Chapter 22: Exploding Secrets

The explosions were short, but there had been so many at once that it caused chaos all around. Chi-Chi lost her footing at the start of the explosions, and the quakes were so strong that it was useless to get back up because she'd just end up back on the ground.

Overall it was a great decision considering all the debris that had been thrown all around her. There was so much smoke around, Chi-Chi couldn't even make out anything two feet away from her.

Her body was aching for some reason and her ears were ringing, so she couldn't even rely on her hearing to figure out what had transpired after the explosions.

Unexpectedly, a violent cough erupted from her, as her body shuddered from the sudden jerky movements. Holding her hand to her mouth, she stood up feeling some of the stuff slide off her back.

Part of the already unstable stadium must have hit her when she fell to the ground. No wonder her body was so sore.

"...Ee… Ch–" she faintly made out as the ringing in her ear lessened. Was someone trying to call her?

Why couldn't she hear again?

The explosions. Right. Someone attacked them, but who?

With the smoke thinning out, she could begin to make things out. Was someone still yelling out for her? Or were there multiple people yelling out at once?

Why was she so confused? Turning around reality brought her back down to earth in a nanosecond. Behind her was the stadium in complete rubble. Nothing left, but piles of broken cement.

Though the picture was shocking in its own right, something even beyond that shocked her to her core. She couldn't make out anything clear because of the now thin layer of smoke, but she could faintly see a blotch of red somewhere in a random pile of rubble.

With the smoke giving everything a grayish tint and the rubble mostly being the cement from the stadium, and random rocks, the sharp contrast of the dark red wasn't hard to miss.

"Chi-Chi!"

And suddenly Goku was in front of her, grabbing her by the shoulders, so she was facing him. Her eyes, still wide in dark realization. Goku noticed her state of shock, and frantically looked for some kind of injury on her body.

"There's… there's blood." Her mouth moved.

For a second, Goku looked alarmed and checked her over once again, but quickly caught sight of the scene behind her. He closed his eyes feeling an array of emotions going from frustration to sadness to anger.

When he opened them back up though he held a heavy look similar to a leader choosing to ignore the body count in favor of dealing with the now.

"Chi-Chi… knock out of it." His voice hardened with emotion, "It's gotten worse and I can't have you out of it so early in the fight."

The mix of anger and desperation coming from him was the cold splash of water she needed. That's right they had been attacked. A series of blasts had hit every part of the stadium and anything around it.

"D-Don't tell me Dr. Gero and 19 did this on their own?" She asked, her throat still feeling a little horsed. "We underestimated those two…"

Goku shook his head, "It wasn't those two. He came with—these things." He explained as if he wasn't sure himself. "I don't know what they—he called them his robots or something, but-" He paused, taking a sharp turn to the right.

Chi-Chi knitted her brows at his sudden silence. "Goku-" His arm came out to signal her to be silent.

There was a sinister giggle that broke out. It almost sounded similar to a child, but it held an evil undertone to it. Goku had not made any movement, but every part of his body was tense and focused.

In turn, Chi-Chi stood with her hands up, ready for anything. There was just a hushed silence though and the distant sound of people fighting further away. She almost thought the giggle she heard from earlier was just made up in her mind.

"There!" Goku's voice rang out.

She was pushed out of the way, before some kind of small creatures collided against Goku's two arms being held up in defense.

Chi-Chi fell to the ground with a 'thud' but was more focused on what exactly Goku was fighting. If she had to describe it to someone, she wasn't even sure how'd she go about telling what this little blue creature was.

Goku had mentioned it being a robot, but from the looks of it, it was closer to some kind of humanoid bug. Though she had to admit there were some details that looked… robotic.

The thing let out another giggle, and with speed, Chi-Chi didn't think possible, it switched mid-air from attacking Goku's blocking arms, to kicking the side of his head.

Her hands flew to her mouth as Goku flew back. The creature's height had only reached up to Goku's legs, so how was it possible someone of that size sending someone like Goku flying?

She had seen the way Goku ate and trained. His muscles were not just for show. It should have impossible, right? Just how much strength did these strange robotic things hold?

Suddenly the cold, pink gaze set its sights on her. She froze on the spot. Funny, pink was usually the color of girly, cute stuff—this monster's menacing gaze was anything, but.

Still, this thing had attacked her unofficial boyfriend and partner. Not something that was going to fly with her. "Why you little-!" She shot off aiming a series of kicks at it.

The little creature had not expected her to retaliate so fast, and therefore had trouble avoiding her kicks, almost falling back, as he dodged all of them.

While he was distracted by her kicks, she pulled back the last second, bring her fist down instead. What she didn't expect, was the little thing to grab her arm, pulling her like a rag doll. It swung her around, before releasing her into the air.

"Ah!" She yelled as she was suddenly airborne.

She was stopped by a familiar warm chest. "Don't be fooled by their looks. They're a lot tougher than they look." His breath hit her neck, making her shiver, as she remembered their kiss from before.

She needed to get her head out of the gutter. Even if Goku's lips were surprisingly a lot softer than she had expected, and—wait a minute-

"They?" She asked. "As in, there's more than one of these things running around?" She asked turning to him.

He nodded, looking down at her. "Almost everyone else is caught up fighting them right now. I left the fight to find you, and make sure you were alright. One of those things must have followed me here."

Her eyes widen as everything was starting to piece together in her mind. "They were the ones responsible for the sudden explosions?" She asked though she already knew the answer even as Goku nodded at her.

They did seem to come from every angle of the stadium. She supposed it was hard for just 1 or even 2 people to accomplish that. "That's why that coward wasn't afraid to show himself." She said out loud. "He had a back-up."

"Looks like it got tired of waiting," Goku commented.

From below, the robotic creature was staring up at them with a sinister smirk.

"You ready?" He asked.

Chi-Chi nodded, and he released her, letting her float up by herself. She was still a little shaky at flying and stuff, but her training with Raditz had really improved her techniques. She stood up in the air with only minor movement to balance herself. Goku kept a sharp eye out for her, ready to catch her, like all those other times he did during their training.

The creature floated itself up, meeting them in the air. He stood still for a second, the smirk never leaving his face, as the other two tensed up. There was a small heartbeat of silence, before it shot off, heading towards Chi-Chi who was the weakest in the air.

It was what the two superheroes had predicted. Chi-Chi held her arms up on time to block, and moved her head to the side, sending a signal to Goku.

With a shout, she moved her arms, sending the creature back a few feet, before, her elbow crashed on top of its head sending it to crash onto the ground. Her feet landed back on the ground herself, and she was prepared for it fly towards her with a screech.

She stood still, and just as it was inches away from her, it was captured by Goku's arms, holding it in a lock.

"You didn't have to stand still," Goku said with a frown, as the robot struggled in his arms. He just tightened his hold. "If I was a second too late, it would have hit you."

She rolled her eyes, before straightening her arm. In one swift movement, she shoved her hand in the middle of the robot's chest. Her hand instantly felt a familiar chip, and she pulled it out dropping it to the ground. Goku released it as it self-destructed leaving behind only dust in its wake.

"I trusted you to get there on time," she said with a smile.

He only pouted more. "But, Chi-Chi..."

She sent him a reassuring smile. "You're the one that said he'd protect me, right?"

"Of course," he instantly answered.

"Then I have nothing to worry about." She shot off into the air, knowing he would be able to easily catch up to her.

"Stay close, Chi-Chi. Something tells me this isn't the only thing we have to worry about today," he said, looking straight ahead with a frown.

"Took you two long enough," Vegeta greeted, as Goku and Chi-Chi landed next to him. The other fighters not far from them, busy in their own battles against the small robots. "Were you guys fooling around while the rest of us were out here fighting?"

Her cheeks flushed, as she tried to look offended. "We—I—we were fighting, you idiot!" She shouted.

"Yeah, we already made-out before the fighting even started," Goku said as a matter of fact, with his arms crossed.

Chi-Chi covered her face with her hands. This had to be some kind of twisted dream. And in front of Vegeta of all people. Why didn't he let his brother know while he was at it?

She smacked the back of his head. "Don't tell people, idiot!"

"Ow!" He complained, rubbing his now injured head. She rolled her eyes, she had barely hit him. "We did though…." He muttered.

Her cold gaze made him freeze on the spot. "That's it, I'm fighting the rest of these things on my own. You better not follow me."

Goku's eyes widen. "You're kidding." He scoffed.

Meanwhile, Vegeta had been watching this amusing spectacle without saying anything. Seeing the buffoon get scolded was almost as rich as… no—there wasn't anything more entertaining than this.

"I'm not." She replied, with her arms crossed. "You can go join your brother or someone in this battle. Vegeta's with me from now on," she told him before turning to Vegeta. "C'mon Vegeta, let's get going before that coward Dr. Gero slips away in this chaos."

Goku's eyes narrowed as she grabbed Vegeta's arm. "But Chi-Chi—" He tried, only to receive another cold glare.

Before they could continue through something crashed into the ground, sending dust around the air. Goku covered his mouth being forced to cough, as he heard Vegeta and Chi-Chi doing the same.

There was something with them and it was heading towards Vegeta and Chi-Chi at amazing speed! "Vegeta!" He shouted in warning, still unable to see thanks to the dust, barely clearing out.

"What the fuck!" Vegeta cursed, except his voice was muffled. "Argh!"

Goku watched as Vegeta suddenly flew through the dust cloud, crashing into some random spot behind him. Then a much more feminine shriek and Goku flew toward the noise before he had time to think about it.

"Chi-Chi!" He called out. She was floating next to him looking at someone, but other than that she was fine. She must have yelled when Vegeta was hit.

"Goku," she responded, looking at him with worry. She caught herself though blinking the look away into a more hardened one.

In front of them was the white android. He stood, looking at them, the corner of his lips quirked upwards as if he was pleased to have hit one of their own.

"What are you doing here?" Chi-Chi questioned, her voice dripping with hostility. "Shouldn't you be babysitting your coward of a master?"

The android merely smiled. "My orders are to keep you three preoccupied while Dr. Gero's robots take care of the rest."

Before Chi-Chi could respond though a war cry pierced the sky, and a blur passed in between Goku and her, before the android was pushed back by an enraged Saiyan. Apparently, Vegeta did not like being caught off guard.

Though Vegeta had managed to push the Android further away, 19 was able to dig his feet in the ground, meeting Vegeta in a deadlock. "You damn robots won't stop being a damn pain in my side," he said through clenched teeth.

Goku sent a nod at her, but before they could jump into action to help Vegeta someone cleared their throat.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Chi-Chi stopped knowing all too well by now whose cowardly voice that belonged to. She whirled around, ready to unleash hell, but froze in her tracks once more.

"Uh, he-hehe… hi guys…"

That evil man, Dr. Gero only sent them a knowing grimace, as he brought their blue-haired friend to the center. He held her by the back of her shirt, and she had her hands up, showing just how much she was shaking.

Shit.

Krillin didn't want to think about it, but if Bulma had left the group at the very last second, then she might have very well been caught up in the last explosion he heard. If she had left the group a lot earlier, she might've had a chance of making it passed the explosions.

If that was the case though then his senses were dulling out a hell of a lot more than he thought. Especially considering how much training he had put in for this tournament. Or had he just been so caught up with trying to get out of there, he just didn't pay attention to when his friend slipped out of his grasp?

Maybe he was a coward.

The further he got into the stadium, the more the cloud of smoke thickened. He had to hold an arm to his mouth just to try and filter some of it out. His eyes watered a bit forcing him to close at least one eye.

Further ahead something began to come into focus. He could make out some kind of blob behind the blanket of smoke. He tried waving to get their attention. "Hey, guys!" He shouted as loud as he could. There was some movement behind the curtain of smoke.

It was coming towards him. Whoever it was, must have been flying towards him. Hopefully, it was Goku or Vegeta, so he could explain the situation to them and get some real help.

Actually—scratch that—hopefully, it wasn't Vegeta.

And wait—that person was flying awfully fast. Faster than either Vegeta or Goku ever flew. And they were getting kind of close with no indication of slowing down….

Shit!

A body collided with his, sending him back some. He crashed onto the floor with someone landing on top of him. He automatically rubbed his head, his running case of bad luck just making it so he landed on his head first.

"What's the big idea-" He was interrupted by a female sounding groan that caught his ears. Followed by the blonde tresses that sprawled across his face.

"Ow."

"18?" He tried.

There was a pause before she swiftly stood up. A bewildered looked overcame her face. "It's you," she stated. She dusted herself off, looking off at a random direction with a glare.

The whole situation instantly made Krillin suspicious, and not just because of the more obvious reason that there was something wrong.

Clearly, 18 had been fighting someone. Her clothes were a mess. Her leggings had tears where the knees were and her whole outfit was dirty and tousled.

Not to mention, he, along with everyone else in the audience, had heard someone that called themselves as Dr. Gero cause all this chaos.

He had to wonder if 18 and her siblings made their switch back to evilness and teamed up with the father they had been trying to run away from this whole time.

Or had everything he'd been told been some kind of twisted lie to get him to lower his guard and help secure his friends here without any suspicion of anything. Wouldn't that just be the cherry on top?

"You…" He started, but stopped when 18's eyes widen.

"Watch out!" She warned bringing her hands up on time for an aimed kick her way. The sound was loud enough to hurt, but 18 stood her ground.

It wasn't enough though as another thing came from a random side, kicking her away. Krillin jumped, barely catching her body on time. The force was enough to send him crashing once more with him taking the brunt of the force again. Funnily enough, he was starting to get used to it.

"Are you-?!" He tried, before she suddenly grabbed him, rolling both of them away as two legs belonging to two different robots came down on them.

They had rolled a couple of feet away before they came to a stop, with 18 being on top. Krillin had instinctively grabbed onto her waist to keep them from separating.

"Huh!" 18 gasped as she lifted her head from his chest in realization. The ends of her hair tickling his face. She stared into his eyes genuinely stunned at the way they ended up.

Krillin was kind of thrown off guard at the amount of feeling in her face. He had always seen her as if she was in control of all her facial movements, everything being calculated in her head, before she showed it in her face, so seeing her caught so shock sent him in for a loop.

Then reality came crashing in, and Krillin raised his hands, realizing he still had them on her for more than a second too long. "S-Sorry!" His cheeks red for some reason despite being somewhat used to the female body by now.

She blinked, before the usual harsh look returned to her face. She easily stood up, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Don't worry about it," she replied now shifting her attention to the two robots looking at her with a sinister smile.

Krillin got up himself recognizing the danger now in front of him. "W-What are these things?" They sent a grin to him like they could sense his fear.

18 never took her eyes off them, alternating between the two. "They're Dr. Gero's robot servants," she practically spat out. "He called them Adams."

"Adams?" Krillin questioned with a lifted brow.

18 shrugged. "Can't expect someone that names his androids by numbers to come up with something unoriginal."

But why Adams? Like she said, Dr. Gero has never really gone out of his way to give some complex name for his inventions and creations, so why now? And why Adam?

"Heads up!" 18 shouted to him.

Krillin managed to look up on time from all his thinking just to get sucker punch on the cheek. Ah, damn those things packed a punch! He crashed on the ground, as the Adam robot hovered above him. His hand recoiled as his grin stretched, but he never got the chance.

18 took the opportunity to kick it from the side, getting revenge for earlier. She pushed back the hair that had fallen in front of her face. "If you're going to stick around—make yourself useful. Otherwise, just get lost."

Krillin knew his number one priority should be getting his friend, but he had already passed the destroyed stadium, and saw her nowhere near them. If she was around, she had not got caught up in the explosion meaning she was probably a lot more safer than he was.

Right now, he had to focus on getting rid of the robots in front of them. He just hoped Bulma really was safe, or he was dead either way.

Everybody was silent, except for 19 sending soft chuckles their way. Vegeta twitched, but didn't move other than that. His teeth grinding, so hard against each other that it looked like he might actually break them

Not that anybody could blame him. Bulma's usually vibrant face had taken an ashen color. Her bottom lip trembled, despite the small smile she forced on. She looked like she was ready to burst out crying at any given moment.

Chi-Chi felt her own frustrations at the situation. "Why are you doing this? Your goal was to get to the other androids, right? So why do this? There's nothing for you to gain!" She seethed.

Dr. Gero simply smiled. "Perhaps not," he said. "Or perhaps a person like you can never hope to fathom how someone such as myself thinks."

Her stomach tightened at the thought of him having something else up his sleeve. He had to have been bluffing. She figured out he was coming here. She prepared for it. She was the one one-step ahead of him, so why did he make it seem like she wasn't. He had to be lying.

They had him cornered. They didn't expect the robots, but even those things weren't enough to overcome them and turn the tides. He must have been bluffing because he was losing. Some last-ditch effort to save face.

Yeah, that had to be it.

Goku gave her a look of concern, but she ignored it for now, trying not to show any weakness in front of an enemy.

"If that was true you wouldn't go through such cowardly methods like this instead of just facing us straight on!" She challenged. A smirk present, but nervous sweat had dripped down the side of her forehead.

"Believe what you want." His face gave no indication of how he really felt. Instead, he pushed Bulma out more. "But if any of you make any kind of movement than the girl is done for."

The group grew tenser as everybody wanted to do something, but knew they couldn't without risking Bulma's life. What broke the silence was what they least expected.

"I-I'm sorry."

It was a small voice. Especially amongst all the violence that has happened today.

Chi-Chi couldn't help, but feel like a terrible person. She had lied to her friend in an effort to try and protect her, only for it to come back and bite her anyways.

She nodded her head. "Bulma, it's not your fault I—"

"It is," she interrupted with a frown. "I… I was angry you lied to me, so I left Krillin and the others. I w-wanted to confront you, and ask why you lied to me." She looked up at Chi-Chi, and she flinched back at the accusing eyes.

"Bulma, let's discuss this later—right now is-"

"A-And I-I just want to know why you did it?" Bulma asked looking from her to Dr. Gero.

Chi-Chi was puzzled by her weird behavior. Did she not understand she was being held hostage? By now, she was probably used to it, but it was still no time to discuss this kind of thing right now.

"Bulma, we-"

Dr. Gero held his hand up. "Lady Anonymous," he grinned showing his yellow, squared teeth.

She glared.

"Now I expect a hero such as yourself to know better. Allow your friend to get her feelings out. After all, life is such a fragile thing—we never know if it might be our last…." He patted her hair for emphasis.

Luckily, Goku was faster than Vegeta and was able to hold him back from lunging at the evil scientist. "Cool it, Vegeta," Goku commanded, as he struggled to break free. "He's just trying to get under your skin."

Vegeta broke free from Goku's hold, but made no move towards Dr. Gero, instead choosing to glare at him. "This is the last time I'll ask, Gero. Release her, or I swear I'll—"

"Stop!" Bulma urged. "I'm fine, so just stop." She quickly turned to Chi-Chi, before he could respond. "Chi-Chi, please, I just want to know why you didn't tell me the truth."

Chi-Chi felt like everybody's eyes went on her. She unconsciously took a step back. Was this really what mattered right now?! Yes, she had lied to her closest friend, but this was no place to discuss this kind of thing right now! Right? So why did it feel like she was the only one seeing a problem here?

"Please," she pleaded once more.

Everyone's eyes were still on her. "I…" she hesitated. "I didn't tell anyone. Not even my dad," she gave in, turning away slightly. "Goku and Vegeta found out on their own. I didn't mean to hurt you Bulma."

"No!" Bulma shouted shaking her head. "You did this for your own selfish reasons!"

Chi-Chi felt like she slapped her in the face. She knew Bulma was probably taking this news the worst out of everyone, but never in a million years did she think she'd act like this. Did she really do something so bad?

Nevertheless, everybody's attention was still on her, even though they wore similar speechless expressions. Dr. Gero was viewing all this like it was some sort of amusement for him. So much for not looking weak in front of an enemy. Why was he still entertaining this in the first place?

"Bulma," Goku addressed, coming to his partner's defense. "She only meant to protect you. If people found out you knew Lady Anonymous, they'd—"

"What? Take me hostage?" Bulma asked, pointing out the clear irony in the situation. "Don't try to defend her actions, Goku!" She turned back to Chi-Chi. "Answer me, Chi-Chi! Why did you really keep this a secret? Did you get some kind of thrill out of it?"

"No!" She immediately responded. "I just—"

"I talked about Lady Anonymous so many times. Did you have a good laugh over it?" She challenged. "Every time you would randomly leave…. That switch at my party… You must have had a laugh with that one, didn't you? Slipping right under all of our noses."

Chi-Chi didn't know how to respond to everything Bulma threw at her. "...Bulma, I—"

"Save it." Bulma interrupted. "Nothing you say can fix this. I just want to know why you did it…."

Chi-Chi gulped. "...I…" How did she fix this? How did she make it better? Did it matter? Her friend was already being used as a hostage.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered, looking down.

There was a beat of silence.

"Now!" Bulma screamed as she pushed Dr. Gero away from her. She fell onto the floor, but she gave the opening Goku and Vegeta needed to move in.

Vegeta grabbed her, and Goku held two ki balls in his hand, aimed at both Dr. Gero and Android 19. He kept a trained eye on both of them.

Chi-Chi watched in amazement at the sudden change of events. "Wha…"

"You wretch! You tricked me!" Dr. Gero accused, his face completely livid.

Bulma smirked, still in Vegeta's arms. "You're the one that fell for it." She turned to Chi-Chi with a much more bright expression. "Well, I'm still mad at you, but not enough to take it out on you right now of all times. I'm not an idiot."

Chi-Chi blinked, still astonished by her friend. Then, she allowed for a smile. "An idiot—no, but actress?"

"Guilty as charged!" She cheerfully replied.

"Enough!" Dr. Gero demanded, swinging his arm. The small exchange, angering him further.

Chi-Chi couldn't help, but smirk at him. Her confidence from before, returning to her. "Face it, Dr. Gero. The androids didn't join you. Your robots are being defeated as we speak. Your bodyguard has lost a limb. You overestimated yourself. It's over."

Dr. Gero let out a low growl. Then though he did something that made Chi-Chi's stomach drop.

He smiled.

"As I said before, you cannot hope to follow my line of thinking. My back-ups might have fallen through but all is not lost yet."

Chi-Chi sneered. Did this crazy old man not realize he was backed into a corner? She took a step forward, balling her fists. "Stop spouting lies! You lost!"

Like a chill in the air, something felt wrong. Dr. Gero hadn't said anything, but his smirk had deepened. Then, ever so faintly, there was a distant sound of some robotic heavy feet hitting the ground. Even weirder, following the footsteps was something else heavy hit the ground every once in a while.

The sounds grew more noticeable the closer it came, but for the life of her, she couldn't tell what it was. The footsteps could have belonged to one of the Androids, but these were much heavier.

She looked behind her finally pinpointing where the sounds were coming from. The smoke was still too thick to make anything out besides a couple of feet away from her, but there was definitely a shadowy figure walking up to them. And it could have just been the smoke playing tricks on them, but the figure looked a lot taller than any of them were.

"This can't be!"

Her attention was back on Vegeta as he surprisingly spoke up. His face was eyebrows furrowed like he was confused, and if she wasn't mistaken it almost looked like he was also a little nervous.

Even Bulma picked up on her boyfriend's unusual behavior, furrowing her own brows in concern. "What is it Vegeta?"

Instead of answering her though he turned to Goku who—her eyes widened in disbelief. Turning to him, this was the first time she noticed how pale he was.

She had known Goku for some time now, and it had only been until recently that they got close, but never had she seen him look so… scared.

His fist was tightened. His teeth were so tightly clenched, she was actually worried he might break them, but most of all, he was shaking. Angry is what most people would have thought he was, but even with the frown he had on, there was an unmistakable slight wrinkle in it.

He was angry—yes—but he was also scared.

The thought was enough to send her own heart racing. She had seen him in a pool of his blood before, but never did she see a trace of fear on him.

"Goku…" she tried, unsure of what else to say.

"Kakarot… this… how is it possible," Vegeta finally said.

The steps were getting louder, and in between all the talking, she was sure she could even hear heavy breathing.

Just what was Vegeta talking about though? Why didn't he just spit it out?

"What?" Bulma asked again, acting just as impatient as Chi-Chi was feeling. "How is what possible?"

The footsteps were getting close now, but Vegeta continued to stay quiet, and Goku looked like he wasn't even with them anymore. Chi-Chi was getting more concerned and frustrated, and it looked like Vegeta knew something they didn't.

"Um, hello?" Bulma finally screamed in anger. Chi-Chi slightly happy she did, wanting to know what was happening just as bad. "Mind telling us what is going on?"

Vegeta scowled, slightly peeved she had practically yelled in his ear, but answered her anyway. "Its…" He gave one more look towards Goku. "..the ki signature. Whoever is coming this way… it feels like Kakarot and Raditz, but it's not."

It was heavy breathing she was hearing. The person was closing in on them quick.

"Huh?" Bulma replied.

Vegeta turned to Goku one more. "Kakarot… how is this possible?"

There was another trail of silence, but this time none of the friends bothered to break it. Only the mechanical footsteps approaching could be heard.

"My…. my parents."

Chi-Chi barely had time to process what he said, before a ki blast flew over all their heads and hit where the figure was coming from. The blast was strong and sent a gust of wind flying in every direction.

Bulma's screaming could be heard as she held onto Vegeta for security. Even Chi-Chi was having trouble staying on her feet, shielding her face with her arms to avoid the dust hitting her eyes.

"What… what was that?" She asked.

It wasn't till the sound of someone lowering themselves to the ground near them, that Chi-Chi turned to see who had thrown the blast. Her eyes widen.

The wildly long, black hair, was the first thing she noticed. After that, it wasn't hard to figure out just who had thrown that blast.

"Raditz!" Goku finally said. His eyebrows had lifted, showing a more familiar easy-going expression, but his stance was still tense.

Raditz was not looking at Goku though, but instead the direction of where he had thrown his blast. Without warning, he lifted his hand, and released several other blasts just as strong as the first one he threw.

The blast hit, each sending back a gust of wind, more powerful than the last. Bulma was screaming louder than last time, and even Goku and Vegeta were forced to bring their hands up to defend against the powerful wind.

Chi-Chi was digging into the ground, but she was being sent further back, the more powerful the wind grew. "What is he doing?!" She yelled over the noise. "If he keeps this up, he's going to blow this whole place up!"

The older Saiyan just continued though not even moving back an inch, his face completely hardened. The blast continued a little longer until he finally lowered his arm. The sweat dripping from his face was the only indication that the series of blasts had managed to tire him out.

The smoke had once again clouded the place. Both Bulma and Chi-Chi were coughing. There had been so many blasts, there was no way, whatever had been coming up to them was still alive.

"You…!" Dr. Gero angrily said from behind. "Why would you do that?!"

Raditz spared him a glance, his face scowling more than usual, before he turned to his brother. "That's who you felt that night, wasn't it? The night our parents were murdered?"

Chi-Chi stepped back like she might lose her balance at any moment. The accusation was like a blow to the stomach.

She turned to Bulma and Vegeta, and even both of them were speechless. Bulma placed a hand to her mouth, and Vegeta had his mouth open, his usual scowl barely present.

She turned to Goku, and felt her stomach twist. He didn't say anything, but the anguish in his face was enough of an answer.

"How could you do this!" Dr. Gero screamed once more. He was looking at Raditz, his face filled with rage, but the Saiyan wasn't fazed. "Cowards! You didn't even allow him the chance to fight! My life's work… gone! Luring everyone here…!"

Raditz finally turned to face the deranged Doctor. "So you're the one that created that… thing. The same thing that feasted on my parents and grandfather."

Chi-Chi flinched back, remembering the story Goku had told her about the mysterious way his parents had vanished and were assumed dead. He had gotten through the story without much detail, and she never asked for more, not wanting him to relive his hurt, but it looked like there was more to the story then them just simply vanishing.

Dr. Gero did a good job of hiding his fear of Raditz, but Chi-Chi knew he wasn't as confident as he was before.

Raditz stepped forward once more. "Clothes." He said in a hiss, but the emotion behind it was enough to sound like he had yelled. "That was all that we found the next day. Their clothes."

Dr. Gero had stayed annoyingly silent. He hadn't shut up before, and now when everyone wanted him to reply he chose to stay silent.

Raditz tightened his fist. "For my parents, I will—guak!"

The movement was lightning fast. Faster than anyone had time to prepare for.

Standing behind Raditz though was an unmistakable large creature. It was the tail that had gotten everyone's attention though because it had struck Raditz directly in his side.

Even Raditz looked like he hadn't fully processed what had happened to him. His eyes had only widened to the thing now in front of him.

"R...RADITZ!"

Sorry the updates have been coming in slower, but we're getting towards the end, so it's a lot tougher than I originally expected even with my outline. Do not worry though because when I'm not updating the story, I am working on other writing projects. I don't plan on uploading any other multi-chapter story until I finish this one, but I will try writing some one-shots. Those are a lot harder for me than multi-chapter stories though so it'll only be once in awhile, but be on the look out for those! I have one almost finished, so if my next chapter takes too long, I'll just upload that first.

Gokuu the Carrot: Hehe of course you are! Your review are always so interesting to read. I look forward to them. And yes, I wasn't planning to write in the kiss, but I was planning on having a romantic moment between them. I was surprised to look back and see how little romance I had in the story. Haha yes that would be hilarious! I'm laughing just thinking about how scared he'd be of her! Sounds like you have a story on your hands!

Goku is Daddy: First of all-love the name lol And I hear that a lot with F&F, so I definitely want to go back and try to finish it, since leaving it unfinished already leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but I feel like my writing has evolved a lot since then, so I would have to go back and start over again. I lost my original copy so I'd have to copy everything word for word, which is fine since I was planning to change a lot of it up, but that would take up a lot of my time. Since it was mainly finished though it sounds like an easier project to do. It's basically like a really bad rough draft of one of my stories. I do see a lot of people asking for this and it's still one of my most reviewed stories, so I will definitely be finding the time to do this, soon! Thanks for asking! The more I see that people are still looking into the story, the more it let's me know where my attention should be.

favfab: Aw, what a great review! Ugh I know it took awhile for me to update again, but rest assure, when I seen this review, it gave me a lot of motivation to write some more! I'm just glad you enjoyed the chapter and story though! Hope you liked the new one!

JunSon: Such a simple review, but yet it managed to warm my heart! Ugh, thank you!

Son-AbyGC: Thank you! Happy to see you're still here! Glad you liked it. Hope you liked the chapter!