Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Who would've expected that just a few changes could have such a major impact. Read as Gohan and Kai journey through life and across the universe in this exciting retelling of DBZ, with changes and surprises around every corner. Yamcha x Bulma, Raditz x Android 18, Gohan x Erasa later on. Other pairings undecided at the moment.

22. Androids Unrivaled, A New Mystery

Vukk (chapter 12): Well you'll only be able to find out by reading the chapter.

Vukk (Chapter 14): No, Vegeta wasn't working for Frieza when he showed up during the Namek saga. I have plans for the rest of the Ginyu Force later on, more or less.

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The scene at the Son residence had calmed down considerably.

Chichi was carefully wiping the sweat from Goku's face with a washcloth while he was still fast asleep 'Looks like Goku is finally starting to get some color back in his face, so I guess that means progress. Still though I can't help but wonder, Gohan should've been back home a long time ago, so where could he be right now?'

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Gohan and the others were flying through the skies at full speed, with him, Piccolo and his future self in the front, and Krillin, Tien, Tarble and Nail trailing behind slightly 'I just hope the Androids haven't had time to get back home and find dad, or to run into Yamcha and the others for that matter. Kai, Raditz, I really hope you guys know what you're doing right now. I have a bad feeling about this. I'm going on ahead, you guys catch up later." he promptly blasted ahead of the others.

"Gohan wait!" Future Gohan, Piccolo and Nail all blasted off after him, leaving Tarble and the others to catch up.

'Seriously Kai, don't do anything stupid or reckless that will get you killed.'

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The first battle with the Androids was about to get underway.

16 looked up to see a bird land on a branch not far away, and he gave a small smile 'Such gentle and majestic creatures…'

18 glanced over at Raditz "So you're not going to fight either?"

"The kid needs to learn a little bit of humility." Raditz gave a shrug "Besides, I'm probably going to regret mentioning this out loud, but this gives me a chance to study your moves and see if you guys really do have an unlimited energy supply."

"Huh. Smart."

"I've been an intergalactic soldier since I was three, you tend to learn a few things in the field when you're out conquering planets for a living under the boot of an intergalactic tyrant who destroyed your planet."

"Sounds… interesting to say the least."

"Same with being an Android I'm assuming?"

"Not really, it got boring after awhile."

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Meanwhile, with the actual battle…

17 shot Kai a cocky grin "So you mind if I make the first move?"

"Oh by all means, go ahead and show me what you've got." Kai shot him a confident smirk and dropped into a combat stance, his Namek-Ken aura surging.

"You asked for it kid." 17 charged forward and let a fist fly.

Kai blocked the fist with his forearm, which led to the two of them trading even blows at high speeds, which ended when he grabbed 17 by the arm and hurled him into the nearby cliffside, scaring away the birds in the process, much to the dismay of 16. Kai then blitzed upwards and slugged 17 across the face, sending him flying backwards a short distance.

17 wiped the blood from his lip and let out a chuckle "Well this is quite a surprise, from the looks of it I'd say you're a hell of a lot more powerful than Dr Gero's data predicted you would be. I have to say I'm actually sort of impressed."

"Yeah well if he got off his lazy ass and followed us to Namek then his data might actually be worth something." the two of them returned to the ground "It's too bad you being an Android means I can't tell how much damage you stain, I guess that means I'll just have to go Scarlet Witch and vaporize you. It's a damn shame our fight has to end here though, it's been less than a minute and you already gave me a more satisfying fight than the fat sexbot did earlier."

This was when a truck stopped behind 17 and Kai, and the driver wasted no time in yelling at both of them at the top of his lungs "What in the hell do you two idiots think you're doing? Get out of the damn road, some of us have places to be! You've got about three seconds before I run you all down!" his rantings were promptly ignored.

"Well what do you know, I'm not so funny now am I?" Kai dropped into a stance with his hands cupped at his side.

"By all means, go ahead and show me what you've got." 17 told him.

"If you say so. Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" Kai wasted no time in firing a quick Kamehameha blast at 17 and the truck behind him, vaporizing the truck on the spot but somehow not killing the driver.

When the smoke cleared, 17 was revealed to have dodged the blast "Not too shabby in terms of raw power."

"And it looks like you're pretty fast for a pile of scrap metal and subpar wiring."

"So why do I get the feeling you're still holding out on me?"

"Because I am, I was just trying to get a read on your power and see if you live up to the hype of what I've been told about you up until now."

"I guess great minds think alike, truth be told I've only been trying to gauge your power level myself and see if you can back up the shit you've been talking."

"Hey no need to be shy now pretty boy, if you think you can walk away from this then you're going to need to show the kind of power that made my best friend come back from 10 years in the future in a way that proves Back to the Future to be a bunch of bullshit."

"...I have no idea what the fuck you just said, but I'm guessing that means you want me to go all out?"

"Pretty much yeah."

"Then I guess I'll just have to oblige you." 17 blitzed forward and dealt Kai a brutal headbutt, sending him skidding back a short distance and drawing blood from the bruise he left.

"...Okay, just for that I'm not taking it easy on you anymore Faggoty Andy! Come on, let's go for the second round! Namek Ken 20x!" with his Namek-Ken surging even higher than it had before, Kai blitzed forward and slammed his fist into 17's gut as hard as he could, resulting in a brief silence, only for him to cough up some spit as he felt 17's knee slam into his gut.

"Alright then Hype Man, I think it's my turn now." 17 dealt Kai a sudden fist to the jaw, the force sending him flying into the nearby cliffside.

"Ow…"

This was when Gohan and the others (at least those who had followed him) dropped down onto the scene "Kai are you in there, are you alright?"

"I'm getting a serious case of deja vu right now… Hey just out of curiosity, did anyone get the number of that dick?"

"17." was all he said.

"Thank you…"

"Seriously Kai, are you alright in there?" asked Nail.

"Suck on a dick."

"Very well then, he's fine."

"You're damn right I am." Kai pulled himself out of the rubble and spat out some blood.

Future Gohan breathed a sigh "Oh thank god, you're still okay. Let's not waste anymore time, we have to get out of here right now."

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to, I've got this assclown right where I want him right now."

"Oh for crying out loud, do you live in your own little world?"

"Yes, but unfortunately I have to share it with dipshits who ask stupid questions every time they open their mouth!"

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18 looked over at the cavalcade and glanced over at Raditz "Well what do you know, looks like your little pals finally showed up. Call it a hunch but I have a feeling even 17 would have a tough time taking all of them on at once, which means that I should help him."

"And that would mean that I would have to help them as well, if for no other reason but to make sure you and your friend don't kill them. You think the big guy is going to get involved in this fight?"

"Considering what we've seen of him so far I doubt it, unlike us he was never even organic and he's only got what Gero put in his head."

"In other words, he only has thoughts of killing my younger brother right?"

"Pretty much yeah, why else would be turned into Androids by that old prick?"

"What did Kakarot do to make that old man hate him so much anyway?"

"Hell if I know." they both started walking towards the scene

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Nail glanced back to see Raditz and 18 heading their way "It would seem that you're far more nonchalant about this threat than I expected you to be."

"Better nonchalant than so rigid you can't think straight." Raditz pointed out dryly.

"And yet here I find you,fraternizing with the enemy."

"They're only enemies when they try to kill us."

"...I'm not even going to begin to go into what's wrong with that."

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Future Gohan was still trying to persuade Kai to abandon the fight "For crying out loud Kai we have to get out of here right now, what good is your pride if you end up getting yourself killed because of it?!"

"Do I really have to fist you again?" Kai received numerous looks "I know what I said, choke on it. This Android is mine, I'm sick of listening to you whining."

"I say go ahead and run away if you want to." 17 gave a shrug "The way I see it, if someone has to be the coward and run then they're not even worth chasing anyway."

"You've gotta be fucking with me right now, what good reason could I possible have to run when I'm so close to taking you out? I aim for the top in everything I do, I never settle for anything less, especially not in a fight. And for that matter, since we're on the topic let me just say that I'm fine with fighting with my one actual friend or my teacher or one of these assclowns if I have to, but if I can win a fight on my own then goddammit I will."

"Bravo, quite the prideful speech." 18 made her way towards the group while clapping in a very condescending way.

"You know the condescending slow clap is supposed to be a lot slower than that."

"Whatever, you've more or less got the Talk no Jutsu down and you're packing an impressive level of power to back it up, especially for suck a cocky little runt who's only about 10."

"If you're trying to boost my ego it's not going to work, I'm the only ego booster I need to push it through the roof."

"Well either way I'm assuming that you and all of your little buddies here embrace the unspoken code warriors share, the one about not interrupting a one on one fight. I can tell just by the looks in all of your eyes. But regardless of that, I doubt any of you would be stupid enough to interfere when 17 actually gets interested in an opponent right? Let me just shoot down any ideas any of you might have in that regard, any of you get involved in that fight and I won't hesitate to personally introduce you to the ground, and believe me when I tell you the relationship is going to be intimate."

"Even if they wanted to, and I'm pretty sure at least one of these jackasses do, I'll be more than happy to do that job for you."

"Fine by me, now let's do this."

"So are you finally ready to continue?" asked 17.

"You're damn right I am."

"That's what I like to hear." 17 promptly slugged Kai across the face, sending him flying backwards.

Kai rebounded off the cliffside and dealt 17 a headbutt to the chest, followed by a smash attack to the spine, sending him crashing into the cliffside "Masenko!" he promptly followed up with a quick Masenko, engulfing 17 in the explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, 17 was surrounded by a green glow, but it quickly vanished as he dusted himself off "Well what do you know?"

"Looks like someone is still unfazed, and that's starting to piss me off."

"I have to admit I'm both surprised and impressed, you're just a kid and a mere human but you're doing a lot better than I was expecting from you. That does raise the question, does this mean that Son Goku is even stronger than you are?"

"The hell he is! I don't give a damn about Super Saiyans or Super Namekians or whatever the hell advantages they have, I'm going all the way to the top, and that means I'm going to surpass them on my own power, no transformations required."

"Now I get it, I thought you guys were special but it turns out none of you are."

"You wanna try that one again?" Kai charged at 17 and aimed a kick at his head.

17 blocked the attack, followed by him dodging and blocking every punch and kick being thrown in his direction 'Looks like this kid is starting to grow frustrated.'

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Future Gohan could only look on in disbelief 'Amazing, I had no idea that Kai had grown so powerful in this timeline. I knew his drive as a warrior is almost unrivaled, but to think he's actually holding his own against one of the Androids!'

"I was afraid of this." Gohan glanced over at Piccolo and the others "You guys see it too don't you?"

Piccolo nodded "Good job spotting it. There's no doubt about it, Kai is going to lose. You can see it if you look closely."

"Yeah, it's a slow process but it's pretty obvious that the Android is wearing Kai down. He's taking advantage of the fact that he has an unlimited energy supply, plus with the fact that Kai is losing a little bit of energy with each attack and every move he makes."

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"Well it's official, this is getting boring." with a quick barrage of attacks, 17 sent Kai crashing into a nearby boulder "I know first hand how fast brovado can go out the window when you're sitting flat on your ass."

"D-Dammit…" Kai staggered back to his feet and spat out some blood "I'm not… going down… that easily…"

"You know if it makes you feel any better, you lasted a hell of a lot longer than I thought you were going to."

"Don't think I'm down for the count yet!" Kai burst forward as fast as he could, but considering how drained he was, it was only about ⅔ of his full speed even with the Namek-Ken.

17 calmly dealt him an uppercut kick to the jaw, and then he went for the move that pretty much sealed the deal: he dealt Kai a swift kick to the shoulder, pretty much shattering the bones in his arm, earning a quiet squeal of pure agony.

Kai promptly dropped to his knees as his arm fell lip at his side, and he promptly screamed the first thing that came to mind at the top of his lungs "FUUUUUUCK!"

"KAI NO!" without thinking, Future Gohan promptly flashed into Super Saiyan and charged forward in a blind rage "I won't let my best friend die because of you, not again do you hear me?!"

"If by hear you you mean classify you as Ear Rape, then yeah." 17 cranked his neck to the side to dodge Future Gohan's attack, then promptly slammed a knee into his gut, sending him hurtling into the cliffside with a mighty crash "Well what do you know, down with one hit. I guess this kid was right when he mentioned Super Saiyans weren't all they were cracked up to be."

"You don't need to be a Saiyan to know how to throw a punch!" Piccolo and Nail both promptly charged into the fray at full speed.

"I tried to tell them but they didn't listen, it's their own fault." 18 promptly kicked Nail in the skull and sent him crashing to the ground, and then she grabbed Piccolo and pulled him into a tight chokehold "Here's how this is going to work, if you can explain it to me in just one sentence what made you think charging into this fight like an angry rhino was a good idea I'm willing to let you go." she was met with a gurgled choking noise "Yeah see that's the thing, it didn't make sense to me either."

"Dammit Piccolo what the fuck?!" Kai flared his aura and prepared to charge towards 18 despite being down one arm, only to feel something holding him back.

As it turns out, it was 17 holding him by the foot "And where the hell do you think you're going little man? Our fight isn't over just yet."

"Let me make something clear to you Android, if you think breaking my arm was enough to take me down then you're in for one hell of a world of pain!

"Kai hold on, I'm coming!" Gohan flashed into Super Saiyan and charged at 17 with a Masenko ready to fire.

"You're coming, you're coming, and you came." 17 promptly swung Kai into Gohan and sent both of them crashing to the ground, knocking the Namek-Ken and Super Saiyan out of both of them respectively "You know you're probably not wrong, if I hadn't used you as a human wrecking ball then chances are you would've kept going and going on willpower alone."

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Raditz observed the battle from his place back on the roadside, his frown deepening as he powered down from Super Saiyan 'Limitless energy reserves combined with the speed and power necessary to oneshot a Super Saiyan? I guess that kid from the future wasn't exaggerating when he said that they were unlike anything we'd ever seen before. Plus it's shit like this that justifies why we usually don't group up.' then he glanced over at 16 from where he was standing a short distance away 'It is odd though, I don't get a malicious feeling from any of them, no sense of bloodlust or anything, least of all from the big guy.' then he noticed some birds landing on 16, and some other animals being attracted to him 'Well that was definitely unexpected, I guess there really are more to these Androids than meets the eye, at least the versions from our time. I can't help but wonder, if Kakarot was here would he try to appeal to them in some way?'

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Nail pulled himself off of the ground and looked up to see Piccolo still being choked out by 18 in mid air "Piccolo hold on, I'm coming!" he charged at 18 at full speed.

"Points for effort, but not much else." 18 swept his attack to the side and slammed her fist straight into Nail's gut full force, causing him to cough up blood before he fell to the ground with a loud thud "So you think that's enough of that?"

17 looked over at the others lying on the ground "Hold that thought, we've got someone preparing a sneak attack."

"ELEMENT OF SURPRISE!" Kai bolted up to his feet and fired a quick Explosive Demon Wave with what little Ki he had left.

"It's not very effective." 17 deflected the blast with ease, then elbowed Kai in the face, uppercutted him in the jaw and stomped down on his spine.

"Why do I yell things…?"

"You tell me hotshot." 17 kicked him to flip him over "So I've got a quick question for you, who has two broken arms and is a total bitch?"

"You stupid prick… You only broke one of my-"

"This guy." 17 stomped down on Kai's arm hard enough to break it, causing him to quietly squeal in agony until he passed out "As they say, timing is everything."

"So now are you done?" 18 floated down next to him.

"Yeah I'd say so. Hey check it out, Goku's kid and that mystery kid know how to turn off the blonde. That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, and unlike you he doesn't need a bottle."

"You're just mad because I wore it better."

"If by wore it better you mean people kept mistaking you for me, then yeah you totally wore it better."

"Oh I'm sorry, does that make me girlish or you manish?"

"Oh yeah that's hilarious, you talk like he fights." 18 glanced over at Future Gohan "Speaking of mystery kid, who the hell is he anyway? I don't have anything in my databanks about him."

"Neither do I."

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Raditz gritted his teeth as he surveyed the situation 'They beat down two Super Saiyans, two incredibly powerful Namekians that rival Super Saiyans, and whatever the hell Kai is supposed to be. None of them could beat them by grouping up, what chance would I have going two on one against them?'

"And then there was one I guess." 18 calmly floated her way back towards the mountainside road, with 17 just following right behind her.

"On one hand, I'm a Saiyan and normally we never go down without a fight. On the other hand, I know that if the two of you fought seriously you'd be able to kill me before I had a chance to even transform."

"Relax they're fine, at least they're not dead. I say go ahead and give them some of those Senzu Beans you've got with you, that should take care of any damage we did to them right?"

"Looks like the old man did research on more than just Kakarot's past battles."

"He was a man with a mission, whatever it might have been. Give them a message to, once they finish up with the inevitable therapy they'll have to go through because of this, we'll be glad to give them a rematch anytime."

"I know that's definitely going to be the case with that kid, the others probably won't be too far behind either."

"Wouldn't be surprised." 17 promptly started walking away.

18 glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow "So what the hell gives, aren't we going to ask him where Goku is right now?"

"No need, doing it the old fashioned way will be a lot more fun. Besides, all we have to do is go out there and cause enough trouble then Goku might actually come looking for us."

"I see, not a bad idea actually. At least this one doesn't involve drowning Coachella in Szechuan Sauce."

"That was one time!"

"One idea that you repeated three times." she shot a wink at Raditz "Later Sonic the Hedgehog, we're out now."

"So what, you've got a thing for hedgehogs now?"

"Better that than trying to hump a porcupine."

"Again, one time!"

"Whatever lets you sleep at night." 18 glanced over at 16 "Hey what's up with you big guy, what are you looking at?"

16 frowned slightly "There were birds here, but you were loud so they flew away."

"And?"

"I liked the birds."

"Good for you big guy. Anyway it doesn't seem like this road gets a lot of traffic, if we want to attract more attention then we'll need to find a more populated area."

17 nodded "Yeah I can't really argue with that, an area with more people around would definitely be more suited to our needs. I'm all for changing up the location if you are."

"And when we do I was hoping to find some new clothes, I have no intention of wandering around for days on end fighting in a bunch of rags with the symbol of that old bastard."

"Find by me, besides they smell like copper anyway."

"You think everything smells like copper." they started walking away, when…

"Hold on a second." Raditz suddenly blitzed in front of them.

"Anything else we can do for you?"

"Before you go blast off like Team Rocket, there's something I need to know. What exactly is your objective? Are you just trying to kill my brother, are you out for revenge or something, do you want to take over the world just for the hell of it, what is it?"

17 and 18 shared a look "Well for now it's taking down Goku, and once we're done with that we'll have to wait and see."

"That's what I don't understand, as far as I know my brother never did anything to you, and it can't be because of Dr Gero's orders or else you wouldn't have just up and killed him. The old man was the one that hated Goku and you literally crushed his brain underneath your foot, so now that he's out of the picture why do you even care?"

"Dr Gero doesn't have anything to do with it, truth be told Raditz right now all of this is just a game."

"You seriously see this as a game, that's the only reason as to why you're doing this?"

"The short answer to that would be yes, it's just fun. If I wanted to know where to find Goku at this very moment then I could just beat the answer out of you, but hunting him down is one of the best parts of the game. It's like how One Piece is probably going to end, it's not the destination that matters, it's the journey."

"It's been confirmed by the creator that the One Piece is actually a physical reward."

"So he says."

"Whatever, I don't suppose I would be able to talk you out of trying to put my brother's head on a pike?"

16 studied Raditz for a moment, then slowly shook his head "Negative, I have only one purpose for existing and that is to kill Son Goku."

"I figured as much."

"As fun as this is we have places to be, take my advice and give the Senzu Beans to your friends before they end up bleeding out." 18 told him.

"They're not bleeding."

"Maybe not externally. Well we'll be going now, but in the meantime you might as well call this a parting gift." 18 made her way over to Raditz, wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked him on the cheek "See you real soon, later." and she promptly took off into the air.

17 and 16 took off after her and shot her a look "What the hell was that, do you have a thing for hedgehogs now?"

"So what if I do, societal definitions of beauty are BS anyway."

"Look if this is about pissing off mom and dad, you could just date a black guy."

"Oh my god."

"Oh yeah right, they're dead."

"Oh my god!"

Raditz on the other hand, he found himself alone on the mountainside road 'Okay, so that happened I guess. I can't waste any time, I have to go and help the others, and more importantly I can't let them know about that or I'll never hear the end of it. With any luck the others still have the Senzu Beans that we split up earlier.' he quickly floated down to the crater where the others were lying and went over to Nail first "Nail, hey Nail can you hear me? Listen, I need you to bite down on a Senzu Bean okay?" he was met with groaning, and the sound of chewing "Good he can still chew, for a second there I thought I would end up having to slip him the tongue." he was met with more groaning "Yeah I'm not any more fond of it than you are."

"Hey Raditz!" this was when Tarble, Krillin and Tien finally showed up on the scene "Sorry we're late, we didn't miss too much did we?"

"You missed the entire battle, just reach into their pants and feed them some Senzu Beans and I'll explain everything when you're done."

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Meanwhile, at Capsule Corp…

"Hm?" Panchy (Bulma's mom) looked up from the magazine she was reading when she heard something.

"Hey mom, up here!" as it turns out, it was Bulma and the others being carried by Yamcha, much to his discomfort "So did you miss us?"

"Oh Bulma, if it isn't my beautiful daughter and my even more beautiful granddaughter! I'm so glad you're home, and Yamcha you must've gotten even more handsome since I last saw you dear."

"Uh…" Yamcha blushed and let out a nervous chuckle "Not that I don't appreciate the compliment, but that was just this morning."

"And that just proves that you get more and more handsome every day, plus you're just so darn cute when you're bashful. Well you guys just make yourselves comfortable, I'll go ahead and grab some snacks so we can have a proper sit-down together." and she walked off before any objections could be voiced.

"As nice as that would be considering I got fisted this morning, I think I should head over and make sure Goku is recovering okay from the Heart Virus."

"Yeah go ahead pretty boy." Yajrobe let out a scoff "I've gone for way too long without a proper snack that doesn't shoot out of my crack like a bunch of rocks, I say you're on your own. And your fridge is mine."

"...Good to know, I'll be back as soon as I know Goku is okay." and so Yamcha promptly blasted off into the skies, his Kaioken flaring and boosting his speed to new heights 'Even though I've had about three years to process, it still feels weird to think about someone as insanely powerful as Goku could be killed by something as simple as a Heart Virus. But Goku's tough, I know that now that he's got the medicine he needs he'll pull through in no time. All the same, I'd better speed things up.'

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Meanwhile, back at the battlefield…

"What?!" Piccolo shot an alarmed look over at Raditz "You're telling me the Androids know about Senzu Beans too?"

Raditz nodded "It make sense, from what I heard Dr Gero knew about them too."

"But it doesn't make sense, if these things wanted to kill us then why didn't they just finish us off and be done with it? Is this their way of saying that we're not even worth that much effort to them?"

"It's not like you can deny it considering the proof they've shown, they've been toying with us from the very beginning."

"Meaning that they humiliated all of us just for the hell of it."

"Dammit!" Kai promptly fired a Ki blast into the nearby cliffside, blowing a good chunk of it to hell out of pure rage "Son of a mother fucker!"

"Take it easy Kai, just because we lost doesn't mean that you have to let your rage get the better of you." Future Gohan tried to calm him down, the key word being tried.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me to cool it? You don't get it, the entire point of me driving myself to surpass the Super Saiyans was to prove to myself that I had what it takes to be the best, and then some punk with a chick haircut snapped my arms and my pride like a bunch of fucking twigs!"

"You weren't the only one who was defeated." Gohan pointed out "Not to belabor a point right now but we were all just beaten pretty badly, they were way stronger than any of us could possibly have prepared for regardless of whether or not dad was here."

Raditz nodded "The kid has a point, even if I had joined in the fight then I probably would've been beaten down just as badly."

"No offense but I think you're right, they took both me and Kai down in one shot, so I don't think it would've made a difference. There's no sense in trying to beat ourselves up over something like this."

"I hate the thought but you're right, even if sensei was here I doubt he would've made much of a difference." Tarble pointed out "Even though he defeated the likes of Frieza and Turles there's no confirming that he would've been able to win, as much as I hate the thought. I saw it just as clearly as all of you did, if Kai hadn't shown up when he did then who knows what would've happened. We have to face the reality of the situation, even if sensei was here right now I doubt he would fare any better than the rest of you did."

"What's really concerning is that you're more right than you know." Future Gohan muttered "I was afraid of this."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that these Androids aren't exactly like the ones I'm used to deal with either."

"What are you getting at now Gohan?" asked Piccolo.

"The Androids that I fought in my time weren't anywhere near as powerful as the ones we just fought, I wasn't strong enough to beat them but at least then I could somewhat hold my own against them."

"Well this is just great." Krillin muttered "That means the situation is even worse than any of us thought, so what the heck do we do now?"

"Well first things first, the way I see it the rest of you should head over to Goku's place and take him to hide somewhere the Androids won't be able to find him." Piccolo told them "Regardless of whatever our next move might be, we need to keep Goku safe until he's well enough to join us in battle."

"Well at least we have some kind of plan, but if all of us are going then what exactly are you planning to do?" asked Gohan.

"Good question."

"Piccolo you obviously have some kind of plan so fill us in, there's no point in keeping us in the dark." Tien told him "Last time I checked, we were all on the same side here."

"Oh is that so, and when the hell did I agree to that?" Piccolo flared his aura and burst high into the air "Don't make the mistake of thinking that I was ever friends with the likes of you!" he fired a Ki blast at the ground, forcing them to dodge it "Even if we have a temporary truce between us it's only because it furthers my goals of world domination, make sure you never forget that! As far as I'm concerned, all of you can kiss the greenest part of my ass!" and he promptly soared off into the distance.

"...There are greener parts of his ass?" was what Kai took away from that.

"Why would you even want to know that?" asked Gohan.

"I have a natural curiosity that rivals Sokka from Avatar. Anyway screw it, let's go follow the green diva."

"What do you mean, where's he going?"

"I'll explain it on the way." and so they both promptly blasted off.

"Dammit." Krillin muttered "Once a bad guy always a bad guy and there's no denying the fact that Piccolo used to be a real asshole, I can't believe I thought those days were behind us."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Nail told him "Piccolo may be prideful and reclusive, but if you looked closely he deliberately made sure that blast was intended to avoid hitting us. He just wanted to make sure we didn't try to follow him, so we didn't know what he was up to, although it appears that his two students have already figured it out."

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At the same time, Gohan and Kai were following Piccolo as he soared across the skies from a safe distance away "So what exactly do you think Piccolo is up to?"

"It's not that hard when you stop and think about it." Kai told him nonchalantly "First of all I'd say that little stunt was just his way of trying to save face, even Big Green has his pride that he wants to keep up. None of us are going to take what they dished out lying down, he knows that we have to do whatever it takes to beat them. He knows what he has to do, he has to cash in the last resort option that he never even wanted to think about using."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Take a wild guess, where exactly do you think we're going right now? You know the direction we're flying in right now don't you? I thought you would know it's obvious."

"Um…"

"Okay let me put it this way, do you remember what Piccolo told us about the training he did in Otherworld after he was killed by Nappa, what he had to do in hell?"

"Yeah of course I do, he went to Hell and then met his father the original King Piccolo, and then the two of them- Wait a second, do you mean…"

"Yep, we're heading up to the Lookout so Piccolo can meet up with Kami."

"So that would mean…"

"Remember what the Grand Elder told us back on Namek, Piccolo and Kami used to be a single being and if they had been a single being when the Saiyans arrived then chances are he would've been able to hold his own against the Saiyans. Piccolo knows that he has to become a hell of a lot more powerful than he is right now, he just has to convince Kami to fuse with him."

"What? But they're…"

"Think about it, if the good half and the evil half manage to fuse back together into a single being then they'll go back to being what they were before, a Namekian with powers unlike anything we've ever seen before. Let me put it in simple terms, if you and the others are Super Saiyans then Piccolo's trying to turn into a Super Namekian."

"Well on one hand that does sound like a really good idea, that's the kind of power we need to take on the Androids. But at the same time, if Piccolo and Kami merge into a single being, that would mean the Dragon Balls would disappear as well?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if that actually did happen, but seriously think about it, if the Androids got ahold of them and finished the job then we would probably just lose the Dragon Balls either way. Besides, if Piccolo is even thinking about doing this then that proves how desperate we are to have a trump card right now. He can't stand Kami, so there's no way in hell he would fly within 100 miles of Kami unless he thought it was the only option we have to win against these things. Besides we know Piccolo better than anyone, chances are this will be the biggest sacrifice he'll ever make."

"Yeah, you're probably right. But what about the rest of us, even of Piccolo and Kami do merge back together I doubt he would be able to defeat all of the Androids by himself."

"Well of course not, Androids or no Androids there's no way in hell I'd be willing to let anyone, Saiyan or Namekian or whatever, pass me by. I have a plan of my own to be able to compete with the Androids, but for the time being let's see how Piccolo's plan turns out and then we'll go from there."

"Can you fill me in on that?"

"When we actually have time for that, for now let's see how Piccolo's plan turns out and then focus on moving your dad somewhere the Androids won't find him."

"But even when dad is back to full healthm I doubt it will be enough for him to put up a fight against the Androids."

"Not necessarily, keep in mind that there's a Saiyan's Zenkai to consider here. Goku is recovering from a heart virus that should've killed him, at the very least I would probably have to push my Namek-Ken up to 25 in order to keep up with him."

"How high can you push the Namek-Ken?"

"We'll find out soon enough. But one thing is for certain, those Androids will regret not killing me when they had the chance."

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Meanwhile, with the other Z fighters…

Tarble was leading Future Gohan and the others back towards Mount Paozu in order to check up on Goku's current condition "So about that medicine, how long will it take for sensei to make a full recovery? We have to be sure we keep him hidden from the Androids until then."

Future Gohan thought for a moment "Well considering it's my Father we're talking about, if I had to guess I would say about 10 days at the most and three days at the very least."

"That definitely works in our favor, we should at least be able to keep him hidden for a few days or so."

"But the problem is that once Father is fully recovered he probably won't be able to help much against the likes of the Androids."

"Well that doesn't matter right now, what does matter is that we have to get him out of the house for the time being."

"I'm just thanking whatever Kais are up there that the Androids don't literally have radar or else we would probably all be dead by now."

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Kami sat in his throne on the Lookout, sensing those approaching and being exactly aware of what they were coming for 'So Piccolo, it seems the time has come and you've at last made your decision. It would seem that the time has drawn near for the two halves of our being to be made whole once again, for only then will we will be able to hope to conquer the threat that looms on the horizon.'

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Outside…

Piccolo set foot on the ground of the Lookout, and he shot a glare at Gohan and Kai as they both landed "The two of you shouldn't have followed me."

"And you shouldn't have tried to blast us to Kingdom come." Kai told him dryly "And for the record I've seen your ass, it can't get any greener."

"...How and why do you know that?"

"I believe you came here for more pressing reasons." this was when Kami appeared on the scene in front of them, his deadly serious expression matching Piccolo's.

"Would I be correct to assume that you already know exactly why I came to see you here?"

"Indeed you would be, you and I were… Well that is to say your father and I were once a single being long ago, so suffised to say I know your mind quite well."

"That should save us some time then."

"Though I must admit, I never thought the day would come when you and I would resolve our differences and merge into the original form that we once shared."

"Don't get the wrong idea, this isn't us merging. I simply intend to take you into my body."

Kai let out an audible snort "You could at least take him out to dinner first."

"First of all, Namekians don't eat. Second of all, Gohan."

"On it." Gohan chopped Kai on the back of the neck, knocking him to the ground "Go on."

"Thank you. Anyway Kami I have no intention of merging with you, I simply intend to absorb you into my being in order to increase my power enough so that I can defeat the Androids, and if the Earth has to do without the Dragon Balls before we can find someone to make another set then so be it."

"...I see." Kami gritted his teeth and started tightening his grip on his staff "You speak a greater deal of sense thank you realize. The truth is that I no longer serve a purpose alone, somewhere along the way the gap between our powers grew beyond anything we believed to be possible. As you pitted yourself against one ghastly monstrous foe after another, my own strength diminished to nothing."

"That was the case since the Saiyans showed up." Kai pulled himself back to his feet, shooting a certain finger gesture at Gohan in the process.

"The boy speaks the truth as well."

"No you mustn't!" Mr Popo protested "Regardless of how powerful Piccolo may be, I won't let you speak this way! The fact is that you're still the wise and gentle Guardian of the Earth!"

"Please calm yourself Mr Popo, the situation is quite grave. Neither Gohan, the son of Goku from this timeline or another, both of whom have reached the power of a Super Saiyan, was able to stand against the Androids with even the slightest chance of victory. The present situation suggests an outcome so dire that I fear not even Goku himself will be able to vanquish those foes once his health has recovered, perhaps the only way to be able to respond to this threat would be for Piccolo to absorb my power into his being."

"First sensible thing you've said in you know how long." Piccolo told him flatly "What the Earth needs right now isn't a guardian that hasn't lifted a finger in more than a decade, what it needs is a warrior with the necessary strength and intellect necessary to crush these bastards before they have the chance to take us out."

"Yes it is true, a great evil has risen, one unlike anything this world has ever seen before. I just need to let things unfold a bit more for the time being."

"Unfold? You can't be serious! You know exactly what I'm talking about, you know damn well just how dangerous these Androids are!"

"The Androids are a threat yes, but they pale in comparison to what I fear comes next."

"As ominous as that sounds, you've seen exactly how powerful they are!"

"What I've seen is that you and one of your students were the ones to start the fight, and more importantly that they could've killed you when they had the chance but they didn't."

"...You disgust me, while you've been up here looking down on the world from the safety of your throne the rest of us have been risking our lives to save it! You heard what Gohan's future self told us, the future is in ruins because of these monsters!"

"Yes but he also told you that the Androids you face now are different from the ones he fought against in his own time, the implications of this fact remain unclear."

"Meaning what exactly, you think they're all just misunderstood? You think all they really want is to be our friends?"

"I'm not saying anything of the sort, I'm only suggesting that we survey the situation in greater detail before resorting to a proposal as radical as this."

"You spineless coward! Fine, if this is the way it has to be then I can wait. After all we wouldn't want to act rationally, let's just hope that when you come to your senses there will still be a world left for us to save." he promptly sat himself down on the edge of the Lookout, then spared a glance back at Gohan and Kai "Clearly this is going to take awhile, you two head over and try and move Goku somewhere."

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Meanwhile, with the others…

Raditz and the others continued flying towards Mount Paozu 'Why do I have this feeling there's something we're missing?'

That was when Tien snapped him out of his thought "Hey guys listen, I'm going to split off from here and pick up Chiaotzu from Kame House so the two of us can do some training. Best to do it now before things get… weird."

"Duly noted, go ahead and do what you have to do. Don't worry though, if things start looking bad then we'll be sure to be close by. Granted I don't know how much help we're going to be, but we'll be there."

"You go ahead and do what you have to do, the rest of us will take Kakarot over to Kame House before the Androids figure out what we're going to do. With any luck we still have enough time before they wise up."

"Right and make sure you tell Goku not to push himself, he needs to rest so he's at full strength when the time comes for him to deal with the Androids." and then Tien promptly blasted off in another direction.

"There will be a cold day in hell before that happens. Of course Kakarot would push himself, regardless of how pointless it may be."

"But that's just it." Future Gohan pointed out "The question is, why did it become so pointless in the first place? There were only two Androids in my time, and they weren't anywhere near as powerful as these three are, so what could've changed?"

"I doubt I'd be able to answer any of that, besides it's not like it even matters at this point. It doesn't matter if we like it or not, that's how it is."

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Meanwhile, somewhere in the Northern mountains…

18 was growing impatient as she and the others were flying through a snow covered mountain area "Hey seriously do you think we can speed this up, it's cold as tits up here."

"You know, maybe if you stopped whining and helped me look then we'd be moving a hell of a lot faster- Oh hey check it out." 17 glanced down at a pink van parked on the side of the road below them "You know on second thought, I don't think we have to steal the first one that we see down there."

"Oh I'm sorry, I can't hear you over your welching."

"Fine, fuck it." and so they floated down towards the road.

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The drivers of the aforementioned pink van, two guys by the name of Chuck and Jones, were getting cups of hot chocolate a short distance away "So talk to me Jones, how are the wife and kids doing?"

"They're still dead Chuck, it's been four months." Jones told him flatly.

"Oh. I am terrible at small talk."

"Yes, yes you are- Huh?"

As it turns out, 17 didn't go unnoticed as he and the others landed by the pink van "Huh, Lucky Foods. Kind of ironic when you think about it."

"Uh excuse me young man, I'm gonna need you to stay out of our van."

"Alright here's the plan guys, we're taking the van."

"Affirmative." 16 promptly picked up the van and tilted it, dumping all of the cargo out of the back.

"No not like that buddy, I mean we're gonna drive it."

"Oh." he sat it back down "Sorry."

"Hey it's cool man, at least now you have a place to sit."

"Affirmative." he promptly found himself a seat in the back of the van "I call shotgun."

"That's not exactly what that means, but points for effort so I say keep trying."

"Better than when we started with him this morning." 18 promptly sat in the passenger seat of the van.

17 took the chance to hop into the driver's seat and start it up "Alright that's bitchin. Now next stop, Casa de Goku."

"How about no, new plan. New clothes first, Goku's Casa second."

"Alright fine. Women, am I right 16?"

"Confirmed, she is female." 16 noted.

"Yeah she is." and then they drove off.

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"Alright here it is, sensei's house is straight ahead." Tarble and the others touched down on the ground of Mount Paozu and made their way towards Goku's house.

As they did, Nail glanced over at Raditz and noticed him deep in thought "Is everything alright, you seem distracted."

"Yeah, yeah…" Raditz let out a sigh "I've just been thinking."

"About what?"

"Well those Androids that beat the crap out of all of you, I'm guessing you're saying they don't have any redeeming qualities."

Future Gohan shot him a deadpan look "They're cold heartless killing machines, at least that's how they were in my own time. I couldn't get any read on them when we fought before, so I can't say for certain. Where's this coming from?"

"Nothing really, I was just thinking about what it would be like if they were good."

"Yeah well don't bother holding your breath on that one, they killed all of you in my timeline and they cost me a leg and Kai an eye."

"Hey you see the things I see your mind tends to wander places, I like to explore ideas. What the hell do you think fanfiction is for." he looked over at Nail "Don't say a fucking word, I know you're thinking it but don't say it." he was met with only a small smirk.

"Hey by the way guys, quick warning." Krillin ushered everyone back a few feet as he knocked on the door "I say be as nice to Goku's wife as you can, when she's in a bad mood she can be a total-"

"GOHAN!" that was when Chichi slammed the door open right onto Krillin's skull, only to scowl at the sight of everyone else before her "Oh great, it's just you idiots."

"Alright fine, I think I pretty much asked for that one." a gigantic bruise started swelling up on his head.

"Hey everyone is that you?" that was when Upa rushed out towards them "Oh thank goodness you're all okay, I was worried sick about all of you."

"Nevermind that, how is sensei doing?" asked Tarble.

"He's a lot better now that the medicine is taking effect, he just needs some rest and some time to recover now. So what happened, did all of you manage to take care of the Androids?"

"Farthest thing from it." Raditz told him dryly "The kid from the future showed up, turns out there were three more, Kai got both his arms broken, we all got the crap beaten out of us in an instant, Piccolo lost his shit and I got kissed by the hot one."

"...You mean the clown?"

"No no no, there's a girl now."

"You can't be serious."

"I really don't care if you do or not, I'm thinking we continue this conversation after we hurry the hell up and move Kakarot."

"So what do we do?"

"We can take him to Kame House, I doubt they'd look for him there."

"Isn't that literally the second place they'd look?"

"Look we're short on time and options, and got only knows what the Androids are up to right now." Raditz looked back at the others, only to stop when he noticed that one of them was missing "Okay where's the future kid?" he received numerous shrugs.

"Hey guys." that was when Yamcha showed up with Future Gohan slung over his shoulder "I was coming to check up on Goku and I found him trying to make a break for it."

"I wonder way." Raditz was met with a low growl from Chichi.

"Deal with bashing Chichi later, we have to move Goku."

"Right, let's take him to Kame House."

"That's literally the second place they'll look."

"Your point being?"

"...Fuck it, let's do this."

"That's what I thought."

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About 20 minutes later…

Soon enough, Raditz and Tarble were loading Goku's unconscious form onto a capsule plan to ship him to Kame House "Alright forward, forward, there's the ramp."

"Hey take it easy you guys, he's not laundry." Chichi was quick to scold them.

"Well there are times when he has the brain power of dirty socks."

"That one seems like a cheap shot." Upa pointed out "But you mean you're not exaggerating, these new Androids really are that powerful?"

"They're unlike anything we've ever seen before, believe me when I tell you that if you had seen them for yourself then there wouldn't be any question. Now all we have to do is wait for the runts to show up."

"You said that they took off after Piccolo after he lashed out at all of you earlier?"

"Pretty much yeah."

That was when Chichi lit up when she saw something flying towards them "My baby is finally here, Gohan we're down here!"

Sure enough, Gohan and Kai dropped down onto the scene, only for to almost instantly get smothered by Chichi "Okay, so it looks like everyone is getting ready to hide dad from the Androids right?"

"We can talk details later." Raditz told him flatly "For now we're getting your dad over to Kame House before the Androids find him."

"But that's literally the second place they'd look."

"Less lip, more ship."

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At the same time, Bulma was putting Bulla down for a nap, only to notice the phone ringing across the room "What the heck, who could that be?"

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Meanwhile, at Kame House…

The door to Kame House creaked open to reveal Tien standing in the doorway "I came here to pick up Chiaotzu, we need to train."

"But Tien, the doctor said if your shoulders get any bigger-" Chiaotzu was promptly cut off.

"That's why we don't see him anymore."

"Wait a second, so you guys didn't beat the Androids?" asked Launch, currently in her blonde persona.

"Well from what I've been told they broke both of Kai's arms, swung him into Gohan like a wrecking ball and drop kicked Kai, two Super Saiyans and two incredibly powerful Namekians, so that was a lot of fun. Other than that, it proved to be a total wash." and so Tien promptly blasted off, with Chiaotzu following right behind him.

"Well you heard the man, now there's only one thing left to do. Someone fetch my laptop, I say we buy us a submarine!"

"Alright fine, but you're not allowed to name it after your boobs."

"My submarine, my stolen money, I get to name it!"

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It didn't take long for the group to end up airborn.

Raditz didn't waste any time as he explained to Upa and Yamcha what the Androids had told him before "So the three of them are apparently treating this whole thing like some kind of game, and it's definitely a game they want Kakarot to lose."

"But are they really that strong?" asked Upa.

"Let me put it this way. Take the warning from the future kid brooding over in the corner, then throw it out the window and imagine it snapping Kai's arms like twigs and drop kicking two Super Saiyans and two Namekians."

"Wow."

That was when Chichi suddenly let out a shriek of terror and started shuffling over towards the bags she brought with her "Oh no no no, I'm a terrible mother! I was so caught up in all of the commotion that I almost forgot the most important thing!"

"Wait, mom what are you talking about?" asked Gohan.

"What else?" she dropped a few textbooks in front of him "You have studying to do."

"You can't be serious!"

"It doesn't matter what the current circumstances are, they don't excuse you from trying to earn an education."

"And shit like this is why I'm still single." Raditz immediately pointed at Nail "Shut up."

"So what do we do from here?" asked Tarble.

"You're asking the wrong Saiyan, I have no idea what the hell to do."

"I might have one idea, it's crazy but it's better than nothing." Future Gohan spoke up "Since we know where Dr Gero's secret lab was hidden, maybe I could travel back in time to before the Androids were activated. I could try to destroy them before they could ever be brought online in the first place all at once."

"Well on one hand I could see that working on some level, but something doesn't sound right about that. Correct me if I'm wrong here kid, but I thought you said your time machine wasn't very precise. Besides it's like you told us before, travelling back in time in the first place takes so much energy that it takes you months to gather enough for a round trip, which means that if you go further back into the past then there's no guarantee you would have enough to make it back to your own timeline."

"That is a fair point."

"But if you could go back and destroy the Androids in the past then what would happen to the Androids that are already here, in our timeline I mean?" asked Tarble "Would they all just disappear or would it be more like they were wiped from existence."

"No, if that was the case then it couldn't work. Even if I went back to before the Androids were created and stopped Dr Gero from making them it would alter the course of that timeline, but it wouldn't do anything to stop the ones in this timeline or the ones in my timeline."

"There's something I don't get, if you really can go back in time then why didn't you go back and find baby Dr Gero and…" Krillin promptly made a hand gesture of strangling him with a rope, complete with the choking sound and everything, leaving everyone present disgusted by the thought.

"...Okay first of all, that's horrible."

"What, it's a Red Ribbon Army scientist who created a bunch of Androids to kill all of us and bring about the apocalypse! I can't be the only one thinking about that."

"It's still horrible. And second of all time doesn't work that way, changing the past doesn't change the future."

"What's so complicated about it, you came back to warn us about the Androids before they showed up so we would actually bother to train and get strong enough, so we should've been able to defeat them without overcomplicating it."

"That's not how it works."

"Well that's what I've heard."

"From who, who did you hear that from?"

"Oh gee, let me think. Star Trek, Terminator, TimeCop, Time After Time, Quantum Leap, Wrinkle in Time, the Hot Tub Time Machine movies, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures, X Men: Days of Future Past, Deadpool 2, Back to the Future for crying out loud, basically any movie ever that deals with time travel."

"With the exception of the fourth Avengers movie."

"Whatever man, this is common knowledge."

"Look, I don't know why everyone believes that but that isn't true. Think about it for a minute, if you travel to the past then that past becomes the future, and your former present becomes the past, which can't be changed by the new future you created."

"...I'm starting to see why you didn't get laid in your timeline." Kai noted dryly.

"I'm 17!"

"Your point?"

"...Not dignifying that. Anyway let me try this another way, even if you do travel back in time it wouldn't chance the timeline you came from. All that it would do is create a different timeline based on the changes that you've made."

"Okay there you go, was it that hard to say that Back to the Future is a bunch of bullshit?"

"...Honestly, no matter what the timeline you can be just exhausting."

"But there's one thing I don't understand." Tarble spoke up "If changing our timeline won't change yours in any way, then why would you bother to go through all of this trouble in the first place? After all, the timeline you're from wouldn't be benefitted at all."

Future Gohan breathed a sigh "Bulma and I both agreed that we were done, done with living in a world without any hope because the Androids had ripped all of it away. Any future where they didn't exist was good enough for us, even if we couldn't live in it ourselves. Of course recon was the primary objective, she thought we might be able to find some weakness we could exploit by watching all of you fight them, and if that wasn't enough I was supposed to bring you back to our time so that we would be able to face off against the Androids together." he tensed up slightly out of nowhere, his teeth grinding furiously, earning looks of concern from everyone present "Sorry about that, it's just that I've spent so long having to deal with the Androids that I'd forgotten how peaceful the world used to be. Plus events now are so different and unexpected that it throws a wrench into everyone's plans. Not only is the timing of the Heart Virus taking effect off by several months, the two Androids are far more powerful than in my time and there's even a third one that I wasn't prepared to deal with."

"But what caused everything to change in the first place?" asked Nail.

"I can't say for certain, I just don't have the answer to that. But still, maybe it was actually me who caused all of this by coming to this timeline in the first place."

"Hey there's no need to overthink it." Chichi sat down next to Goku and smiled "It doesn't matter how bad it may seem, I know that we're still better off now than we would be if you hadn't shown up. My Goku is alive right now because of you."

"Maybe, but…"

"This is probably the only time in this timeline or any other that I'm actually going to agree with her on something." Kai pointed out "If there's one thing this pack of disfunctional morons is good at it's focusing on the positives in life, they pride themselves on the fact that things always seem to work out somehow."

"...Yeah you're right, I guess I had forgotten about that sort of thing. We've been through spots a lot worse than this one before."

"We'll probably scrape through this one way or another, it's just a matter of how." Kai just leaned back and glanced out the window at the scenery passing them by 'Yeah, like optimism has ever been my strongpoint, as in never. They said that a Super Saiyan is supposed to be absolutely invincible in every sense of the word, and yet now we have Androids, Namekians and the only human in the universe, as in yours truly, capable of matching and maybe even surpassing them entirely. I pushed myself to the absolute limit to surpass that amount of power for years on end, so what the fuck went wrong? It just doesn't make sense, the Namek-Ken should allow me to push myself to even greater levels of strength through sheer willpower. I fought a Super Saiyan to a standstill three years ago, and now I was able to slaughter one Android only to get beaten down by another one with ease. Does this mean that technology able to overcome what I can't, does mere biology have the ability to surpass the limitations built into me by my humanity? No what the hell am I saying, I can't let myself start saying crap like that or else I'll end up looking like a hypocrite! I'm a warrior, human or not, I don't have any limitations! It doesn't matter who I have to face in a fight, if I have to get stronger to beat them then I'll force myself to reach their level of power! All I have to do is get back out there and destroy them, and I think I know just what I have to do in order to make that a reality.'

"Hey guys." that was when Yamcha got their attention "Just giving a progress update, Kame House shouldn't be too far from here."

"Good to know, I have to pee." then a certain ringtone sounded through the plane phone "Oh for fuck's sake."

Future Gohan blinked "What is that?"

"What is what?"

"This music."

"You mean country music?"

"Oh… it's been so long since I've heard it."

"What, you don't have country music in the future?"

"No. Shortly after the Androids appeared it all just vanished, no one knows exactly what happened to it- Wait a second."

"Let's table that for the time being and deal with the inevitable future cougar."

"You realize that's my wife you're talking about." Yamcha pointed out dryly.

"Yeah I know."

"Just checking." Yamcha picked up the phone "Hey what's up babe-"

"Yamcha! What's wrong? Something has to be wrong, tell me everything and don't leave out any details! First things first, where the heck are you calling from? Second of all I tried checking in with you guys to make sure that Gohan made it home and you got there okay, but no one over there would pick up the phone. Third of all, please tell us the grown up version of the only kid in our group who knows when to shut up is there."

"That depends, is this a booty call?" was Kai's snarky comment.

"My point exactly!"

"Dial it back, he's right here with us."

"Oh perfect, go ahead and put him on."

"Keep squawking your head off as much as you want, you're on speaker."

"Okay good, and for the record you ever make a crack about me being a fat chicken and I won't hesitate to skin you alive."

"You can try, now what did you call us for?"

"I just got a call from some really screwed up call from some farmer in the countryside about 50 miles outside of Ginger Town and said that he found some weird abandoned vehicle with the Capsule Corp logo."

"Oh wow that's super interesting, so does it have anything to do with the Androids that we're in the middle of fighting?"

"Dial back on the asshole factor and it might, I asked them to send me a picture of the machine and I have it with me to make a long story short. Not only is this the time machine I'm staring at right now, it's showing some major signs of wear and tear."

"What?!" Future Gohan bolted to his feet "But that's impossible, I still have my time machine in my pack of capsules like it's been since I came to this timeline earlier today."

"But that doesn't make any sense, I mean the resemblance is uncanny. The one in the picture here is pretty beat up and overgrown like it's been sitting there for awhile, but aside from that it's pretty much identical. Do you think it's possible that my future self cranked out more than one of these things?"

"Sorry but the chance of that being the case is slim to none, it took you more than half a decade to be able to scrounge up the materials you needed to build one."

"Well that makes things even more confusing, that would make this the exact same machine you travelled here in. I'm absolutely positive of that, believe me when I tell you that I have an eye for this stuff. Just hold on a second, I'm faxing over a picture the farmer took so you guys can take a look for yourselves."

"Faxing?"

"You still have a fax machine?" was Kai's takeaway from that.

"What's a fax machine?"

"You see, that one makes sense."

"I've never heard of a fax machine either." Gohan pointed out.

"And so does that."

"Just shut up and show the picture to them!" and then she promptly faxed the picture over to their plane.

Future Gohan took the picture and looked at it, and he froze "But… But this doesn't make any sense. This is the exact same time machine I used to come here, there's no question about it. But what does this mean? Tell me Bulma, do you know the exact location where that farmer took this photo, as in do you have the precise coordinates of the area?"

"Well I wouldn't say precisely, but judging from the postmark on the package they'd sent it in I would have to say it's outside of section 1050 West, not far from Gingertown. Are you gonna go down there and check it out?"

"Yes, I have to see that for myself just to be sure."

"I was actually hoping to come to if you don't mind, it's not that far of a flight for me."

"Well… If you want to then I guess it would be okay."

"Great, I'll meet you there in a little bit." and then she hung up.

"Call it a hunch but I have a feeling we're not going to like what we find."

"Hey I knew what I was getting into." Yamcha barely even spared him a glance "So let me ask you again, are you absolutely certain that there's only the one time machine?"

"Yes, I'm absolutely positive. But then again they also thought there was only one Thanos and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in this plane who knows how that turned out."

"Um, excuse me?" Gohan looked up at his future self "I was hoping I could have a look at the time machine too, if you don't mind I mean."

"Excuse me?" Chichi bolted upright and shot him a look.

"It'll be fine mom, it's not like we're going anywhere dangerous. We'll be safe. And besides, how often can you say that you got to investigate a time machine? And who knows, I might be able to put that studying to use when we do find it."

"Add this to the list of reasons to give a gigantic "Fuck you" to Back to the Future, might as well come myself and see what this is about." Kai pulled himself to his feet, and once the hatch opened the three of them set off.

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The drive to Goku's house was pretty slow going.

18 glanced over at 17 "So I've been thinking about it, what do we do after we kill Goku, you know after we get to his house, whenever the hell that might be?"

17 gave a shrug "Whatever the hell we want, I mean who the hell is going to stop us?"

"Not Goku." was 16's contribution to their conversation.

"Exactly. Who knows, I might even be a park ranger. Speaking of Goku, hey 16 what's our ETA at right now?"

"We are currently 2,544 miles from our intended destination."

"Good to know."

"Well this is boring as all hell." 18 muttered.

"Hey come on sis, it's not so bad. What do you say we go ahead and turn on our good old friend, the radio here." 17 switched it on, only to end up filling the van with the monstrocity that is country music.

"Oh that's just 10 pounds of nope in a 5 pound bag."

"Oh yeah sorry about that, I forgot we were out in the sticks."

"...You know what, I think I know the first thing we're gonna do after we kill Goku."

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Meanwhile, with Kai and the two Gohan's…

Gohan was flying alongside his future self and Kai towards the location where the other time machine had been discovered, but during the trip he glanced over at his future self "Hey future me, I was wondering."

"Whatever you have to say, go ahead." Future Gohan assured him.

"Well first, what about the rest of the humans from the future you're from? I mean have the Androids in your timeline really managed to turn the entire planet into a warzone as bad as you said they did?"

"That could be one way of putting it, except if the planet is at war then the humans have been on the losing side of it pretty much since day one. By this point the population has dwindled to almost nothing, the few hundreds of thousands of people left are forced to live in secret underground bunkers that Bulma and I built, and it would probably only be in the tens of thousands if Kai hadn't managed to take out one of the Androids with his suicide attack."

"Wow, that really is bad. So I've been wondering, are there any other changes in this timeline that make it stand out in comparison to yours?"

"Well there are a few little things, for starters Bulma and Yamcha never had any kids before the Androids got to him. I mean we did hear that Bulma was pregnant a few months before they appeared, but with everything that happened when the Heart Virus started popping up… she had a miscarriage."

"Oh… that's horrible."

"Yeah, combine that with losing Yamcha and she had it just as bad as we did. Kai was the one that kept us together before he died."

"I see. So just out of curiosity, how many of our friends are still alive in your timeline?"

"Well Piccolo, Yamcha, Krillin, Nail, Tien, Chiaoutzu, Raditz and Nail all got killed by the Androids when they first attacked, but I don't know about Yajriobe. Korin, he didn't last a year with the Androids around, and by extension neither did the Senzu Beans. The only ones left were an emergency supply that Kai kept stashed away, but that only lasted about 7 years."

"What about people that didn't fight, like my mom or Master Roshi or Mr Popo?"

"Well I think Master Roshi is hiding out with Launch, Puar, Oolong and Turtle in a submarine that Launch bought online. As for mom and grandpa, well… the Androids didn't get to them, I can say that's the one positive."

"What's the negative?"

"Even with the Androids running around slaughtering people like it was the Purge, we still had to deal with the Heart Virus."

"So… you mean they…?"

"Yeah, three years after the Androids showed up. I lived on my own for awhile after that, and after Kai died I moved into Capsule Corp with Bulma."

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

"Okay moving on from what's probably a kid friendly version of 28 Days." Kai cut into their conversation dryly "Hey Future Spike, let me run something by you."

"Go ahead."

"I've been thinking about this, it seemed pretty obvious that Dr Gero didn't want to activate the other Androids, and for all we know he probably knew how much of a risk it was to turn them on in the first place, but considering how I wasted his sexbot and how Nail went to town on him before we ended up forcing his hand, and that's when they ended up turning on them and taking him out, with some help from a certain Saiyan that looks like a hedgehog who's got a hell of a lot of residual sexual tension with the blonde. Anyway, the old man might have been evil but he was no idiot, if the Androids were a threat to him then he would've had some kind of backup plan in case something like that happened."

"That sounds like a reasonable theory."

"He would've needed some way to turn them off if they went out of control, like an emergency shutdown device, it's a longshot but if we can find any kind of device like that we might be able to stop them. Either that or I can go with my contingency plan."

"Which is what exactly?"

"I'll tell you later for the sake of plot and suspense."

"It doesn't sound like a longshot to me." Gohan told him "I think it makes a lot of sense."

"Add that to the list of reasons why you've essentially become my hypeman."

"Do you really believe in your own hype that much?" asked Future Gohan.

"Bitch please, I am the hype."

"...Ignoring that, I think we've reached the coordinates Bulma told us about, at least the general area so you guys keep your eyes peeled-"

"Found it." Kai jerked a thumb down towards where the machine was sitting, apparently having some significant damage and being covered in moss, and the three of them set down on the ground in front of it.

"Well this definitely does look like my time machine."

"But it also looks like it's been here for Popo knows how long."

Gohan lit up at this "Ooh looks like we have a mystery, I never get to solve mysteries! Like if I was Sherlock Holmes or Batman. Usually we're just busy fighting people, like if we were Bruce Lee or Batman."

Kai looked up to see a ship approaching from the distance "Well it looks like Mother of the Year didn't take very long to get here."

"Hang on a second, I'll go flag her down." Gohan flew upwards to meet up with Bulma.

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Meanwhile, with the Androids…

As it turns out, 18 and the other Androids had been pulled over by the cops, mostly to her great annoyance "Wow, I can't believe you actually pulled over."

"No no shut up, this is gonna be great." 17 assured her.

"You two!" one of the cops rounded on both of the Androids and cuffed both of them "This vehicle has been reported as stolen, you are hereby under arrest!"

Another one had managed to find 16 and wasn't shy about his opinion "Sir I have checked the vehicle and I have identified another male, and he is fucking big!"

"You cannot sit in the back, I called shotgun." 16 told him.

"He has a weapon, I'm cuffing him!" he promptly cuffed 16, only for him to shatter the cuffs with ease almost instantly "Uh… Hey just out of curiosity, do we have any bigger and stronger cuffs on us?"

"Yeah, they're in the car." the first cop told him.

"Oh wait, you mean this car?" 18 promptly hurled the car in question into the mountainside, destroying it in the fiery explosion that followed, resulting in one cop catching flies and the other cop evacuating himself "Alright 17 I take it back, this is fun.

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Meanwhile, with the group searching for the time machine…

"Hey you guys look who's here!" Bulma descended onto the scene with a broad smile and hopped out of her plane "Guess who's here, the genius who actually cracked time travel!"

"Um… hey." Future Gohan gave an awkward wave.

"Tell me something future kid, is it weird seeing me all young again? You have to tell me, do I manage to stay gorgeous even in the future?"

"Well, I guess… you don't really change that much when you think about it…"

"Wait are you serious? So as the years go by the looks of the delicate flower that is myself are spared from the wrath that comes with the cold ravages of time, it's almost criminal!" she let out a loud and rather arrogant laugh.

"Bulma, please." that shut her up, and so he pulled out a capsule and opened it, revealing his time machine next to the one that was being questioned "Just take a look at this, this is the ship that you built for me to travel back in time and I used it to travel back to this time, and I've kept it in my container of capsules since I arrived."

"Well then that settles it Gohan, this broken down old thing can't be yours."

"No, I know for a fact that there's only ever been one of these time machines. I know it may seem weird but there's just no other way, this is the same one that I came here in. I don't know how, but it just has to be."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive, and I know exactly how to prove it." he scraped off some of the moss from the other time machine, revealing the words HOPE spelled out on the side of the machine.

"What does that say, hope?"

"Exactly, you painted it on there yourself before I came to this timeline in the first place, and if you look closely you'll noticd that it's on both versions of the time machine."

"Wait a second, I have to think about this. Well it's definitely been here for awhile, at least a few years by the looks of it."

"Plus take a look at the gigantic hole in the dome." Kai pointed out.

"Well that's weird, do you think whoever was piloting it was attacked?"

"I doubt it, take a look at the hole and notice the way the edges of the glass are curling. Think about how it's curved along with the lack of glass or any damage in the cockpit, I don't think it would be stretching it to assume that whatever did this did so from inside the time machine."

"So what then, do you think the pilot did that?"

"Only one way to find out."

"Stand back a second, just to be safe." Future Gohan pressed the button and opened the hatch of the machine, and made his way inside the cockpit to find what looked like two odd purple shells sitting inside "What the heck are these things?"

"Well that's all kinds of fucked up, what is this some kind of alien coconut?"

"Hey let me take a look at these things." Bulma took the shells and studied them intently for a moment "My best guess is that this is the shell of some kind of egg."

"The question is, what the fuck made that egg?"

"Wait a second…" Gohan looked up at the time machine "Call it a guess, but I'm thinking that whatever made that hole in the dome hatched from this egg."

"Wait let me check something." Future Gohan tried turning on the time machine "The residual energy in this thing is almost down to 0, but at the very least it should be able to scan." he pushed a few buttons, and some numbers popped up, and his eyes widened at what he saw "Who or whatever came here in this thing did so from the year 777, two years after the first trip I made to this timeline, and if this thing is still functioning properly then that means the machine landed here four years ago, a full year before I defeated Frieza and his father!" that was when the realization really sunk in "Wait a second, yes now it all makes sense! This explains why the events taking place in this timeline have changed as much as they did, the presence of this time machine was what altered events so drastically!"

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The scene on the Lookout was grim and quiet.

Kami stood on the edge of the Lookout, looking down at the Earth below 'So it would seem that the disturbance I felt taking shape down on the Earth below is finally showing itself.'

Piccolo looked up from his meditation and shot Kami a smirk "So this is how you like to spend your freetime is it, spying on the world from the safety of your perch? If it's a view of the action you want just say so, then we can stop wasting time and get on with this merge already, that way you'll get to see all of it upclose."

"So it would seem that the feelings of doom that have haunted me over these last four years have little to do with the Androids after all, some sort of creature has come to our world to wreack havoc from I know not where."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"There's only one thing I do know, and it's that something far worse and far superior to any of the Androids in strength or cruelty is lurking in the world below."

"What the hell are you going on about Kami, what the hell do you mean there's something lurking down there?"

"The time is upon us for me to relinquish my duties as Guardian of the Earth, and assume with you the mantle of a full fledged Namekian warrior. Take heed Piccolo, for the foe that we must face is beyond our capable imagination, the feeling of sheer dread that heralds its coming is so strong that any and all past enemies pale in comparison to its cruelty and might."

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A mysterious being has arrived from the future, even before the likes of Gohan himself had three years prior. Does this unknown creature truly pose a greater threat than even the likes of the Androids as Kami believes? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation!

A/N:

And with this chapter, not only do we see what the Androids are truly capable of in battle, but we also see one of our non-Saiyan characters begin his plan to get a massive increase in his power level, as well as the revelation that Future Gohan isn't the only time traveller in the world at the moment.

One notable difference from canon was the fact that the hotheaded reckless jackass of the group, in this case Kai, went up against 17 instead of 18. This gives me the opportunity to diverge from canon and give this fic more of its own identity, and add some development of the intended relationship between Raditz and 18.

Adding onto that point, I can imagine some of you aren't exactly happy with how I stuck Raditz on the sidelines again, but it's for the sake of his character arc in this saga. He'll get his moment in the spotlight soon enough, I assure you.

Okay, I'm just going to put this out there. It's November of 2019, 7 months after the release of Avengers: Endgame. You guys should've seen it coming that I was going to reference the similar logic to time travel shared between DBZ and the MCU. Plus it makes the explanation of the time travel even more entertaining than what TFS did with it, which is extremely hard to top.

Power levels:

Kai: 11 million

Kai (Namek-Ken 10x): 110 million

Kai (Namek-Ken 20x): 220 million

Raditz: 10.4 million

Gohan: 9 million

Gohan (Zenkai): 10 million

Super Saiyan Gohan: 225 million

Future Gohan: 5.8 million

Future Gohan (Zenkai): 6.2 million

Super Saiyan Future Gohan: 203 million

Tarble: 6.2 million

Weighted Piccolo: 140 million

Unweighted Piccolo: 182 million

Tien: 4.8 million

Krillin: 2.4 million

Android 17: 450 million

Android 18: 440 million