//------------------------------//
// Android: Shocking Discovery 
// Story: Dragon Ball Z: Daughters of Destruction 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow and Applejack took their time to reach the area that the second time machine had been spotted in, because it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and the people that discovered it had decided that, if the Capsule Corp was sending some people to look at it in person, that it wasn't worth wasting their time on. Applejack found it strange that the people who found the time machine would want to suddenly leave it alone, to which she wondered if someone had pulled some strings to pass the information on to Bulma, but she decided not to think about it. She looked over at Rainbow for a moment and noticed that her sister was ready for whatever they found at the second time machine, which was understandable considering that she was hoping for a decent fight that would end in a clear victor... instead of the draw that the Androids forced upon them.

Sure, Applejack found it odd that the Androids were able to stand up to her and Rainbow, especially when the two of them had been empowered by the third multiple of the Kaio-Ken, but considering that Dr. Gero had created them to kill Goku, and had been upgraded in order to do so, she guessed that she shouldn't be surprised by the fact. She was sure that Rainbow was annoyed at the moment, but she hoped that her sister understood that sometimes they couldn't beat certain opponents on their first try. She knew that they would get another chance to fight the Androids in the future, when they determined which side they stood on, but for now she was content to follow the watch that Bulma gave them and fly towards the location of the second time machine.

Besides, if she and Rainbow needed assistance in locating their destination they could always turn around and ask Bulma to assist them, because she was following them so she could see what was up with the newly discovered ruined machine... and figure out what it meant.

Eventually the watch that Applejack was carrying went off, to which she discovered that they were now in the immediate area of the second time machine, where Trunks would be meeting them to begin the search for the machine with more than two sets of eyes. Rainbow continued on for a few seconds, though Applejack had to call out to her to make sure that she knew that this was the area they were searching for, where she circled back and came to a stop near her sister, while at the same time already looking down at the ground below them.

"So, what do you think a second time machine means?" Rainbow asked, knowing that their mother had to be annoyed if another version of Trunks came back to their timeline, especially since they had no idea who had used the machine to begin with.

"Change." Applejack replied, to which she turned her eyes towards the ground as well, though she was looking for any signs of something having landed some time ago instead of the machine at the moment, "A ruined time machine means that someone, or something, must have come back to this time in desperation in order to save themselves... or, on the other hand, come back to find something in secret and then return to their time without letting us know of their existence. Either way, finding a ruined time machine means that something will have changed in our timeline, though we'll have to be patient and see what the future holds for us now that we have discovered the existence of the second machine."

"Hopefully nothing major changed," Rainbow said, remembering the changes that the Androids had gone through, as they were different than the killing machines that Trunks had told them about, and were apparently much stronger than the ones in his timeline, "I mean, besides the Androids themselves... though I'm sure that we'll figure out what's happened once we search the area and find some clues. And your sure that we can't just ask our mother and see if she's detected some changes in the timeline?"

"She's likely busy destroying all of the different branches in time that the existence of this time machine has caused," Applejack commented, knowing that all this business with time travel had likely annoyed their mother, if she was aware of it anyway, and was no doubt keeping her busy, which would explain why they hadn't seen her as often as they had when they had drawn closer to the day that the Androids were supposed to awaken, "Trunks should be here soon, so if we wait a few minutes we can search the area as a group and see whatever is waiting for us together, just in case this is a ambush of some kind."

Rainbow nodded and crossed her arms as she floated around the area, surprising Applejack by the fact that she wasn't going up and collecting a cloud to sit on. She knew that Trunks would be arriving that this location soon enough, where they could begin the search for the time machine, so she guessed that this time she wouldn't bother wasting her energy on collecting a cloud. She floated there for a few seconds, allowing herself to feel the energy signatures around them, before she spotted the presence of Trunks closing in on where they were, though that was followed by her discovering that Gohan was with Trunks.

A few moments later they turned in the direction of their friends and waved their hands, to which both Trunks and Gohan stopped in front of them, though it was clear that they were both shocked by what Bulma had told them about over the phone.

"It is good to see you two once more," Trunks said, smiling at them for a few seconds, though that was followed by him looking down at the ground below them, "So, have you already uncovered where the second time machine is resting, or were you waiting for us to show up so we could investigate the area together?"

"We thought it best to wait for you before beginning the search," Applejack replied, though Rainbow nodded her head at the same time, indicating that her sister was telling the truth, "I mean, you know more about the time machine than we do, so if we had questions we would have had to wait until you arrived before we asked them... or you could turn it off in the unlikely event that one of us accidentally turned it back on."

"Well, now that we're all here we should begin the search," Trunks said, to which he turned to Gohan for a few seconds, "Gohan, you should go make sure that my mother knows the area that we're searching so she can land in the immediate area and help us search for it... or help us investigate the surrounding area, and the machine itself, in case we find it before she arrives."

Gohan nodded and headed in the direction that Bulma was in, while at the same time Trunks lead the girls down to the area below them, where they separated so they could begin their search for the time machine. Applejack looked around the area she was searching, where she found that there were quite a number of squirrels hanging around the area, along with some sort of fuzz ball type of creature that went back into their homes the moment they spotted her. As she looked around she determined that this had to be a perfect location to hide a time machine, as there weren't a lot of people in the immediate area... or at all as she reflected for a few seconds. It made her wonder if someone else hadn't come to Earth and told Bulma about the time machine, because if she remembered the envelope she had seen correctly there wasn't a location it had come from anywhere on the paper.

She mentally wondered if her mother hadn't come to Earth, without telling her and Rainbow of her visit, and had indirectly informed them about the time machine's existence, which, if proven to be true, meant that this could prove to be a major and important change in the timeline... though her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Trunks calling them over to the location of the time machine.

When she and Rainbow flew into the area that Trunks was in they discovered a machine that looked like the one that Trunks had used to come back and warn them about the Androids and the destruction that they could bring to the world, though there were some key differences between the two machines. This second time machine was almost completely covered in moss, indicating that it had been here for some time and hadn't been move upon its arrival, while the yellow coloration of the machine had been dulled thanks to age. Even the area that Trunks had been sitting in when he used the machine, which had been covered in some sort of glass, had a hole in it, indicating that something, or someone, had blasted their way out of the machine... though for what reason they had no idea.

Instead of immediately beginning their investigation, like Applejack would have done had she been alone, Trunks walked around the area for a few seconds and collected some acorns that were on the ground, before he sat on a rock and passed the acorns out to some of the squirrels that came towards him. Applejack, noticing what Trunks was doing, smiled and collected some acorns for herself, to which some of the other squirrels ran over to her and accepted the acorns that she had for them. Rainbow, on the other hand, merely sighed and sat on a rock, where she closed her eyes and waited for Gohan and Bulma to arrive, knowing that once they were all together again they could get down to business and discover what purpose the second time machine served.

A few minutes later Gohan landed near them, to which they turned and looked at the sky car that Bulma had been riding in, where she waved at them as she landed before jumping out and walking over to where the second time machine was resting.

"How are you doing Trunks?" Bulma asked, though now that she was armed with the knowledge that 'Xeno' was actually the grown up version of her son it changed her opinion of him, but she was glad to say that she was quite proud of him anyway.

"Good, despite being confused," Trunks admitted, to which he beckoned with his head towards the second time machine, while at the same time he pulled the capsule his own time machine was contained in and threw it to the side, allowing the pristine version of the machine to spring forth before their eyes, "and I think you can see why I'm confused. That is the time machine I used to come back to this period in the timeline, and had reduced to a capsule for the ability to carry it around with me..."

"Which means that this second one cannot be the one you used three years ago," Bulma commented, where she stared at the two time machines that were resting in front of them, while at the same time noticing that Rainbow and Applejack were beginning their own investigation, "unless my future version built more than one time machine and sent someone else back in time to assist you."

"No, she only had enough time to build and perfect one time machine," Trunks said, to which he looked over the second on, while at the same time holding back his annoyance at all the similarities he could see between the two of them, "though there is only one way to determine whether this is the same machine I used, or if the timeline has been twisted by someone else further in the future."

Trunks moved to one of the sides of the second time machine and started rubbing away the moss that was covering what he was seeking, though after a few seconds he revealed the word 'Hope' that was written on the machine. He silently cursed himself for a few seconds, because thanks to the word being there he knew that this was his time machine, though he wondered if, in another timeline, if someone had killed him and used the machine to come back to this time period. He hoped that wasn't the case, because if that was the truth then he would have no idea what to expect from this new change in the timeline.

"It appears that the second machine could have been one you used at some point in time," Bulma commented, though at the same time she had no idea what was going on anymore, before she pointed at the hole in the top of the time machine, "Do you have any idea what could have made that hole?"

"I think it might have been made by whatever hatched from the egg that's resting inside the cockpit," Applejack spoke up, beckoning to the two strange pieces of eggshell that were scattered around the chair.

Trunks reached around one of the bends and pressed one of the buttons that he knew the location of, to which the lid slowly, and painfully, opened in front of their eyes, allowing him to jump inside the time machine and grab the pieces that Applejack had pointed out to him and Gohan. Once he had the pieces in his hands he handed them to Gohan, who took them down to Bulma, though while that was going on Trunks studied the chronometer... and noticed that Rainbow was watching him work the entire time.

"Find anything useful?" Rainbow asked, though as she looked at all of the controls and devices she realized that she had no idea how to read anything that was in front of her.

"According to all of these readings this time machine came from three years further into the future, passed my own timeline," Trunks replied, not liking all of the readings that he was getting, though the most disturbing piece of information was yet to come, "and, if I'm reading these readings right, this time machine arrived almost four years ago... actually a full year before I arrived to kill Frieza and his father."

"Could this be the reason that history is so different from what you remember?" Rainbow inquired, as she knew that her mother had said that sometimes the smallest of changes could have the biggest impact, or something to that effect.

"Possibly," Trunks said, though there was no way to be sure, not without consulting someone who knew more about the timelines than he did, which would be hard considering how busy that person had to be at the moment, "though in any case we cannot allow this time machine to remain here any longer than necessary."

Rainbow nodded and moved away from the machine as Trunks pulled himself out of the cockpit and moved towards the bottom, where he pressed a button and it turned back into a capsule. Once he collected the capsule he moved over to his time machine, the pristine one, and returned it to its own capsule, which he placed inside the container he had pulled it from and put the container back inside his jacket.

"Well, I'll take this egg back home and see if I can't learn anything from it," Bulma said, to which she picked up the two eggshell pieces and turned towards her sky car, which had been put in standby mode in case she needed to make an escape in case an ambush had been waiting for them.

"Hey Gohan, what are you looking at?" Applejack asked, noticing that the young son of Goku was staring at something in the area around them, something that they had missed while they were flying over the area.

"I... I don't know," Gohan replied, to which he started walking towards what he was staring at, prompting everyone else to follow after him.

A few seconds later they rounded a corner they spotted what appeared to be a molt of some creature that almost seemed alien to the world around them, though a quick glance at Trunks told them that he had never seen the creature before. Rainbow and Applejack shared a look with each other as the others studied the molt, because the name of the other Android had been 'Cell', making them wonder if this was the first clue they had towards the existence of the creature the other Androids had warned them about... which meant that they were too late to stop him from awaking if they were correct in their thinking.

Bulma, on the other hand, quickly returned to her sky car and turned it on, though as she started to prepare the ship for takeoff she heard something over the built in television that made her call everyone else over to her.

"We interrupt this program to you this late breaking news," the announcer declared, to which the group gathered around the ship and listened to the announcement, while wondering if this might be related to the Androids, "About an hour ago we took a number of calls from Gingertown, a small suburban area of Metro West. We dispatched a team to investigate what the calls were about, but they found that the town had been emptied of all of its citizens, leaving only their clothing behind."

"Gingertown?" Bulma commented, to which the rest of the group nodded, indicating that they had heard the same thing she had heard, "That's close to where we are... do any of you think that this incident might be related to what we found here? The second time machine and the strange molt?"

"At this point, you might be right," Trunks said, to which he and Applejack pulled out their watches and set them for the area that they would be investigating next, because they all agreed that this could potentially be what they were searching for once they discovered the second time machine.

"I'm going to head to Master Roshi's and check up on my father," Gohan commented, to which he turned to the others for a moment, while Bulma climbed into her sky car, "I hope you guys find something in Gingertown."

Trunks nodded and flew into the air, where he flew off in the direction of the town with Applejack and Rainbow following close behind him... though they were all curious about what they might find in the town they were heading to.





Kami sighed as he watched the town that was known as Gingertown, where he watched as the people that called the place home disappeared and bared witness to the monster that was wiping the people out. He sickened him to see so many people die to one monster, just like it had done in the past, though after a few seconds he sighed and leaned back a little bit. He knew that it was time for him and Piccolo to become one again, and that they would be even stronger thanks to the fact that Piccolo had merged with Nail back on Namek, but he did have to wonder what would happen when they found the monster that was killing people.

He had no idea if they were going to be able to overcome the creature or not, but right now he knew that their best course of action at the moment was to merge back together and fight the creature themselves.

"What did you see?" Piccolo asked, as he could feel the change in Kami's mood, even though he had been meditating the entire time the elderly Namekian had spent staring down at the world below them.

"I suspect the monster I have been watching is the Android you were told about, but it is impossible to tell for sure," Kami replied, to which he looked at Piccolo for a few seconds, before he let out a sigh, "but you'll see everything I have seen and learn everything I have learned once we merge back into one being... especially some interesting things about both Rainbow Dash and Applejack."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow at the mention of the mysterious pony girls, because he knew that the only people that knew anything about them, besides Vegeta and their mother, was Mr. Popo and Kami, though of the two only Kami was willing to share what he knew, in his own manner. It was at that point that he had to wonder what the elderly Namekian knew about the girls, because it had to be important enough for him to keep quite when they first arrived and not say anything about them... and even still his tongue when everyone had returned from Namek.

"Then let's get this over with so we can go save those people," Piccolo commented, to which Kami nodded his head for a moment and walked over to him, which was followed by Piccolo placing his left hand on the elderly Namekian's chest.

"Just remember this Piccolo, the others cannot know what you are about to learn," Kami said, though he was referring to the information he knew on Rainbow and Applejack, which was followed by the other Namekian nodding his understanding as they got started on merging back into one being.

As Kami's energy flared to life around him, and he directed everything into merging with Piccolo, he dropped his walking stick and let it lay where it fell, as there was no reason for him to even need it at this point. Piccolo, remembering what had happened on Namek, braced himself as the light around Kami expanded out from his body and engulfed him, while at the same time feeling some energy rush into his body. That was swiftly followed by a blinding flash of light that consumed all three of them for a few seconds, though when the light died down Mr. Popo quickly discovered that the merging process had been successful, as Kami was no longer standing in front of him and Piccolo.

Piccolo, on the other hand, was shocked by the level of power he now commanded, which had been the sole purpose for him coming here and asking Kami to do this, but at the same time he now knew everything that the elderly Namekian had known... along with the information he had on Rainbow and Applejack. He was shocked with the information that was now available to him, because while he had known that the two girls had to have been the daughters of a powerful being, if Chronoa being their mother was anything to go by, when he discovered who their father was he was shocked. True, Kami had never personally met the creature that was the father of Rainbow and Applejack, but Mr. Popo had told the elderly Namekian enough about him to stop Kami from asking questions... which was why Piccolo turned to Mr. Popo.

"So... Beerus the Destroyer," Piccolo commented, trying to hold back his terror at the discovery of who Rainbow and Applejack's father actually was, "the God of Destruction... that's who their father is..."

"The is correct," Mr. Popo replied, though he secretly enjoyed the fear that was coursing through Piccolo's body at the moment, because he understood why they were so powerful and knew that they were only going to get much stronger as they matured.

"This... this explains so much," Piccolo said, though now he understood why the girls had been reluctant to tell all of them who their father was, because he was sure that one of his friends would have asked why Beerus didn't just come down and destroy Frieza when he arrived on Earth, before he realized that Vegeta had to know everything he had just learned, "and yet it leaves me with more questions."

"I'm sure that you'll be able to answer them in time," Mr. Popo commented, to which he glared at Piccolo, who gulped for a second as the man focused on him, "Now then, why don't you be a good Namekian and head down to the lower realm, where you can deal with whatever creature Kami saw... oh, and if you tell a soul what you just discovered, before they figure it out for themselves, I will ensure that you suffer for breaking the news to them."

Piccolo, knowing that Mr. Popo was the type of person that someone didn't mess with or angered, simply nodded his head and headed towards the edge of the Lookout, where he jumped into the air and started flying once more. He knew the direction he needed to head in, thanks to all the information that Kami had given him, but while he flew he reflected on what he now knew about the girls. He still couldn't believe that the two pony girls had such an important father, one that he was sure that people would fear if they knew who he was, though he still had to wonder where Beerus was. He was sure that the god would have intervened had he known that one of his daughters had been killed by Frieza, which meant that he either wasn't paying attention or something else was demanding his attention.

Piccolo let out a sigh as he flew through the air, because he had been truthful in all this information confusing him and leaving him with more questions than he had answers for... which meant that, in order to understand everything he had learned, he was going to have to meditate for some time before he understood what Kami had given him.

It didn't take him long to find the town that Kami had been watching over since he arrived at the Lookout, though as he landed on the ground he noticed that there was no one around, save for the clothes that happened to have small puncture marks in the back. He had to wonder what that meant, especially since the Androids wouldn't do something like this when he took how they killed Dr. Gero into consideration, but he knew that all of this had to be the work of someone else... maybe even the mysterious Cell that the Androids warned them about.

As he walked around the area he noticed that there were some cars that appeared to have some damage to their exterior, though at the same time he kept his eyes open for anything and everything that might be what caused all the damage to the town. He was surprised by the lack of damage to the actual buildings at the moment, though at the same time he focused on using his energy to discover if anyone was still alive... or detecting where his enemy was waiting.

It wasn't long before he found something out of the ordinary, or rather something found him, as he spotted some sort of creature, that walked like everyone else on the planet, that had an orifice-like mouth. Piccolo noted that the creature's head had two sections shooting off in a v-shape, rather than nearly straight upward like someone would assume, while at the same time possessing a pair of wings on his back. Piccolo took in the creature's exoskeleton, which was emerald green colored with black spots scattered everywhere, while also noticing that the beast had three toes, much like Frieza, and that he also had a tail, though at the end of his rested a stinger of some kind.

The creature was also carrying a hostage by the neck of his shirt, though Piccolo knew that he was going to have to kill the beast before he did whatever he was trying to do, though at the same time he had to wonder if this was the Android that 17 and 18 warned them about... and if it was than he knew that he would be hard pressed to beat him without calling on assistance from any of the others.