A Bet

"What do you want?" #18 looked warily at Raditz.

"I don't have any bad intentions." Raditz shrugged his shoulders.

#17 flew back to #18 and stared at Raditz.

"Hey, I did you guys a favor, shouldn't you be grateful?" Raditz said playfully.

"Thank you." #18's face twitched.

"No need to be so fake. How about you show me where Dr. Gero's lab is? We had a real tough time trying to find it without any success." Raditz shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, follow me." #18 fell silent for a moment before nodding her head.

"Raditz, what's going on? Why did the androids stop attacking us?" Trunks couldn't believe his eyes. Raditz was able to talk peacefully with the androids. Those androids which had caused mindless slaughter in his timeline. Looking at the remote control in Raditz's hand, he felt the key lay on the remote control.

"Oh, that? They aren't bad people, they were just forced by Dr. Gero to attack us. I took the remote control which can shut them down from Dr. Gero. They don't have any more reason to fight us." Raditz said casually and followed after the androids.

The rest of the Z Team did not tarry and quickly followed after the androids. After flying for a few minutes, they found an inconspicuous cave blocked by a steel door.

Boom! #18 blasted apart the steel door.

"It's here." #18 said while wondering what Raditz goal was for coming to Dr. Gero's lab.

"Let's see... Oh! It's here. #16." Raditz looked around and found a chamber written 16 on the surface with an android inside the chamber.

Raditz naturally wanted to find Dr. Gero's lab not just because he wanted to free #16 who was a really kind android. The main reason was to destroy the incubating Cell from his timeline.

"It would be horrible if this Cell after taking my cells can also transform into a Super Saiyan 3 equivalent. And even worse if somehow after mixing all kinds of cells, manages to maintain the transformation much longer." Raditz thought. He wasn't in a hurry to destroy Cell since none of the Z Team knew about Cell yet. Besides, Cell needed about 20 years to incubate before he was born. He could also take care of the Cell under the lab after the Cell Saga.

"This is #16? Another perpetual energy type?" #18 looked curiously, earlier she had to follow Dr. Gero's instructions and did not have the range of freedom to roam around the lab.

"Let's activate it." Raditz pressed the big button on the side of the chamber.

"W-wait! Raditz!" Trunks' eyes popped out. He was afraid of yet another terrifying android would exist in this world. But it was all too late, all it took was a light press on the button.

Pssh...! The hatch opened and the big android #16 walked out and silently observed everyone.

"Hey, #16 it's the first time I've seen you active. How does it feel being outside after all these years?" #17 asked curiously. During his time in the lab, #17 had never seen #16 appear outside his sleeping chamber.

#16 turned his head to #17 and simply smiled without uttering a single word. He had also seen the remote control in Raditz's hand, but still appeared unfazed.

"#18, why the stiff face. Smile more!" Raditz smiled playfully.

"Yes!" #18 smiled stiffly.

Raditz could see a trace of anger in #18's eyes.

"Well, I can guess you want this remote control, right?" Raditz waved the remote control in his hand.

"Yes!" Although feeling wary of Raditz's actions, #18 still played along.

"I can give it to you." Raditz said casually.

"Really...?" #18 had a dumbfounded look.

"But it's too boring if I just handed it over like this right?" Raditz said with a playful smile.

"What do you want?" #18 asked warily.

"How about a bet? If you win, you can have the remote control." Raditz said.

"Raditz no!" Trunks was the first to stop the bet. If they lost the remote control, how would they be able to control the androids anymore?

"Trunks, don't worry. They aren't our enemies, right?" Raditz shrugged his shoulders. Although he knew the androids from Future Trunks' timeline were truly evil, these three in his timeline weren't.

"No! Raditz, you don't understand just how terrifying they are!" Trunks refused to give up.

"Trunks! You're cockblocking me!!" Raditz burst out.

"What?" Trunks had a foolish look.

"Cough, nothing. Just stand to the side." Raditz felt embarrassed.

"No! Wai-" Trunks still didn't give up. After learning about the remote control, he just wished to hurriedly grab the control and deactivate all three androids immediately, before destroying them.

Raditz teleported behind Trunks and knocked him out by hitting his neck.

"Now I kinda understand why Vegeta got annoyed and had to punch Trunks..." Raditz muttered inwardly.

Raditz handed over the unconscious Trunks to Tien Shinhan.

"Alright, let us continue." Raditz cracked his neck and turned back to #18.

Both #17 and #18 had a blank look. Only #16 looked serenely at everyone.

"You still want the remote control, right? Let's go outside first." Raditz waved the remote control and flew to the sky.

Although Piccolo and Tien Shinhan had lost to the androids, they had trained hard and achieved much. During the fight, the gap wasn't desparingly big, they could feel the android's limits. They felt that if they trained a bit more, they would soon catch up to the androids.

That was why they didn't have anything against Raditz giving up on the remote control. They preferred to fight fairly. Of course, if the gap was desparingly big, their mindsets would probably change.

Gohan also didn't mind, when he fought #17 briefly, neither got the better of the other. Gohan knew that Raditz was stronger than him, and believed in Raditz.

#17 and #18 hurriedly chased after Raditz. #16 followed along with the group, his thoughts were unknown to the rest.

"How do we bet?" #18 asked.

"How about a fight? Just you and me, one on one. No one interferes. The winner wins the bet." Raditz smiled.

"Deal!" #18 smiled. She felt that Raditz was overestimating himself. Earlier when he had ambushed Dr. Gero, even though she could not follow his movements when he appeared behind Dr. Gero. His attack was too weak, so weak that the ambush did not even manage to kill Dr. Gero.

"Oh by the way, if you lose, you got to kiss me." Raditz hurriedly added.

"No problem!" #18 didn't believe she would lose.

"Hey, Piccolo, hold these for me. And also can you fix her clothes?" Raditz handed over the bag of senzu beans and the remote control. He didn't want an accident to happen to either of them.

"Don't lose." Piccolo smiled and took the items. Then he pointed two fingers at #18. A beam hit her and her clothes were repaired.

Raditz didn't mind if her clothes were to fall apart during their fight if they were the only two at the scene. But he didn't want the rest of the people ogling at her chest.

"Ready?" Raditz flew down to a clearing.

"Yeah." #18 followed down and nodded.

"HAA!!" Raditz became a Super Saiyan.

"His hair turned blond and a strange glow is wrapped around his body just like that strong kid." #17 shot a look at Gohan and muttered.

"#18 will lose." #16 stared at Raditz for a moment before saying.

"So you can talk. I thought you were mute." #17 looked at #16.

"That might not be true. We still don't know how strong Raditz is." #17 did not agree with #16 without first getting to see his strength.

Raditz knew just how strong the androids were, normal Super Saiyans could not beat them. Not to mention, they had unlimited energy. A long protracted fight was disadvantageous for him. Especially since he could only keep his Super Saiyan state for a maximum of 2 minutes.

Raditz punched #18 first, he attacked faster than she could. He knew his only advantage was his stronger power and speed. Since he could not follow the androids' movements completely with his eyes, and his Ki senses were "blind" he just had to bash her before she could even counterattack.

Raditz mixed with some Ki attacks here and there, it didn't take long before #18 was laying on the ground. After a whole minute, she had lost her fighting capability, her clothes were turned into rags once again.

Trunks had woken up again and was shocked that Raditz was able to handle one of the androids by himself.

"#16 you were right." #17 said.

"Hey, you lost the bet." Raditz patted #18's face.

#18 opened her eyes and got up with a disappointed face.

"Hey, you forgot something." Raditz reminded.

"?" #18 had a blank look.

"My reward." Raditz smiled.

#18's eyes opened wide, only now did she remember the kiss, she had ignored the fact earlier when she had full confidence in winning the fight.

She took a step forward and gave a quick peck on Raditz's cheek and left with a crafty smile. As if she had found a loophole in the bet.

"Ah?" Raditz felt cheated.

"That's also a kiss!" #18 hurriedly said and walked back to her companions.

"Fine." Raditz decided not to be petty and rubbed his left cheek where he got kissed.

"Anyways..." Raditz took back the senzu beans and remote control from Piccolo.

"This whole thing was just a joke." Raditz laughed and crushed the remote control.

"Raditz! Why did you destroy the remote control!?" Trunks' eyes popped out.

#17 and #18 stared wide-eyed at Raditz. They were shocked by his actions.

"Don't worry, they aren't bad people. And even if they do something bad, we just have to beat them up." Raditz said nonchalantly.

"You're starting to sound like Goku." Tien Shinhan smiled and looked at Piccolo. Goku had said something similar during Piccolo Jr. Saga when he defeated Piccolo.

"Hmph! I'm still Kami's evil incarnate." Piccolo snorted.

"Alright, see you later. Don't forget to visit me when you're free! You know where I live right?" Raditz waved to #18.

"Interesting fellow. #18 I think he likes you." #17 said with a smile and flew away.

"Hmph! Don't think that I'll feel grateful for that! Long-haired weirdo!" #18 chased after #17.

#16 didn't say anything, he gave the Z Team a gentle smile and followed the two in front.

"That's it? So much for the scary and terrifying androids?" Nappa looked confused. He had heard so much about the androids from Tien Shinhan. Yet everything ended just so easily.

"It's true that they don't look evil like the androids from the future... I think it's because this timeline has changed. But we should still keep an eye on them." Trunks said. This time, when he came back to the future, as he was extremely worried about how different the past was. He had immediately gone to ask Bulma what to do. Only after Bulma explained that each timeline was independent and unable to affect another, was he able to relax. His existence would not be wiped away even if no Trunks is born in the timeline he traveled back to the past.

"Let's continue training. Next time I won't lose to the androids." Piccolo said and flew back to the dojo. Raditz and Gohan followed Piccolo back.

"I agree. Next time, I also won't lose." Tien Shinhan strengthened his determination. Next time he also would not lose to the androids. With a smile, he flew back to his dojo with Nappa.

Since Trunks couldn't so easily trust the androids, he decided to stay a little longer and observe the androids. He followed Vegeta back home.

Little did they know, that they would not have so much leisure to train...