stupid armor don't even come up to the kneecaps on you. So tell us fire-crotch, what's your name?"

"I am designated as Android 16."

"What are the odds? You know come to think of it I've never seen one of your models activated before, you glad to be out and about after all those years? Truth be told Dr Gero tried to force us to leave you inside, he kept yelling about how we were dooming the planet and ourselves if you got woken up, so you wanna fill us in on what the old man was so upset about?" he received no reply "Not much of a talker are you, I guess that makes you the strong silent type. So then what's your deal?"

"I was created and programmed with the soul purpose of murdering Son Goku."

"Yeah the old man always did have a one track mind, frankly I did the world a favor when I killed him."

"You killed Son Goku?"

"No, I killed Dr Gero. Anyway come on, let's get moving."

"Where to?" asked 18.

"Wheverever the hell Goku is, it's not like we have anything better to do. I mean you said it yourself big guy, that's why Dr Gero created you."

"Affirmative."

"So killing Goku gets you into the conversation."

"Makes sense." 18 commented "He's only programmed to get involved with the topics the old man programmed into him. He's not a failure, he's just focused."

"Well like I said, as much as I hate the thought of giving Dr Gero what he wants, the idea of us just standing around here doing nothing bores the ever loving hell out of me." so the three of them took to the skies and flew off into the distance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So they're flying away from us, thank god." Krillin breathed a quick sigh of relief "Well that makes us lucky I guess."

"But what are they planning to do?" asked Nail "Considering the fact that they turned against their creator, along with some help…" he glanced over at Raditz "I'm sure it can't be anything good."

"They're heading away from North City, so we know that's not their objective." Piccolo pointed out "I don't understand, this doesn't make any sense."

"It's not that hard to figure out." Raditz got their attention "From what I understand Kakarot was the one who defeated this Red Ribbon Army when he was a child, and that's why Dr Gero is so obsessed with getting revenge on him, and considering that he's out of commission right now he's just ripe for getting butchered by Androids."

"But it still doesn't make sense, why would they kill their creator one minute and then turn around and carry out his orders the next?"

"Does it matter what they want to do, if they're aiming to kill my brother then that's all we need to know about then." Raditz promptly swallowed a Senzu Bean, and with a pulse of energy and a flash of golden light he flasted into Super Saiyan.

"And they ignored me, so there's no fucking way they're getting away with that." Kai's green aura of the Namek-Ken surged around his body "I'm taking them, don't even think about getting in my way."

"There are three of them and two of us, at least this way is somewhat fair and we both get to fight."

"...Fair point."

"No don't!" Future Gohan blitzed in front of them "Don't follow them, please just wait and listen to me!"

"Are we seriously going through this again?"

"I wish you would understand Kai, I really do, but without Father there's no way we can defeat them."

"And I wish you would pull your head out of your ass and realize who the hell you're talking to right now, you don't need a Saiyan to solve all of your problems! Why the hell are you so insistent on waiting for Goku?!"

"Because you're not as strong as-" he was silence by a fist to the gut that caused him to wheeze and hunch over in pain.

"And again, who the hell do you think you're talking to? Limitations are only a state of mind, if I want to get stronger than a Super Saiyan then goddammit I'll make it so! If you need proof then just wait here and I'll come back with their heads in my hands." and so Kai blasted off after the Androids, with Raditz following him.

"Ow…"

Gohan made his way over to his future self and let out a sigh that sounded like it was filled with disappointment "You tried to stop Kai by telling him that he wasn't as strong as someone else, are you serious?"

"Yeah… in hindsight… not the best selling point… But still… go after him… please… I can't bear the thought of… losing my best friend… to those monsters… not again… You have to stop him… please…"

"...Oh no. Yamcha and Bulma are still out there, for all we know they might end up crossing paths with the Androids!"

"No…" Future Gohan took a moment to pull himself together "I won't let anyone else die by the hands of those monsters, we're going after them!"

"Right, we'd better get moving."

"No time to waste, go at full speed!" and so with both Gohan's in the lead, the group wasted no time in blasting off after Kai, Raditz, and the Androids.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Upa knelt down next to Goku's bed as his rapid panting and screams of pain subsided "It looks like he's gotten through the worst of it, at least he's stopped screaming so that should be a promising sign."

"So does that mean he's going to be okay?" asked Chichi.

"As far as I can tell he's on the road to recovery, but based on what Gohan's future self told us whatever sort of virus he came down with is contagious, so I think it would be for the best if we took some of this medicine ourselves."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kai and Raditz bolted across the skies at full speed, the Namek-Ken and Super Saiyan power keeping even pace with each other "So here's what I'm thinking Sonic the Hedgehog, we each take one of the Androids and then we play Rock Paper Scissors for the last one."

"Depending on who's in the best shape when the other two are done." Raditz shot a glance over at Kai "So tell me something kid, did you mean what you said back there about limitations only being a state of mind?"

"You're goddamn right I do, Super Saiyan and Zenkai stuff can go to hell. With the proper amount of technique and brains, I'll be the best of the best. We don't need Goku to solve all our problems, the fact is that we're both already on his level as it is. I say we show Gohan's bullshit future self just what a full blooded Earthling can do once he puts his mind to it."

"I'll be holding you to that."

"You won't be disappointed if you like being hopelessly outclassed."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, on a mountainside road…

17 and the others dropped to the ground on a quiet mountainside road "Alright, this should be a good spot."

"Okay what gives 17, why did we land in the middle of nowhere?" asked 18.

"Well we're not in any sort of hurry right, the way I see it we might as well enjoy the trip for what it's worth."

"Is that code for you making us walk?"

"That sounds like a pain in the ass, I say we wait here until someone comes by in something we like and then we appropriate it."

"Oh yeah, boys just love things like road trips don't they? But we're all the way out in the boonies, chances are it's gonna end up being a semi."

"Hey 16 knows what I'm talking about, I'm betting he was totally a car guy before the old man got his hands on him right?"

16 slowly shook his head "Negative, I was never human."

"You mean Gero didn't make you from a human being? You're a totally different sort of Android than the two of us aren't you?"

"Affirmative." 16 looked over to see some birds land on a nearby perch, and he gave a small smile.

'That doesn't make sense, if Dr Gero was already good enough to build 16 from the ground up then why did he bother using real humans as a starting point for 18 and me?'

"What the hell do you know?" that was when Kai and Raditz dropped down onto the scene "If it isn't Faggoty Andy and On The Raggedy Ann, not the sort of place we expected to find the three of you but it works for me."

"Looks like the little troll doll and Sonic the Hedgehog are back, but what the hell did he do to his hair?"

"Does it matter, we're here to turn you three into scrap metal. You leaving all of a sudden made it pretty clear where you guys are heading, you're going after Goku so you can take him out, that sound about right?"

"Look who's a master of the obvious, we're going to kill him."

"Doesn't seem all that surprising really, not like you're going to get there. Me and the hedgehog are here to take you down here and now."

"Is that so?" 17 turned to 16 and 18 "Hey get a load of this you guys, looks like Raditz and the kid are proving to be pretty cocky right about now. I don't know what it is but guys like them always talk such a big game and then they end up dead on the ground so fast, really they bring it on themselves."

"And just like that I'm more than game for ripping you apart on a molecular level, so who's going first? How do you want to go about this, we go one at a time or I demolish all three of you in a single go?"

"Either that or you'll get yourself killed." Raditz pointed out dryly.

"Shut up troll doll."

17 glanced over at 16 "Alright big guy you're up, I want to see what you can do when you're in a real fight."

16 shook his head "Negative, I am programmed only to destroy Son Goku. I have no desire to shed blood unnecessarily."

"...Oh yeah, you're basically a blank slate except for what Gero put in you. Fine by me then, I might as well see what the kid can do." 17 promptly stepped forward "Alright then you cocky little runt, let's get this going with just you and me."

"Works for me." Kai dropped into a stance "You know it's only fair to warn you now, I'm not afraid of hitting a woman."

"No problem in that regard, I'm not either."

"Well aren't you a fucking smartass?"

"Oh this is going to be bad." Raditz just facepalmed at the sight and glanced over at 18 "So are going to fight now or what?"

"I don't really care either way, frankly I just want to see the kid get his ass kicked." 18 gave a simple shrug.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kai's confidence soars higher with every passing second, but what sort of terrible power are the Androids hiding behind their unassuming exterior? Does he have any chance of winning this battle? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation!

A/N:

And as we delve deeper into the Android Saga, not only is Android 20 revealed to be none other than Dr Gero himself, but it's revealed that there are some very significant changes from Future Gohan's timeline for one reason and one reason alone: Multiverse Theory is a bitch. Yes, expect TFS references galore, along with a considerable number of quotes from Deadpool and Rick and Morty.

As I planned out the writing for this chapter, I was honestly having a really hard time figuring out who to have beat the crap out of Android 20/ Dr Gero since, while it was awesome to have Piccolo go to town on him, I wanted to give one of the other characters more spotlight, one that wasn't a Saiyan obviously. In the end, considering how I planned out the power levels for this arc, I decided that the best choice for this role would be Nail, since I haven't really given him a chance to shine in a fight of his own up to this point.

What I had Kai say to Future Gohan is something that I genuinely believe to be true, at least in the case of Dragon Ball characters. Limitations are only a state of mind, and I believe that if they have the proper amount of willpower, even the human characters like Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, etc can rival the Saiyans and the bigger threats in the DBZ universe.

Now pay attention, because this note is important for you to understand what I'm going to do for the story later on. I've decided that I'm going to change up one of the pairings for this fic. To put it quite simply, there will be no Krillin x 18 pairing in this fic. Don't get me wrong, I love that pairing just as much as anyone else, but there are times when I feel a little bit of variety can help a story grow and flourish as its own thing rather than just cutting and pasting from canon.

And to cap these author's notes off, I want to thank everyone who favorited, followed or reviewed this story up until now, especially since the number of views for this story is now OVER 9000! Yep, I can officially say that now! Thanks so much you guys, this story would be nothing without all of you.

Power levels:

Gohan: 9 million

Raditz: 9.2 million

Raditz (Zenkai): 10.4 million

Weighted Piccolo: 140 million

Nail: 165 million

Kai: 11 million

Kai (Namek-Ken): 220 million

Tarble: 6.2 million

Yamcha: 5 million

Tien: 4.8 million

Krillin: 2.4 million

Dr Gero: 50 million

Dr Gero (energy absorbed): 100 million