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DRAGON BALL HARDCORE

THE CELL SAGA, part 2

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A month away from the big battle, the pressure was already crushing them. Their powers increased tremendously through these three years of peace. That looming threat was there at the back of their minds, prompting them to continuously train harder and achieve new heights. It was all in good fun, but now the mood was getting heavy.

Either by nervousness or excitement, Goku couldn't sleep that night. Most of the warriors couldn't. At the back of their minds, this was supposed to be the day of which they and all of their friends die horrible deaths by the hands of a powerful enemy. They got up as soon as the clock hit 6 am, and they were ready. Goku didn't think they were going to lose in the slightest, and told Chi-chi they would be back for the meal. Tien was more skeptical about it; it hurts to say it, but if he doesn't come back by noon Launch would have to expect the worst to happen and she should call Bulma and find a place to hide. He told her to stay hopeful and strong, since now they have someone to protect, together. And Yamcha, he didn't have to be any dramatic, because Bulma was going no matter what he told her. It was mister blind arrogance and missed reckless decisions; the perfect duo.

…

Halfway through their flight, Goku and Gohan meet up with Piccolo. They trained like never before in these past three years, and now they are in for another battle of life and death. But this time around, they have Goku here; they have the legendary Super Saiyan and Piccolo, so they decided to bet on their odds. And soon they arrived at the place Boku told them about, and Goku immediately recognized it. This place was once the Red Ribbon headquarters that he attacked back when he was a kid. Now the place was rounded up, and they used most of the structure to build a town here, named Poppy Town.

Piccolo managed to spot Tien and Yamcha already there with Bulma, keeping their power's low to hide away in the mountain top. They reunited once again, and they had changed. Bulma saved Yamcha from having the worst haircut of his life this time around. They were all in their late twenties and early thirties, and now it began to really show. They got super jacked, and Goku was now as tall as Tien and Yamcha for once. Gohan has doubled his size since he's ten years old now. And not to the surprise of Piccolo and Goku, Bulma was now carrying a little baby boy with her. "It's little Bokusa!" Goku said, and that was a slip of the tongue, as he shouldn't know his name yet. He questioned why she brought him along to the battle, and Bulma stated that there's no safer place on this world than right beside the strongest fighters of the galaxy. It was something of a good point.

As little Boku starts toying with his weird uncles, Piccolo joins Tien by the cliff and both stare towards the little city. He has kept a watch since arrived, and the town is just having a normal day. It's a little past the time that Future Boku told, but it's hard to be specific since he was just a baby when it happened.

Their time waiting was interrupted when they all heard a voice at the back of their heads. It was Dende, using the godly powers that he learned to talk to the others in their minds. He was arriving soon and bringing some of Korin's Senzu Beans. They saw him up there in the sky. He got a little taller and was wielding Kami's old staff. They wave at him, but suddenly their little reunion gets busted, and turns for the worst.

Suddenly, Dende is attacked by an oncoming ki bullet from a far, and struck out of the sky. He falls all the way down to the woods, heavily injured. In shock they all looked from where the attack came from, and saw the androids standing in the air. And so, they quickly descended to the city streets below.

None of them could sense their energy, it was bizarre. Gohan figured that since they are robots, they simply don't have it. They'll have to find them out in the middle of the town. Goku tells Gohan to go check on Dende, and the rest blast after the androids, leaving Bulma behind. They scattered to make the search easier, but in turn they left themselves separated and vulnerable to a sneak attack.

…

Dr. Gero has been planning this revenge for years. And it all started by taking his newest android to their old headquarters and cleansing it from all these fools that took it for themselves. On their arrival, they happen to spot a little green runt that awfully reminded Gero of that Piccolo one that helped Goku against those alien invaders. And as such, he saw him as a threat and immediately dealt with him. Now he only had to reclaim his base.

There were a bunch of people walking around the main street, and so he had an idea. He went up to an oil truck that was passing by, and pulled off the driver from his seat. With just his grip strength, Gero decapitated the man by squeezing his neck. As his head falls to the floor, the people start to run and scream. Gero told his albino buddy, Android 19, to kill a couple dozen of these intruders, and that will most likely make the remaining run away from the town in fear. And so 19 makes some easy kills; splitting a guy in half, crushing a car with a family inside, and finally he was about to break a woman's neck with his hand as her little daughter watches. But out of the light, Yamcha came faster than what 19's sensor could detect, and chops off his arm with his energy claws. He told the lady to take her daughter and leave, and so she did.

Both Gero and 19 were shocked by what they just saw. Yamcha was here? Why? And why is his energy reading so high up the scale? That weird out Gero, but at least he could take care of one of his targets right away. 19 suffered a partial malfunction, but it was an easy fix. He removed his slashed arm from his elbow joint, and from his hidden back compartment, he grabbed a new spare arm and installed it. As if the attack meant nothing, 19 was fully ready to fight.

Yamcha managed to cut right through their arms, so he had no doubt that he could take them on. He better do it fast before they cause too much destruction. He had no words for such cold murderers and took the offensive against 19. But Gero simply told 19 to initialize the extraction process, and so 19 lunged at him. By surprise of his stupidity, he managed to grab Yamcha by his midriff, and that got Yamcha the opportunity to smash his tough head in. He unleashed a barrage of punches on 19, to the point his face cracked. But something was wrong. His punches were getting weaker and weaker by the second. And eventually his punches did nothing; while 19's face got stronger and stronger. Finally, Yamcha kicked himself away from 19, but the moment that his feet touched the ground he felt a sudden weakness go through his whole body. He couldn't stand. His energy was just gone, completely.

19 then appeared in front of him, faster than what he could see, and grabbed him by his mouth. He lifted him upwards and more of his energy was taken. Yamcha tried to slash off his arm again with his energy claws, but he couldn't. He tried gathering ki in his hand but it was being sucked off of him faster than what he could gather. He was left dry of power, and he knew this was it. He was gonna lose, but at least he needed to alarm the others to their presence. And so he looked to the side and saw the oil truck there.

As Gero ordered 19 to dispose of him, Yamcha lifted his hand a little and used a miniscule ki sparkle to blow up the truck load, and it exploded in a huge fire. And at the same time, 19 plunged his hand through Yamcha's chest.

…

All the Z-warriors heard that explosion, and immediately went after it. Tien was the first to arrive at the scene, and seeing his friend Yamcha being impaled made him snap. He arrived by kicking 19's cranium and launching him away, while he gently held Yamcha and put him on the floor. He was unconscious, eyes whited out and bleeding, but still alive. All his energy left his body, and now he could feel it inside 19, It was a powerful energy. He had no idea if he could take both of them head on, and Yamcha needed help.

Soon, Goku and Piccolo arrived, and were mortified by seeing this scene covered in the lights of a giant fire. Goku was ready to burst, but he remained a little composed. Gohan finally arrived, stating Dende to be fine. Goku immediately told him to take Yamcha away and back off; they would take care of these damn androids. Gohan picked Yamcha up and jumped out.

Dr. Gero was getting a little bewildered. First: they knew they would be here, and second: they know they are androids. He couldn't process how they obtained such information, but most importantly, he couldn't understand how they achieved such a high energy level. His tracking Nanobug followed them all the way up to their adventures in Namek, taking note of their advances and development, but it was destroyed during that fight with the alien called Frieza. He concluded that most of them didn't come out alive from that fight, and thus he stopped monitoring them. And now all of them appear in front of him, alive and stronger than his calculations led him to believe. Something was wrong, but it doesn't matter. With this new invention of his, there is no enemy that can possibly stand up to them. He does ask how they found out about their plan, to which Piccolo taunts him for the answers, and it was on.

The three take their stances, as the fire behind them grows. It made Goku realize that they need to move this away from normal people. However, Gero had another suggestion. He never liked how they made the base project and was itching to build it up from scratch again. And so he starts firing his eye lasers against them. They all managed to block some but he wouldn't stop firing. Eventually two of them pass through. They were about to hit the city when Dende showed up. By hitting the ground with his cane, he divided the land in half, and lowered the other half into a hole. In a split second, half of the town was sunk into the earth, and that made Gero's eye lasers miss the city. Weirdly, the people were saved from death. It was a neat trick Dende learned.

Before Gero could understand what was going on, Goku dashed towards him and punched him across his face, and sent him flying through the air. He extended his arms and legs to stop himself. The skin from his cheek was ripped off with that punch, and his head cylinder almost fell off. That was a warning shot, and so he decided to entertain their little game. He calls 19 and taunts the others to come after them, as the two blast off.

With the situation now somewhat controlled, Dende shifts the land back together and ceases the huge fire taking over the city using his magic. He proceeded to start healing Yamcha's wound, and threw the Senzu Beans he had to the others. He had a whole sack of it, but after the attack he suffered, only four were left intact. One for each except for Tien, who refused one and gave it to Gohan. And so they split; with Goku and the other fighters going after the androids, while Dende takes Yamcha to Bulma in order to finish up healing him.

…

…

The Z-warriors arrive at some orange mountain range, with the two androids just menacingly standing there beside one another. Gero announces that this is the day that he takes revenge for everything Goku did against him, and prompts 19 to fight them. Goku saw fit that since he created the android to fight him, then he should go first. Android 19 was using Yamcha's full energy, and that startled him a bit. He decided to go all out, and decided to unleash the Super Saiyan from the start. And Gero was confused, because he didn't knew what the hell they were talking about. "Are you talking about that great ape form of your kind? If so, my database retains that your lack of a tail makes it impossible for you to do so," he said.

Piccolo and Tien looked at each other with a smirk. So Gero didn't know what a Super Saiyan was? Well, it's time for Goku to show him and let that be his demise. In a scream of rage and a flash of light, Goku's appearance changed, and his power skyrocketed. Gero's energy censors malfunctioned, and all of the sudden this got really scary for him. Out of all the ones watching in awe, Piccolo knew something was wrong. Goku had gone Super Saiyan many times before when they were training, but something is off. His power was a little lower than usual. He had noticed before; Goku was strangely off today.

Regardless, the two start to fight. Goku started showing that power again, and used it to completely wreck 19. With Yamcha's energy, 19 was able to resist Goku's attacks, and pretty much survived the initial assault mostly thanks to it. But something that most couldn't see was that Goku's strength and focus was deteriorating through the course of the fight. He was gripping his chest and breathing heavily even though 19 barely landed a punch yet.

Meanwhile for Goku, the fight was starting to become harder with every second. Every time he blocked one of 19's attacks, he felt a sudden weakness, and thus he powered up more and more. He was feeling tired. And all of the sudden he needed to eat the Senzu Bean Dende gave him. But even that did absolutely nothing to quarrel the pain he was feeling on the inside. It was hard to breathe, and so his Super Saiyan transformation ended.

Yamcha and Dende then arrived with an important warning. Yamcha deducted that the androids had the power to absorb their energy and turn it into their own power. But Piccolo pointed out that it couldn't be that. Goku had energy to spare, but even so he was on the floor. When 19 mounted on top of him and started choking his life out while draining his energy, that's when it hit Gohan.

His heart problem. In those last three years, it never happened. Goku would take a pill once he suspected it would start hurting, but it never got to the point of which he would be bedridden. But now it's finally happening. He was suffering from heart failure.

And so Yamcha and Tien exchanged glares, and together they jumped in on the fight. They threw him off of Goku, but 19 at that point had absorbed so much energy from Goku that he could tank their punches and kicks. Gohan quickly snatched his father away from the battle, and Goku could do nothing but mumble and scream. He was in terrible pain; they needed to get him to his house and give him the medicine since neither Dende's magic or Senzu Beans are doing the trick. While the others can fight these androids, Dende couldn't really, and so he volunteered. As long as each got their Senzu Beans, it shouldn't be too dangerous.

He carries Goku on his back and flies away. Gero tried to go after him to finish him off, but he found Piccolo suddenly appearing in his way. He was strict and direct. Gero would only leave this place as a corpse, and also suggested that he keep an eye out for those three fighting over there, as they would decide his fate.

19 with his baby voice taunted Yamcha by saying he would finish the job successively this time around. He got really strong with Goku's power, but by fighting together they might win. But if they let any more energy be drained, this will be it. Fighting at long range with ki attacks would not work as 19 could just absorb all the blasts. And so they devise a plan. Yamcha would keep him busy while Tien made a Shin Kikoho to destroy him in a single attack. 19 caught up to the plan, and waited. Once Tien was done, he shouted at Yamcha to get away from him, and so 19 turned to Tien and raised his arms and waited for the incoming blast. Tien fired it, but it was literally nothing. It was just a tiny spark of energy that faded before it even touched 19. It was a purposeful misdirection. With the intention of draining the energy being prompted, he let go of his guard. And while distracted, Yamcha formed his energy claws and chopped off both his arms in a quick swing. They were cut clean off, and this time he had no means to fix the other. Just then Yamcha jumped away from him and Tien unleashed the true Shin Kikoho. With no means of which to absorb the blast, 19 received the attack head on.

A huge explosion took over the land, and the android was no more. All that was left was his head, tumbling around the charred trail that the Kikoho formed. He was still speaking cybernetic gibberish until its batteries died down. The Z-warriors now all turn towards Gero, who was freaked out but keeping his emotions in check. He completely overestimated how capable his new android was. Using the foe's own energy against him is the perfect idea, but it leaves his android with a glaring flaw. They were lucky to have intervened, or else 19 would've been stronger than all of them by absorbing Son Goku's energy. Now Gero needed some time to measure his choices.

Knowing that he's next, he uses strategy to escape. He aims his eye lasers to the ground and fires, creating a huge cloud of dust and destruction that allows him to quickly escape. Without being able to sense the androids, the Z-warriors are no better than those goons they fought against on Namek. They could only try to follow after him and hope Gero doesn't have a trick up his sleeve. And well… he surely had one. One last wild card that he discarded long ago for being unnecessarily powerful. Turns out that those brats aren't so useless after all.

…

…

Once Dende arrived at Goku's home, Chi-chi dropped the plate she was holding and it shattered on the ground. She immediately began to cry rivers, but Dende told that he could still be saved. They rushed him to his bed and gave him the medicine. From there Goku almost woke up, and started screaming. He was in pain but at least he was still alive.

Everything outside of Goku's condition seemed to be going really well. One of the androids was running for his life, and the other one was destroyed by two warriors that aren't even the strongest ones of their group. They thought it was already in the bag, but someone wasn't so sure. A certain traveler that mistrusted the fate of the future.

…

Boku arrived this time in a panic. To him, three hours ago he gave a message to Goku and Piccolo to train for when the androids arrive and destroy the world. They promised him they would take care of it. But when he returned to his time, absolutely nothing had changed. Literally nothing. He thought something had gone terribly wrong, and he decided to go back in time with the last of his fuel to try to see what went wrong.

He arrived in time to feel the battle of Tien and Yamcha being concluded. All of their energies are still on Earth, so they clearly didn't die as they would've had originally. He decided to head over at max speed to find out what happened. When he got there, the wastelands were already left by the Z-warriors as they went after Gero. The only remains of the battle was the robotic head of an android, but one he had never seen in his life. Soon he felt another energy rising, and followed it. Something was going horribly wrong there.

…

Once Gero tried to escape, Piccolo and Gohan followed his hot trail. They managed to keep up with him half a continent later. He just needed to get to his lab, but now he can't get out of hiding without risking getting found. If only he could kill one of them and take out his energy, he could use that power to put down the other ones. He chose to attack Piccolo, as he would have way more gains of power from draining him.

He waited until Piccolo was far away from the others to jump him. He locked himself to his back and covered his mouth as he started to struggle. Piccolo underestimated how fast that energy draining was, and after a few seconds he was too weak to even fight back. The others couldn't feel a thing change because it's not like the energy was disappearing like when someone dies, it was just going from Piccolo to Gero. With that, he planned to sneak on them with a false sense of security and kill them off. Perhaps he wouldn't have to awaken 17 and 18 just yet.

But his plan ceased right there. Piccolo managed to telepathically contact Gohan, and he came to the rescue by bashing Gero's head and sending him flying to the ground; breaking his head cylinder and revealing his gross brain in a jar. By a pinch he was able to save his master, and Piccolo promptly ate his Senzu Bean and was ready to rumble. The others soon arrive to prevent him from leaving. Piccolo offered him an extra chance to surrender; he could see now that he has a brain and a proper consciousness to decide for himself, but Gero was confident that with this power he could take down Piccolo and the others; why would he give up?

What Gero didn't understand about their power is that levels don't matter at all. A good technique can make up for a weak power, and not knowing that was the exact same problem that led to so many of their previous foes being defeated despite their overwhelming power. Gero was just about to join the list of idiots that they kicked out of the curve.

And so they began their fight. The others couldn't quite follow it as it was two of the same ki signatures fighting each other, but they could tell it was pretty balanced. Piccolo used the full extent of his powers to wreck Gero. Piccolo was a true strategic genius; he managed to fight without coming in contact with Gero. He would extend his arms to punch or grab from the other side of the field; he would use ki attacks to distract Gero. In the end they witnessed as he fired a quick and powerful Makankosappo that put a hole through Gero's chest.

He fell to the floor, seemingly dead from that. It was over; they had won. Tien and Yamcha couldn't believe that this Piccolo was supposed to be a perfect copy of that one that they once fought. He was mean and socially unfit, but he sure grew on them, to the point they completely trust him and are not worried in the slightest that he'll turn on them. Now they can only hope Goku is doing okay back at his home.

While they were celebrating, they saw Bulma arriving on her Capsule Corp flier. She arrived just in time to see everyone fine. That was an opportunity that Gero could not waste. They thought him dead for having a hole through his heart, but little did they know he replaced that gross old thing years ago. Once everyone had their back turned, he quickly got up and shot all his remaining energy out on them. Yamcha was about to be blasted by the light, and he quickly turned to Bulma. The impulse knocked her little ship out of the sky, and she would get caught in the explosion. The last thing he did was scream her name.

…

It was a heck of a blast. It leveled the entire mountain range they were on, but it didn't kill the Z-warriors. Piccolo, who was at the very front, absorbed most of the attack, but not all of the attack. The others were scattered around in the rubble with minor injuries and bleeding in a few places. Yamcha got up, already looking around for Bulma. He didn't manage to protect her from the blast. He was desperately calling her name and looking all around, until Tien pointed out to him. There it was, still on the ground. It was unharmed because someone took the attack in her place.

Boku suddenly appeared to block it. That boy from the future was back, and he didn't take that very well. He clearly wasn't as strong as the others by a long shot, and taking even a smidgen of that attack screwed him up. His long coat was mostly destroyed, and so did his pants, and his yellow beanie flew off his head. He was still shaking before he fell to the floor.

At instinct, Yamcha dashed towards him and gave his senzu bean to save his life. Boku wakes up in a spark, really surprised to be alive. Thanks to him Bulma and his past self only survived with the equivalent of a little car accident. Yamcha hugged and squeezed him in thankfulness. That hug was something he never thought he needed, but it felt nice. But it was a distraction, he had something more important to inform them.

Piccolo was ashamed of himself for being so sloppy; to think that a robot would be done with a simple attack like that. He was about to go after him when Boku stopped him. Boku asked who it was, saying that he didn't recognize it. Piccolo was shocked to hear that, as it was one of the two androids that he told would come to kill them.

"NO! That's not one of them, neither was that clown thing! What is happening here?!" Boku asked. What prompted Piccolo to explain everything that happened so far, of which wasn't much. Boku didn't know what to do from now on. How come Goku is only suffering from his heart failure now if he was supposed to die from it two years ago?

Looking for answers, Boku picks up a notebook that he had hidden in his coat; luckily it was saved from Gero's attack. He skimmed over the last hundred pages, trying to find whatever could've caused this time anomaly. Yamcha immediately picked up on that book, as he recognized it to be his own diary that he has been writing on for the past twenty years; it even has the same wolf sticker on it and signature. Yamcha questioned how he found it; to which Boku simply looks over to Bulma and sees his baby self in her arms. The did was already done so no point in holding back information; he simply pointed to his baby self and said, "It's simple. I'm him, from the future. Mom, Dad, nice to meet you."

He simply said that as he turned his attention back to his book. The pieces were finally fitting together in Yamcha's mind as he realized the truth. Bulma revealed that she kind of figured it out a while ago, which shocked Yamcha. Boku inherited his fathers diary; it was given to him by his "master" Puar. That revelation made Yamcha's jaw drop to the floor. Apparently, all he knows from his parents, the Z-warriors, their adventures comes from that diary. However, the written pages end on this exact day, as it is the day Yamcha died. Boku looked back, and finally caught the anomaly. It hit him; in the last page it explained the sudden arrival of the androids in the city… but how did Yamcha write that if he was to die in that fight? He didn't think this all through, and now Goku's situation seemed clear, all due to his altering of the timeline.

…

He read that in the battle against Cold, his dad and the others went to fight him together, but were surprised by Goku's sudden arrival with a new technique. He turns Super Saiyan and Cold manages to pick up his Scouter and realize that Goku would kill him. So Cold originally runs away into space where they couldn't reach him, and buys enough time for him to transform into his final form to fight against Goku. After a brutal fight, Goku only wins by using a combination of Super Saiyan and Kaioken 20x to win the battle. The result left him at death's door and accelerated his heart problems, which made him die in one year.

When Boku read that, he planned to destroy Cold's scouter to remove that advantage, and that was what happened; that made him blissfully unaware of how powerful Goku was as a Super Saiyan, and that led to his demise without much sacrifice. And so, Goku's health was spared for a while longer. That was a complete and utter oversight on Boku's plan. Goku might still be safe, but there's still a mystery about these androids.

Last time he described the two androids very poorly because he didn't think there were more; it's not like he has a picture of them or anything. If that android is the one who crafted the other androids, then he must be on his way to activate the androids that Boku knows. The Z-warriors had to move; they needed to get to his lab somehow, of which Boku has no knowledge of. But surprisingly, Bulma takes a hint. She recognized that android as being Dr. Gero, and even knew the location of his lab; as all scientists know the locations of each other's secret labs, so she tells them all about it.

They all blast off and leave Bulma behind, telling her to return to Capsule Corp. It was gonna get dangerous from here. This time she decided to listen, as one near-death experience was good enough for today, she won't need another one. And besides, she was glad that her baby boy was gonna grow up to be such a good looking gentleman.

…

On their way there, Gohan questions why Boku returned. Apparently even after all he did and saving Goku's life didn't do any good. The future refuses to change, so he came back again to try and solve this crisis. Yamcha tried approaching him for a father and son talk, but Boku just didn't care. As far as he knows, his father is just someone who writes weird stuff in his diary. The boy was overly serious, and even thought his father to be rather childish. Well, at least someone has to keep being positive, and that's Yamcha's job.

Gohan wanted to go and check on his dad. Piccolo thought they had a good grasp on the situation, but if it all failed and Gohan was still with them, he would die too. So he tells him to go at once and only come back with Goku alive. Once again they split; with the last three capable fighters and Boku going after Gero in his lab.

…

As the huge doors closed behind him, Gero looked at the two sealed pods ahead of him; androids 17 and 18. His greatest achievement and failure. Thanks to all the genetic advancements, cybernetic implants and the implementation of the Ultra Reactor on their chests, he managed to create two androids who completely overpowered him, and even all those creatures he recorded back on planet Namek. But these androids had to be made off of human test subjects, and all methods of brainwashing them into doing his bidding had failed. But now they were his only choice. The security sensors show the Z-warriors arriving in his front door, and Piccolo was about to blast it open. With a click of a button, he activates them.

The door flies off with the three fighters and Boku right behind. They arrive just in time to see the two awaken in front of Gero. Androids 17 was a guy with black hair, and android 18 was a girl with blond hair; both looked identical to each other like twins. They looked like ordinary teenagers, with no ki signatures to feel from them. Meanwhile, Boku was at the back having a nervous breakdown. Those were the ones, but… they were so young. The ones he knows flashed in his eyes. They were the same ones; the only difference is that 17 doesn't have gray hairs and a mustache, and android 18 still didn't lose most of her hair. They didn't seem aggressive yet; they were checking their own bodies and realizing that they grew older while sealed on their pods.

The situation turned to a stand off, with Dr. Gero in the middle. He was trying to order his new androids with threats, since he held a controller that can kill them at any time. They didn't care though, and just wandered around until 18 saw another pod that held "android 16" inside. If he wants them to fight these guys, then it's best to get as much help as they can get. Gero prohibits her, since 16 was left unfinished. With that in mind, 17 quickly snatched the control out of his hand, along with… his hand. The other Z-warriors barely saw how fast he moved.

Gero was now completely powerless, and it was payback time. At his miserable end as an old man who wanted nothing but revenge for the rest of his life, he died at the hands of his own creation. 17 chopped off his head with a kick, and let his head roll over the floor. And finally, crushed his head under his feet. Still calm, 17 asks if they should begin.

Piccolo then immediately unleashed a full power blast that wiped out the mountain they were on. Of course, the androids were completely fine after that, and even managed to protect 16's pod where he lies dormant. With a few presses of random buttons, they now face three androids. 16 was way taller than the other two, and wore some weird green armor. His programming was so bare bone that he didn't even have a basic task directive; he didn't know his purpose. For now, standing there and watching their fight play out was good enough. The Z-warriors were looking for a fight, and 18 was ready to give them one. And so Piccolo goes up to fight her.

It was a quick and brutal fight, with no casualties even. Piccolo thought to be having a balanced fight, but 18 then revealed how powerful she truly was. Quick and easy, she disposes of Piccolo by breaking his arm. He screamed in pain, and that set Tien and Yamcha to jump in and help against Boku's orders, but their attempt was thwarted by 17. To make a long story short, these androids completely overwhelmed them. They didn't even have time to plan or use any strategy; they were down immediately as if the earlier encounters were just to soften them up for this. But to Boku's surprise, they simply left them there. They were on the floor, unable to fight back, and they simply ditched them.

Boku was watching the whole fight unfold, and he couldn't even understand what was going on. These androids were even more powerful than the ones he had in the future. And to add even more craziness, they left him alone. 17 even tells Boku to get the others to a hospital or something. He and 18 discussed what to do now. 17 wanted to go out and explore the world a little bit; they have been locked up in a casket since they were 10, and now they are young adults. 18 did mention that she wanted to kill Goku. It sounded like a great idea, and so 17 proposes a little adventure; a long trip to see what adult life is like, and then they can kill Goku. 16 was raring to go; as exploring this world sounded great to him. Together they simply walk down the highway, leaving the Z-warriors with a few broken bones. With no Senzu Beans at their disposal, Boku popped a capsule with a flier, and took everyone inside.

…

…

It took Tien, Yamcha and Piccolo a good hour for them to wake up, and so Boku told them what the hell happened. They were just as surprised about the androids. Boku blamed himself; he knew too little about such an important mission, and that almost cost everything to fall apart a second time.

There was someone in there who was completely enraged by the situation, and it was Piccolo. He couldn't believe what was about to unfold. They don't have Goku anymore, and now newer and stronger enemies just showed up. Piccolo's failure meant the death of them all. He needed to get stronger and defeat them, but how?

Tien knew how. There was a way for Piccolo to get stronger fast, and that was by fusing with another Namekian. Piccolo scoffed at him for daring to suggest that Dende give up his life for this, but Tien didn't mean Dende. There was still another Namekian on Earth; Piccolo should know him. It was his own father after all.

That suggestion got Piccolo even madder. He ripped off his broken arm clean off and regrew another one, and with it he held Tien up by his neck and screamed at his face. "Do you think I will resort to fusing with a miserable failure that is my father just to save your worthless lives?! Do you think I care?!"

Piccolo then blew a hole through the flier's wall, saying that once he's done killing those brats, the puny humans would be next and he would rule this world like he should've done so many years ago. And so he blasted off to his own plans. Boku had no idea what the hell was going on. Did Piccolo just become their enemy again? Tien doesn't think so, he's more angry by the fact he has been pushed into a corner. If he's really gonna do that, then it's because he truly cares for this planet now, and Yamcha agreed. But convincing King Piccolo to work with him will be a little too hard. By any means they shouldn't hope that Piccolo will solve everything; they need to head back to Goku's house and hide him away; maybe take him to kame house. It was a weak plan, but it's all they can do for now. Tien decided to take a little nap, because the pain is gonna knock him out either way.

Boku had too many questions in his head, and Yamcha proposed to have him fully open up to him. To tell his full story with nothing to keep secret. He knew this kid had a lot of trauma, and it's best to talk to him now. He was his son, after all.

…

For Boku, it was hard to begin his tale; because no matter at what point he starts, it will probably start with someone's death.