May 12th, Age 767
Goka, Piccolo and the two Gohans soared through the sky, ready to face the androids. As they did, the saiyan woman told the younger version of her son,
"Gohan-Chan! We have plenty of time to get there without going full blast! You're gonna tire yourself out before we even get there!"
As Present Gohan acknowledged this and slowed down, Piccolo flew beside Goka and asked her,
"So, what do you think? Can we win this?"
Goka smiled and replied,
"How should I know? I haven't seen 'em yet. I'll let you know when we fight them!"
Future Gohan heard these words and grimly responded to them by telling Goka,
"Oka-San, this isn't a game. The androids are stronger than anything we've faced before by leaps and bounds. We can't go in with our heads in the clouds."
Acknowledging this, the saiyan woman replied,
"I know. But don't worry; it'll be fine. We have super saiyans this time, remember? And your a lot stronger than you were before."
"I'll take your word for it…"
Present Gohan then noticed Krillin and happily called out to him, Krillin greeting him in turn. However, Goka noticed that Krillin wasn't exactly looking the most confident. When she asked him about this, the bald monk replied,
"How can I be happy when we're about to go head to head with a gang of androids? We're not all as strong as you guys, you know…"
Before Goka could respond to this, the 5 of them arrived above the island 9 miles west of South City. Noting the size of the island and how it contained a city full of people, Present Gohan suggested that they lure the androids somewhere else so that no one got hurt. Goka and Future Gohan acknowledged that this was a good plan before they all flew down to a mountain plateau below.
Once they landed, they were greeted with the sights of Yamcha, Tien and Bulma. After the two Z-fighters greeted the others, A confused and annoyed Future Gohan yelled at Bulma,
"You idiot! What are you doing here?!"
THe blue haired scientist replied,
"To watch of course! I didn't get to see Frieza or any of his goons, and i'd like to see just what my potential doom looks like. I bet you know how I feel, Goka! You never got to see Frieza either!"
Goka wanted to protest, but sighed and admitted,
"Dangit, I guess you're right. I'm still miffed that I didn't get to fight Frieza. But you're not a fighter like we are. It's still too dangerous."
"Don't worry. I'll just get a view of the androids and then I'll go home."
Before anything else could be said, Piccolo remarked,
"Enough. We don't have time for gossiping. Where's Vegeta?"
Bulma replied to this question by telling the namekian about how Vegeta had been off planet for the past 3 years, but also how she was sure that he would show up due to how hard he had been training for the battle. Goka echoed this sentiment, looking at the sky and saying,
"He'll be back…I know he will…"
Future Gohan didn't like the fondness in Goka's voice as she said that, but chose to ignore it. He then turned his attention to Tien. The 3 eyed warrior remarked,
"So, you're the older version of Gohan. I have to admit that it's strange seeing you like this."
Future Gohan smiled in response to these words and replied,
"I get it. But it's good to see you again, Tenshinhan. Where's Chiaozu, by the way?"
"I left him behind. We both trained, but he probably wouldn't have been able to keep up in this battle."
"I see. That's probably for the best…"
As his future self and Tien were talking, Present Gohan then asked Bulma what the time was. When she replied with 9:30, the Z-fighters all began the waiting game. About half an hour later, everyone noticed a little hovercar flying in. Once it landed on the plateau they were on, Yajirobe leaped out of it.
Goka was excited that the chubby samurai looked like he was going to help, but he simply threw her a bag of senzu and hopped back into the car. The saiyan woman was surprised by this, but Yajirobe told her,
"Look lady, you guys can do whatever you want but I don't plan on dying again. I happen to like living if you didn't know."
The chubby samurai then flew away in his hovercar, and as he did Tien looked down at the city and remarked,
'There's something wrong…it's past 10 already, but there's no sign of the enemy at all…"
Future Gohan told him in response,
"That's because the androids don't have energy to sense. I say we search the city until-"
Before the future warrior could finish his sentence, Yajirobe's hovercar suddenly erupted in an explosion. Everyone looked up in horror at this, and as they saw the hovercar descend down to the ground, Piccolo turned their attentions to two far away figures in the air descending down to the city below. Despite the fact that they didn't have a good look at them, Future Gohan immediately knew who they were.
Going into a blind rage, the future warrior yelled,
"IT'S THE ANDROIDS!!!"
He then flew off after the figures as fast as he could in his base form, with Goka following after him in concern. Before anyone else could do the same, PIccolo yelled at the others,
"Don't be rash! If we can't sense them, we'll have to find them by sight! Everyone split up and flare your ki if you see them!"
He then looked to Gohan and told him,
"Go get Yajirobe! I can still sense his ki!"
Gohan nodded, and Piccolo then told everyone to move out. They then all flew off in opposite directions.
Not long later, Future Gohan landed on top of a building, looking around in almost a frenzy. He briefly wondered why there hadn't been any destruction yet. He could remember with almost perfect clarity the day the androids attacked. The death, the destruction, the screams…
As the future warrior was lost in thought, he barely noticed Goka floating up beside him and touching down right next to him. The saiyan woman put a hand on her son's shoulder and told him,
"Stay focused. From what you told us, we can't just rush into battle hoping for the best. Now what do these things even look like?"
Future Gohan was snapped back into focus by his mother's words and replied,
"Oh! right….I guess I forgot to tell you all just what the androids looked like. They're a pair of twins, a male and a female. The male has black hair and wears an orange ascot, and the female has blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. If she weren't pure evil, I'd almost say she was attractive."
Goka nodded at this information and then began looking around. For a good few minutes they didn't find anything, until they suddenly felt Yamcha's energy begin to go down. Immediately reacting to this, all of the heroes flew towards where they could sense the bandit's ki falling. Once Goka, Future Gohan, Tien and PIccolo landed at the area, they saw Yamcha being held up by a strange old man.
Not only that, but the old man's other hand was shoved through Yamcha's chest. GOka cried out for the bandit, causing the old man to drop him to the ground. The heroes could now get a good look at the old man. He had a white mustache and long white hair, and was wearing a baggy orange outfit with a black vest. Beside him was what looked like a rotund white mime wearing a black outfit with a beige vest.
They were both also wearing different hats, but both hats had the symbol of the red ribbon army on them. This shocked the heroes present, but Goka and Gohan were especially shocked. Goka turned to Future Gohan and said to him in confusion,
"These don't look like…"
However, Future Gohan didn't let her finish before yelling at the two strangers,
"YOU'RE NOT 17 AND 18!!! WHO ARE YOU?!"
The old man was taken aback by Future Gohan's statement and said to him,
"I could ask the same of you. And how do you know of numbers 17 and 18?"
Future Gohan didn't respond, and the old man simply said,
"I suppose it doesn't matter."
He then turned his attention to Goka and said to her,
"I see that your friends did manage to retrieve you from Vegeta. Good. it would have been disappointing if I had been unable to kill you myself."
Sweating, Goka then turned to Krillin and told him to get Yamcha back to the mountain range, as she had left the senzu there. Krillin did so, and Piccolo then said to the two villainous strangers,
"So, we can assume that your androids?"
The old man replied,
"Indeed. But how do you know that we are mechanical? And how did you know where we'd be?"
"Sorry, but you'll have to beat the answers out of us…"
"That can be arranged…"
Before anything else could be said, Future Gohan then butted into the conversation, asking the old man,
"I'd love nothing more than to beat the tar out of one of you androids. But before we start, answer my question from before: Who are you? And where are Androids 17 and 18?"
The old man stared at Future Gohan for a moment before replying,
"Very well. I suppose I can tell you since you won't live to tell anyone else. I am Android 20 and my companion is Android 19. As for 17 and 18, those defective models are still in the lab. I don't know how you know of them, but you won't live to see them."
Future Gohan couldn't help but smirk at this information. He hadn't anticipated the timeline seemingly changing like this, but if 17 and 18 were still dormant, then once these androids were stopped they could find Gero's lab and destroy them before they could awake. As her future son was thinking this, Goka then looked to Piccolo and told him,
"There's way too many people here! We've got to lead those two out of the city!"
20 overheard this and replied,
"You're right. There are too many people here. They could get in our way. But we won't be moving."
Android 20's eyes then suddenly began glowing red before energy beams shot out of them, causing a massive explosion from behind the heroes. The android then moved his head from side to side, causing the eye beams to hit countless buildings and cause massive explosions that engulfed half the city.
The heroes all looked on in horror, but Goka eventually couldn't take it anymore and yelled,
"STOP IT!!!"
She then launched forward and landed a punch on 20's face, knocking off his hat and exposing the casing containing his brain. After taking a few seconds to glare at her ominously, the android then knelt down and picked the hat up. As he placed it back on his head he remarked,
"You said you wanted a deserted area. I was only acting in accordance with your wishes."
Observing the burning inferno that was once the city around them, Goka then angrily shouted at the two androids,
"FOLLOW US!!! WE'LL TEAR YOU TO PIECES!!!"
19 smirked at this and retorted that they couldn't defeat them, but Gero obliged the saiyan woman's request, calling her by name. Piccolo and Tien were confused how they knew Goka's name, but Future Gohan knew. He then turned his attention to the people in the area still alive and told Piccolo and Tenshinhan,
"There's no time for questions. Let's go."
The future warrior then flew off, followed by Goka, the androids, and finally Piccolo and Tien. All that was left in their wake was burning rubble, which if the androids weren't stopped, would only be a faint omen of what would be to come…
Author's note: Hey everyone! It's good to be here! Now, I just wanted to make up for the fact that I forgot to mention the comments in the last chapter. For the one relevant comment I can answer, here is my response:
DBZ reviewer: I don't want to spoil too much, but you could say that.
Also, you'll notice that this chapter is longer than usual. I made it like that because I wanted to include more story. If anyone's reading, see you all next time!