Time Travel Fail
There were many things about their current situation Android Eighteen found irritating, but the thing to top that list had to be the four elbows digging into her back. The squirming mass of demi-saiyans on top of her was too busy arguing to notice her discomfort, which was unfortunate for them. Not bothering with niceties, the blonde powered up and blasted the two children off of her with a quick surge of energy.
They both yelped in surprise and went flying off of her. There was a crash and a tinkling of broken glass, followed by two grunts of pain. She sat up and took a look around to get her bearings. Well, they certainly weren't in Bulma's lab anymore. There were... rocks. And more rocks. Possibly a few bits of brownish vegetation struggling to survive, but it definitely wasn't anywhere near the Capsule Corp headquarters.
"Ow... that hurt," the child with messy black hair spoke, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.
"Ugh... Eighteen, did you have to blast us like that?" the other boy added, brushing his purple hair back and out of his eyes to glare at the tall blonde.
"Where are we?" said blonde wondered aloud, ignoring their complaints. "What happened?" she demanded.
"How am I supposed to know?" Trunks huffed, getting to his feet. "It was Marron who was playing on my mom's computer like it was a piano."
At the mention of her daughter, Eighteen looked around again, this time specifically for a little blonde-haired toddler. She couldn't find any trace of her.
"Hey, Trunks, isn't this your mom's time machine?" Goten had come over to the side of the now smoking device to read the words imprinted on it, his purple-haired counterpart came over to join him.
His eyes widened in realization. "Uh-oh. Yeah, it is."
"What do you mean, 'time machine'," Eighteen growled, hopping out through the shattered covering of the device. She landed softly beside the two half-saiyans, shooting them another hard look before giving the oddly shaped contraption her own inspection. It didn't look good, with its cockpit covering in pieces and bits of the control panel sparking and sizzling. It did, in fact, say 'Capsule Corp. Time Machine Mk IV" on the side.
Her scowl deepened as she began to put the pieces together before turning her gaze to the boys. They flinched back from her fearfully. "Trunks. You can figure out when we were sent to and how to get us back, right?" Eighteen half threatened.
The boy gulped, tilting his head to the side as he surveyed the obviously damaged machine. "Uhm... maybe? If I had tools... couldn't we just get Mom to fix it?" he asked. He climbed up inside of it to get a better look at the control panel and winced. "Wow, we really did a number on this thing. I can't even get our coordinates until we fix it enough to be able to power up again."
Eighteen placed a hand over her eyes as she began thinking through their next course of action. Stranded somewhere in time and space with two rambunctious half-saiyans she was supposed to be babysitting and her daughter left back by herself in their own time. At least she was getting paid by the hour, and, yes, she was most certainly still on the clock as far as she was concerned.
"Okay, listen closely you two. I'm going to go find out some more information about this place; you two are going to stay here, keep your ki suppressed, and make a list of materials you need to fix the machine."
"What? How come we can't come with you?" Trunks protested, scowling.
"Yeah! I wanna come too!" Goten added.
She gave them another harsh look. "I don't have a ki signature to be detected, and I don't want you along to give me away. Besides, someone needs to tell me what to get to fix that thing, and you're it, Trunks. Stay here or I'll lock Marron in your room with her pretty princess glitter and paint set."
The boy recoiled in horror, "You wouldn't!"
"I would. Now stay. I'll be right back," she finished, taking off into the air.
A quick look around revealed nothing more detailed than the rocks and occasional bits of half dead shrubs she'd observed before. Way off in the distance there was a small river, but the scenery still didn't change much.
She made a mental note of their current location before heading off in the direction of the river. Usually water meant higher chances of encountering civilization. She didn't get very far before she encountered something much better. An aircraft in the distance she could barely make out, even with her telescopic vision active.
As she drew closer to it, she could make out more details. It was possibly one of the strangest flying vehicles she'd ever seen. Large, practically the size of a small village, round and with a multitude of spider like legs. It seemed distinctly not-human. Were they even on the same planet? she wondered.
The cyborg watched dispassionately as the great hulking ship lowered itself through the atmosphere, and settled like a great giant spider in a valley just below her hiding point. A door opened from the side of the ship and out poured a small army of strange creatures that were clearly not human. The leaders, landed in front of them and were also very much not human. Eighteen blinked as she tried to place them amongst her memories but came up blank, she doubted she'd forget such ugly creatures as these.
They stood around talking for a bit before one of the leaders shouted out orders and a section of aliens took off. Well, if she was going to stop them, better do it now before they spread out too far and she had to actually work to hunt them all down.
She was about to step out when a sudden flash of movement made her pause. She scowled angrily off at the blurred figure darting amongst the enemies, using a sword, of all things, to cut them into neat little pieces. "Trunks, I thought I told you to...," she muttered darkly before she finally got a decent look at the blur.
It was the familiar lavender-haired boy, but larger. Older. The future then, that was good. That meant the parts for the time machine would be easier to obtain. Now to just go have a chat with this future Trunks. He was talking with the weird alien lizard thing, but she was too impatient to wait. Besides they were taking forever.
Without any preamble, the blonde jumped down from her perch and floated over to where everyone was engaged in what sounded like a pretty serious discussion. That was, until the demi-Saiyan looked up at her. She doubted she could have had a bigger effect on the boy than if she'd been Dabura himself crawling up from the pits of HFIL. His eyes went wide and he pointed at her in disbelief.
"YOU-! No... that's... impossible!"
It would have been amusing if not for the ominous implications. It was like he'd seen a ghost or zombie rising from the dead. Was she dead in this timeline? That sucked. This Trunks couldn't be more than nineteen years old, that would mean she had about ten years left, at most. Yeesh, what had killed her?
She was about to speak and ask the boy what year it was, but had to duck as Trunks rushed her and sent a flying kick at her head. Frowning she weaved effortlessly around the flurry of blows. Why was he attacking her? Better question, since when did Trunks get so weak? Annoyed, she took the next opening and launched a kick into his side that sent him flying into a rock formation.
"Are you done yet?" she asked.
In response, golden ki exploded outwards as the teen ascended to super Saiyan and renewed his attack. Sliding the sword from its sheath, Trunks charged right for her, bringing the blade to bare in a downward arc with a near-feral roar.
Eighteen could already tell the blow didn't even have near enough force to harm her, and she stood still, catching the blade in a hand. She didn't get it. He seemed to be actually trying to kill her, this was no spar for him; but if this was his full power, then she was sure Vegeta was going to be sorely disappointed in his son.
A vague sense of deja-vu came over her as she stood there holding the weapon firmly. She could see his ki flare up as he struggled against her grip and that's when it hit her.
A long time ago, she could remember breaking this very sword in an eerily similar position.
"You-!" she exclaimed, using her other hand to snatch a fistful of the boys shirt and pull his face down to get a better look at him. This was that kid she'd fought way back when she'd first woken up. This wasn't the future, this was the past!
"Hey," she spoke, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice, the poor kid seemed terrified enough of her. "Chill, kid, I'm not going to fight you. This may seem like an odd question, but can you tell me what year-"
If not for the weirdness of the whole situation, Eighteen might not have missed, and therefore failed to dodge, the purple tinted ki blast that came from nowhere and exploded against her arm, singeing her favorite jacket.
"You foolish monkeys dare ignore the great Frieza?" the weird purple lizard cried out, floating up to join them.
"Frieza?" Eighteen mused, releasing the demi-Saiyan in favor of sizing up the alien interruptor. She was getting a clearer picture of the point in time they'd interrupted. Krillin had told her about Frieza, the evil tyrant that had killed him once before on the planet of the green people. How a Trunks from the future had come back in time to warn the others of her and Seventeen's coming and ended up finishing off the alien overlord in the process.
"Kid," she spoke suddenly glancing over at the golden haired swordsman. "What do you say we call a truce and play a quick game of kick-the-lizard?"
"Wh-what?!" the teen sputtered, uncomprehendingly.
"The rules are easy," she explained, purposefully misinterpreting his confusion. She shifted into super speed, seeming to disappear before almost instantly reappearing behind the purple tyrant. "Using only your legs and feet, don't let the lizard touch the ground."
In a flash of motion, she twisted her lower body and brought her leg up with a crushing force against Frieza's right arm, shattering it and sending him rocketing straight for Trunks. To her disappointment, the demi-Saiyan sidestepped (side-floated?) her serve and let the tyrant crash into the ground, forming a large crater.
She could see his scowl of agitation as he shouted back at her, "I'm not going to take part in any of your twisted games, monster!"
"Tch," she muttered, folding her arms over her chest. "Vegeta would be so disappointed in his son."
That had apparently been the exact wrong thing to say, if the sudden flare up of enraged golden aura washing over her was any indication. With a snarl, the teen charged, renewing his attack. Sighing in resignation, Eighteen held her ground and allowed him to vent his anger in a series of punches and kicks that barely left a mark on her. Failing in that, he leapt back and fired off a rapid fire series of ki blasts.
Unwilling to damage her clothing any further, Eighteen deflected the energy attacks, peppering the landscape around them with mini explosions. They unfortunately missed the pair of tyrants on the ground. Eighteen would just have to aim better next time. If there was a next time, this older Trunks was beginning to look a bit winded.
"Are you done throwing your tantrum now?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, causing him to scowl darkly.
An unearthly roar filled the air and both of the fighters glanced up. Oh look, the lizard must have crawled out of his crater. He was even charging up a large orb of energy to hurl at them. Oh no, she wasn't going to let that happen. The creep had already destroyed her favorite jacket.
In a flash she disappeared and reappeared behind the alien. Trunks must have had the same thought because he appeared beside her and together they released a blast of energy that completely vaporized their common enemy. She smirked when he flinched back violently from her unexpected presence.
They both jumped, however, at the loud cries of astonishment from the ground below them. Well, one of them was expected, that other guy who'd come with Frieza was still standing there just watching; but sometime during their fight a new group of people had amassed. Very familiar people.
Trunks took off in a flash toward them, snatching up the blue-haired woman and darting off in another direction. There was a moment of baffled shock before the others of the group followed after him. The cyborg watched it all with a frown, deciding to let them go. She could always track them down later.
In the meantime, she was beginning to think she needed to replan her approach. From what she remembered of the past, Trunks had killed both Frieza and his father before presenting Goku with the vital antidote to his heart virus and giving them his warning about the coming of a new enemy. One that had killed all the Z senshi in his timeline, something he'd come back to try and prevent.
The problem was, she and her brother had been that enemy, and if she showed up acting all friendly, they might not take the threat seriously. Which was a grave mistake, they had been ill prepared for the two androids in her own past, and she had no doubt her former self wouldn't hesitate to kill any of them should they prove to be too weak.
That wasn't even considering the whole issue with Trunks and Goten. Neither of them had been born yet, and there was no telling what their presence here might do to mess that up. Hmmm... this was certainly not going to be easy.
A voice interrupted her thoughts as she lowered herself slowly back down to the ground and she shot a glare at the one remaining person in the vicinity. He didn't seem to be able to take the hint and continued speaking.
"My, my, that was impressive. To think, you and that 'super saiyan' killed Frieza in mere moments. With that kind of power, you could join with me. Together we could rule the galaxy, this whole planet and many others like it would be but baubles in your collection, think of it!"
Eighteen was just one energy blast short of ending the over-confident buffoon, when she actually paused to think over his proposal. An idea began to form in her head as she turned to regard the alien seriously. "You know, that's not such a bad idea... Goten! Trunks! Get out from behind that rock and come over here."
"Uwaah! She found us!" Goten shouted in surprise, his head popping up into view.
"Yeah, seriously, she is one scary lady," Trunks added, climbing up on top of the boulder they'd been crouching behind.
She wasted no time sharing her plan with them. "How do you two feel about pretending to be clones? Evil clones."
Trunks tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "Clones?"
"Uhm... I'm not sure my mom would like me being evil," Goten put in.
"That's why we'll just be pretending," she explained. "So our friends will fight us and become stronger."
Trunks paused before nodding thoughtfully. Goten just continued to look confused. "But I don't want to be evil."
"That does sound fun," Trunks admitted, ignoring his denser counterpart. "Still, why can't we just spar with them? And why clones?"
"Excuse me," that annoying voice interrupted again, "I think you're forgetting something. Don't you think it's rude to talk as if someone isn't there? You're lucky I'm feeling lenient today."
Eighteen rolled her eyes as she turned back to the forgotten alien. "You're right, where are my manners?"
In one quick strike, she thrust her arm out and obliterated the arrogant dictator with an intense energy blast. Then she turned back to the two children with a mischievous smirk. "Now, this is how things are going to work..."
Everything was going wrong, so very very wrong! Trunks' thoughts kept screaming at him. He was supposed to have gone back and given Goku the cure to his heart virus and warn them about the androids, but this... things were spiraling way out of control. Android Eighteen had followed him here to the past! How?! Now both timelines were in danger of destruction and he didn't know what to do about it!
Was the world doomed to be ravaged by the terrible duo no matter what they did? Was fate really that cruel? How could this have happened?! Even now he still had to figure out how to explain to his father and friends why he'd randomly kidnapped his mother and taken off without a word. He was not looking forward to that conversation.
He was currently flying as fast as he could go while keeping close to the ground and still keeping to a pace that wouldn't leave the past Z senshi behind. He had to get them as far away from the android as possible; they wouldn't stand a chance in a fight against her.
He needed to get to Goku, at least, maybe then the two of them could take out the lone android. He'd almost held his own against two of them, surely with the legendary warrior his mother had told him about they could could take on just one. They had to, there was no other option.
His internal monologue came to an abrupt halt with all the gentleness of a train wreck when he felt two soft arms slide up behind his neck and pull his head down just enough so he shifted his attention to to the passenger in his arms. "Well, hey there, Cutie. Don't I get to know the name of my dashing rescuer?"
He froze up and nearly crashed, almost causing what would have been a very painful spill for Bulma. He recovered just fast enough to turn it into a one armed hand spring that kept him on his feet. Of course, it didn't help any that the whole maneuver and forced them into an even tighter embrace. When he noticed, he gave a strangled yelp, filled with all the horrified shock a teenager could muster at the thought of his mother flirting with him, and dropped her.
"Oh, my," she giggled, keeping her grip on his neck for support. "Look at how red your face is! I haven't gotten a reaction like this since I first met Yamcha."
"Bulma! Are you alright?"
Trunks had never been so grateful for an interruption in his entire life. Once again he had Gohan to thank for saving him, but in this case he didn't mind needing the assistance. He wanted to pull her off of him, but was afraid of touching her and giving the wrong impression...
"I'm fine, Gohan, this guy's just a big softie," the girl replied, evading the teen's efforts of disentangling himself from her. "All I did was ask for his name and he nearly crashes us into the ground. Look, his face is like a tomato!"
"What?" the black haired boy asked his brow wrinkling in confusion.
A short bald man landed beside the kid, taking one glance at the pleading blushing face of the new comer before letting a wide smirk split his features. "Wow, is it just me or has the kidnapper become the kidnappee?"
"Yeah, really," another man with a cross-shaped scar on his face commented next, "Which one is the hostage again?"
The two burst out laughing at their own jokes while the rest of the Z fighters landed around them. Finally getting fed up, Trunks firmly, yet gently, unwound his mother's arms from his neck and pushed her as far away from him as he could. "Er, sorry, I wasn't intending on kidnapping anyone. I just didn't have any time to explain and needed to get you as far away from that place as possible"
"Well, you certainly have time now, so explain!" a new voice voice spoke up in a harsh tone that made the purple-haired teen flinch.
That was his father? Trunks knew his mother had warned him not to get his hopes up, and that his dad had been a difficult man to get to know, but it was still a shock to see him. Trunks had thought he would be taller.
The time traveller was just beginning to find the right words to explain to his glowering father that he couldn't explain anything just yet, when he felt the very distinct impression of a large ki signature being extinguished. The Z fighters noticed it as well, all of them shooting surprised looks in that direction. The only person that didn't seem the least bit relieved by this development was Trunks.
Well, at least he knew the android hadn't come after them, but for how long? He nearly had a heart attack when a few of the Z senshi began to turn back the way they'd come. "No! We have to stay hidden!"
"What? Why? Your friend just killed King Cold, we don't have to hide anymore" Gohan pointed out.
"Android Eighteen is no friend of mine," Trunks spat out bitterly. "She's a cold sadistic monster that won't hesitate to kill any of us if she finds us. She's why I had to get you away from there!"
"You're telling me you, who defeated Frieza in moments, are afraid of a little girl?" Vegeta scoffed.
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm telling you. She and her brother have already destroyed my world, I won't let her destroy this one too. We need to go meet up with Goku and together we might be able to defeat her."
Gohan brightened at those words, "You know my father?"
"Not... exactly...," Trunks murmured. "I mean, I know of him, but I've never actually met him. Not yet, anyway. If you follow me though, I'll take you to where he'll be landing in just a few hours."
He checked the GPS tracking device on his wrist while he waited to see if they had any immediate objections. None were forthcoming, so he pointed the direction and turned to take off. Much to his dismay, his mother stopped him when she hooked an arm in his.
"Oh, no. I am not being left behind again," she informed him bluntly before he could even attempt to free himself. His mother couldn't fly, someone would have to carry her. As much as he thought that should have been his father, he somehow doubted the scowling figure would ever do such a thing. Against his better judgement, he picked her up again.
"So, you never did tell me what you name was," Bulma went on to ask. He tried to ignore the way she purposefully leaned into him and held snugly to his neck. She was just trying to get a rise out of him, he chided himself.
"I... uh.. I'm sorry, I can't tell you." He grimaced, there was no way that could sound anything but suspicious and he could almost feel the significant looks being passed around by the others flying around him. Still, he wasn't going to lie to them.
"That's weird. Why not?" she continued.
"I can't tell you that either, sorry." That caused another round of looks, before Gohan perked and sped up a little to fly just next to him.
"I have a question!" the boy announced, his carefree manner making Trunks smile. Seeing his deceased teacher so young and well, alive, helped remind him why he was doing this to begin with. "When you fought Frieza, you were a super Saiyan, right?"
Trunks could hardly deny that one, so, "Yeah."
"You're lying!" Vegeta's voice shouted, making Trunks wince again. "The only Saiyans in existence are Kakarot and me. If you count the half-breed whelp over there, that makes three, there are no others with Saiyan blood. You can't be a Saiyan. You don't even look like a Saiyan!"
Trunks tried to remind himself that he didn't exist yet and his father had a valid point, but it didn't really do much to make the words hurt less. He made no effort to defend his heritage, no excuse was probably better than repeating the same lack of excuse over and over again.
The awkward silence was enough to stifle all questions for a little while, any directed at him anyway. They talked amongst themselves in muted whispers plenty. It was a relief to finally be able to set his mother down when they'd finally arrived at their destination. Now he just had to survive two more hours with these people.
"Phew, we finally made it," Krillin spoke up as soon as they'd stopped, more relieved by the interruption from the tension than their actual arrival.
"I'll say," a chilling voice spoke up from above them, and they all looked up at once. Trunks already recognized the voice from his nightmares, but the other's all stiffened in surprise at the sight of the petite blonde woman perched lightly on a ledge. "I've been waiting for you for ages."
"You- how-!" Trunks sputtered. He surreptitiously nudged his mother further away from him so he'd have room to fight.
"Oh, please," the cyborg replied flippantly. "Did you forget where we came from? I know everything you know. I am curious to meet this Goku you came here to see."
"No! I won't let you kill everyone again!" Flaring up instantly into super Saiyan, the teen launched himself at her, intent on keeping her attention on him.
Her eyes narrowed in irritation before she became a blur of motion. The next thing he knew, his side was throbbing from a blow he hadn't seen, and he was making a new crater in the landscape.
"Yeesh, kid. It seems everytime we meet, you pick a fight. Don't you have friends of your own to spar with? Oh, wait, I forgot. They're all dead," she taunted.
Her horrid laughter was all that he could hear through the blood pounding furiously in his ears. He struggled to get to his feet, he had to, there was no one else to fight her.
"Y-you're a monster!" he hissed.
"So you've said," she remarked dryly from above. "You know, I actually came here to show you something interesting I found in Frieza's ship. I think it's a clone, what do you think? Come on out and show yourself, little guy."
There was a long moment where nothing happened, and everyone eyed the rocks around them warily. Rolling her eyes impatiently, Eighteen spoke more loudly. "I said show yourself!"
This time a young voice whispered loudly from behind a rock, "Hey, dummy, that's you!"
"Huh?" came another voice, not even trying to whisper.
"That's your cue! Go!"
"Oh! Right!" There was a pause, and the sound of something scrabbling over the rock. Everyone else around Trunks and Eighteen exchanged confused glances while Trunks kept his attention on the android. Was it just him, or did her eye twitch ever so slightly?
"Uwa!" the child voice exclaimed as a tiny figure with messy black hair finally managed to pull himself up to the top of the boulder and into view. He stood up slowly, nearly losing his balance and falling off again before recovering.
"Ah, hi! I'm... uh... I'm...," he frowned then glanced over his shoulder and shouted, "I forgot, who am I again?"
This time Trunks was sure he saw it, her eye most definitely twitched.
Whatever might have been replied by the voice behind the rock was drowned out by the wide chorus of gasps and several shouts of "Goku?!" with one small "Dad?" from Gohan as well.
The little kid jumped in surprise, before turning back to them with a happy smile. "Oh, right! Thanks! I'm Clone Goku! Uh... and I'm gonna... gonna... what was I going to do again? Oh! Oh, yeah. Mister Piccolo, I'm going to attack you now, okay?"
"Oh for the love of... Eighteen, he's ruining everything!" the other voice called, shedding all pretenses of secrecy. "I'm coming out early!"
With significantly more grace and flare, another tiny figure joined the other atop the large rock. Trunks found his attention irrevocably riveted to the very familiar purple haired child in front of them. His mini doppelganger gazed imperiously around at the crowd assembled in front of him.
"I'm the smart clone, he's the idiot one, and we're going to kick your butts."
"Huh? That's not what you were supposed to say...," the Goku clone protested.
"Of course not! I had to make it up because you kept forgetting your lines, stupid. Now, come on, it's time for the fun part."
"Okay! Ready or not, Mister Piccolo, here I come!"
If not for the absurdity of the situation, the duo might have been adorable, but there was nothing 'cute' about the lightning fast speed of the pair as they launched themselves at their respective targets and Vegeta and Piccolo were immediately put on the defensive.
Trunks shot a perplexed look at the cyborg overlooking the whole scene with a passive interest. "You cloned me?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," she muttered, scowling. "Though, I will admit you make a better evil minion than Goku's clone does."
"I'd never be your evil minion!" he growled at her. "And if that clone is really me, then he wouldn't either!" He leapt into the air and toward where his smaller self was steadily wearing his father down. The little boy jumped back in surprise when the super Saiyan teen appeared and blocked his next attack.
"Stop this, why are you fighting us?" the larger one demanded. "You should be helping us, not the android. She killed our father, our friends, even our teacher! That's not including the countless others she murdered in cold blood! If you're even just a little part me, then I know you don't want to see anyone hurt. You could fight with us, and stop it all from happening again!"
All around them everyone else had stopped what they were doing to see what would happen next. For one tense moment, the child just stared at his older self, seeming to consider his offer. It didn't last long. In a blinding flash the small boy shattered the uneasy truce by ascending to super Saiyan and launching a quick one-two combo that sent the teen to his knees.
"So what? Our father's done worse. Tch, Eighteen is right. Mom raised you into a sissy."
"Hey!" the other clone called out indignantly, "That's not fair, I wanna be super too!"
"Don't bother," little Trunks replied, "Big me was the only one worth it. Hurry up with Piccolo over there or I'm going to take out everyone else without you."
"Ah! No! I'll hurry!" Little Goku quickly turned back to his green-skinned opponent. "Sorry, Mister. Piccolo, I'm going to fight seriously now."
Teenage Trunks was only just then struggling to his feet. He was beginning to realize that his clone was far stronger than he'd originally thought. Super Saiyan? That kid couldn't be more than ten years old! That was impossible!
He was reluctant to fight a child, but he really didn't see any other options. This clone of his had to be stopped, and it was his responsibility. This... tiny demon wouldn't even have existed in this timeline if not for him. He'd led the Android here and put everyone in danger, and it was he who would have had to provide the genetic material to make a clone. He would fix this.
"Aw, man. You're still up? Just stay down already," little Trunks complained.
"You're an abomination," the elder boy stated, drawing his sword. "and I'm going to end you."
"Oooo, I'm so scared! You know, you're not the first person to tell me that," his clone answered, rolling his eyes before settling into a combat stance. "Bring it on, weakling."
The teen needed no further encouragement, and soon the two were locked in a flurry of blows. The larger one trying to land a hit, and the smaller one dodging the lightning fast blade.
While those two were occupied, a certain other spiky haired Saiyan was grinding his teeth in frustration at having been ignored. Unwilling to do something so deplorable as fighting an enemy two on one, he turned his glare on the second enemy. Just in time to see the Kakarot look-a-like finish pummeling the namek into unconsciousness. Good.
With a roar he launched himself forward and began a high speed series of punches meant to throw his opponent off balance, but he only got as far as two strikes. The first one caught the boy by surprise, the second one... didn't. He caught the blow and turned the force behind it against the larger Saiyan and even added some. With a grunt, the small child threw Vegeta over his shoulder and into the ground with enough force to leave a large crater and render him unconscious.
"Oh, Vegeta? I wasn't supposed to attack you next, sorry!" Clone Goku called out before darting off, oblivious to the Saiyan's inability to hear him. "Hmm... who's next...? Oh, that's right, Gohan! Ready or not, here I come!"
Gohan was standing with Krillin when he heard his name called out and the little boy that looked like his father turned to face them. He and the other Z senshi around him flinched. Gohan took a fearful step back as the clone child came right at him. To his surprise, Krillin stepped in front of him, taking a defensive posture.
"Uwah!" the clone sputtered, skidding to an abrupt halt just inches from the bald man. "Krillin? Get out of the way, please! I can't fight you or Eighteen will get mad."
A brief look of confusion passed over the monk's face before he refused to be distracted. "Hey! Quit being a bully and picking on people weaker than you!"
The previously happy-go-lucky expression on the child's face melted instantly and Krillin recoiled in surprise when the boy's eyes began tearing up and he sniffled piteously.
"I... I'm a bully?"
"Well, yeah. When you fight someone weaker than you to beat them up for not reason, that makes you a bully," Krillin explained, starting to feel a bit like he'd kicked a puppy.
"Waaaah!" the clone wailed, turning and taking off into the distance. Krillin actually felt bad for being the cause of it.
"Ah! GOTEN!" Trunks' clone shouted, jumping away from their melee. He turned to glare at the short bald man. "Stupid, Krillin! Why'd you have to go and make Goten cry?! Now I have go catch him before he does something stupid."
Much to the surprise of everyone else around him, the little Super Saiyan's already large ki erupted to new heights before launching into the sky after his friend. The teen he had been fighting hesitated just a moment before launching after him.
He was holding back on me, Trunks realized bitterly, chasing after his clone. He couldn't just let those two demons go off and terrorize a city or something.
Eighteen frowned as she watched them go. "Well, I probably should go after them. I am getting paid to watch them after all," she muttered to herself, taking to the sky. Besides, this had turned out better than she'd expected. She'd thought she was going to have to practically kidnap the older Trunks to get him away from the others, and here he flies off on his own. Now she just had to go unscare the living daylights out of him so he'd help them fix their time machine.
Stepping off the ledge, the cyborg spared a glance back for her husband before taking off in pursuit of her little charges. Maybe she'd find some time to taunt Krillin later.
Eighteen caught up to the teenager first, catching him in a headlock before he had a chance to react.
"It's very fortunate for you I'm not actually evil or your mother would be dead right now. Quit struggling, if I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. I just need you to stop attacking me long enough for us to have a decent conversation. Can you handle that, or am I going to have to drag you along like a child?"
Trunks eyed her warily before hesitantly nodding, and she promptly released him.
"Good. Now let's catch up to Goten and little Trunks before they accidentally destroy something. Somehow I doubt Bulma has her 'Trunks insurance' fund set up yet, and I am not paying for any damages myself. I'll explain on the way."
"'Trunks insurance fund'?" he questioned as they began flying again.
Eighteen shot him an amused look. "After meeting him, you can't honestly tell me that's a surprise to you. I did tell them to pretend to be evil clones, but that was hardly much different than how he usually acts. However, that's not what I wanted to talk about.
"Obviously they are not clones, and I am not the Android Eighteen from your timeline. We come from about ten years into the future of this timeline. You succeed in saving Goku's life, that's where Goten comes from. He's Goku's second child and Gohan's little brother. He's also the best friend you never had the opportunity to know. Seventeen and I aren't terrorizing the globe anymore, either. I'm not sure what he's doing now, but I'm married and have a family."
"You- wha- Married?! A family?! Is that even possible?" the teen sputtered, nearly falling out of the sky. Eighteen shot him a glare and he quickly realized what he'd just said. "Uh... I mean... sorry, I'm finding it hard to think of you as an actual person and not the monster that destroyed my world and killed everyone."
"I see," the blonde replied. "Seventeen and I were human before Gero turned us into cyborgs. We are human for the most part, so, yes, we can marry and have children. That's not important right now, though. What's important is that the three of us got sent back in time accidentally when little you got the smart idea to sneak into your mother's lab and took Goten and my five year old daughter with you. I didn't see what happened, I barely got there in time to shield you idiots from the explosion, but next thing I knew, we woke up here with a broken time machine.
"Which leads me to the question I've been trying to ask you since we killed Frieza; will you help us fix our time machine?"
There was a long pause while Trunks processed her words, she could almost hear his internal debate over trusting his enemy versus his obsession with doing the right thing. "You don't have to decide now. I'm getting paid by the hour, so I'm in no hurry."
"Paid by the hour?"
"Yeah, being your babysitter pays well. Apparently it's hard to find someone willing to watch a flying child that can lift cars with his pinky."
Eighteen was amused when his flight pattern faltered and he actually choked. "Y- you're my babysitter? They let you near children?"
"Funny," the cyborg remarked dryly. "That's what people say about you. Speaking of children, I think we've found them."
They descended toward an island that held a distinctly familiar figure and found the purple-haired boy hovering near a crack in a cliff. "Goten, stop being a baby and get out of there!"
"No! You're mean and made me be a bully! I don't want to be a bully!"
"Yeah, but we weren't going to seriously hurt anyone, we were helping them get stronger," Trunks tried to explain for the tenth time. "Remember what- oh look, Eighteen is here... and wussy me," the little demi-Saiyan scowled. If that guy said anything to make Goten feel any worse, he was going to blast him into oblivion.
Eighteen touched down next to him with older Trunks not far behind. The teen missed a step when he caught sight of the glare being leveled at him. Eighteen paused to place a placating hand on the kid's head.
"Be nice," she warned. "He knows, and he hasn't agreed to fix the time machine yet."
The child huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "I still say we should just get mom to fix it."
"Why is Goten hiding in there?" the blonde asked, ignoring his other comment.
"He was going to fly all the way home to his mom, but I stopped him, and now he's sulking in there and won't come out."
Eighteen nodded and stared thoughtfully at the crack. Part of her vaguely wondered how he'd fit in there, but shook it off. That was hardly the most surprising thing she'd ever seen a Saiyan do. "Goten, you ready to come out yet?"
"No! I don't want to be a bully! I don't want to be an evil clone anymore!"
"Okay, I promise you don't have to pretend to be evil anymore. Trunks can be evil enough for the both of you."
"Yeah!" the purple-haired child cheered.
"Wha- Why are you pretending to be evil in the first place?" teenage Trunks protested.
His younger self rolled his eyes like the answer were obvious. "Duh. To help you warn them about the androids! Eighteen thought it would help if she showed them how strong she was, but since she doesn't have a ki to sense, she thought it would be better if we scared them instead. That way they'll train extra hard and not almost die this time around."
"... what happened the first time around?" older Trunks asked warily.
"I nearly killed you, your father, Tien, and Piccolo in the first half hour of being awakened," Eighteen informed him blandly. "Fortunately for you, Seventeen, Sixteen and I got bored and wandered off to go find Goku. Goten, are you coming out now? If not, we'll just head to lunch without you."
"Lunch?" the spiky-haired Saiyan asked, sticking his head out eagerly.
"Wait, Sixteen? I don't know of any Android Sixteen," the teen persisted.
"He was an experimental model Seventeen and I activated on a whim. He wasn't very bright, but pretty strong. I guess he didn't get activated in your time. Yes, Goten, lunch. I was going to go see if that Squealy's place exists here."
"Isn't that that buffet place we got banned from?" Goten frowned.
"The one with the buffet table dedicated entirely to items wrapped in bacon?" little Trunks interjected.
Eighteen nodded to both their questions. "We're banned in our timeline, Goten, not this one. Not yet, anyway," she explained before turning back toward older Trunks. "I'd invite you, but I think you have a medicine to deliver. When is Goku due? We'll terrorize a town or something and provoke a fight."
"Terrorize a town?" the teen asked in alarm. "Uh, I have a few hours before Goku shows up, maybe I should come with? Food sounds good." As a Saiyan he was always hungry, but mostly he was afraid of what they'd get up to if he didn't tag-along.
"Sure, whatever. You're the one trying to save your future, we're just here by accident," Eighteen replied shrugging. "I guess you would know best. Come on, kiddos, let's go eat Squealy's out of business again."
Trunks didn't know what he'd expected when he'd agreed to come along on this adventure, but it probably wasn't this. He was sitting at a table across from his mortal enemy while she nursed a bowl of soft serve ice cream covered in fudge sauce, sprinkles, peanuts, caramel, and practically the rest of the toppings bar. On the table, amongst the substantial piles of used plates and tableware, were two children in a shouting match that looked to be quickly turning ugly.
"Are you sure we should have let them have that fourth pie?" the teen asked, frowning.
Eighteen shrugged, taking another spoonful of her cold treat. A boot came dangerously close to her bowl and she shot a glare at the offending child. "Ruin my ice cream, and I will kill you."
"It's not my fault! Goten pushed me!"
"You ate my bacon sushi!"
"Should have kept your guard up."
With a roar of rage, the black haired child launched himself at his best friend and his elbow connected with the boy's face. Little Trunks went sprawling to the floor. "Should have kept your guard up, Trunks."
"Woah! Okay, time out. Let's not-," the teen began to protest, but was interrupted when his younger self leapt back up and rammed head first into Goten. The two tumbled backwards and crashed into the table across from them, splintering it into pieces. "-get out of hand."
The family that had been sitting there screamed and scrambled to get away as the two demi-saiyans grappled with each other. Teen Trunks looked around nervously as the rest of the people peered out from their tables to see what was going on.
"Eighteen, shouldn't we do something to stop them?" he asked.
The android took another bite as she tilted her head in consideration. "I suppose it is time for that. Tch, and I didn't even get to finish my dessert."
Regretfully, the blonde placed the bowl on the table and stood up. "Hey! Trunks, Goten, knock it off!"
The two froze and looked up at her guiltily. "He started it!" they both shouted and pointed at the other in unison.
"Quit beating each other up and go beat up the other Trunks!"
"Wh-what?!" the teen sputtered. The two heads swiveled around to look at him, and the elder Trunks flinched.
"Huh?" Goten asked, confused.
"Seriously?" child Trunks asked.
"Yeah, seriously," Eighteen replied. "We're going to start terrorizing the city and he can't go back to the others looking like he didn't even try to stop us."
"Okay, I like this plan," little Trunks smirked, releasing Goten to settle into a fighting stance..
Goten scowled and turned away, folding his arms across his chest defiantly. "No. I'm not going to be a bully anymore."
"That's alright, Goten. You can be in charge of making sure no one gets hurt, okay?" The cyborg went over to ruffle the child's hair. "I can't sense ki, so you'll be better at it than me. You can even pretend to be good and get in a fight with Trunks so no one else will have to. Then they'll just have to deal with me."
Impatiently, the other child interrupted her. "Whatever, I'm going to go beat my sissy self up now!"
The android watched as the two doppelgangers clashed, one at an almost painfully obvious disadvantage to the other.
"I'm not a sissy! You're just monstrously strong!" teen Trunks snapped back in irritation as he extracted himself from the hole he'd created in the wall. Around them, more people had begun screaming and fleeing from the scene.
The child rolled his eyes as he placed his small fists on his hips. "Oh, please. You even dress like a sissy, I mean, what are you even wearing? You look like... you let Mom dress you, didn't you? Bad idea. She came up with the costume for the Great Saiyaman for Kami's sake!"
"Hey! You take that back, Trunks! The Great Saiyaman is awesome!"
"You have to think that, Goten, he's your brother."
"Wait, what's this about Gohan and some 'Great Saiyaman?'" the teen interrupted.
His smaller self smirked. "Oh, man, you have to see it for yourself! Chichi sent him off to high school in the city and he started fighting crime there, but he did it as a super saiyan so people wouldn't recognize him, but this girl from his class totally got suspicious and started stalking him so he had mom make him a watch that transforms him into a superhero at the press of a button and the outfit is absolutely ridiculous! Then he named himself 'The Great Saiyaman' and he thinks it's so cool but re-"
"Trunks!" Eighteen shouted, "Focus! He's in a hurry, remember?"
"Oh, right! Sorry," the child apologized before rushing forward to headbutt his older self through the wall again.
Eighteen turned to Goten. "Alright, kid, you keep a sense out for any civilians in their way, and try to keep it clear. I can't be seen helping people, so this is all you."
"Okay!" in a flash the hyper-active half-saiyan was off to hurry panicking civilians out of the line of fire.
Eighteen waited long enough to verify her orders were being followed before sitting back down with her ice creamy treat. The kids had this, she could finish her half melted dessert.
By the time Trunks finally made it back to Goku's landing point, he felt like he'd just survived another fight with the androids from his timeline. How did a child have that kind of power?! Is that what he would have become if his father had lived? Just how powerful was his father in their time? If they'd had that kind of force in his timeline, the androids wouldn't have stood a chance.
Which probably explained the whole friendly Android Eighteen issue that still unnerved him. She was married now? With a kid? The whole concept was absurd!
"Are you okay?"
The time traveler looked up from his thoughts to the concerned black eyes of his young teacher. "I... I'll be alright. Not sure I can say the same about Satan City, though," he answered trying to act bitter. He'd never been very good at acting and lying. Something he and his smaller counterpart did not have in common.
"What?! Are they hurting people?!"
"Uh... not really. Goku's clone doesn't really want to hurt people," he began to explain. "and I managed to convince him he didn't have to follow Eighteen's orders. Apparently I was talking to the wrong clone earlier. Goku's clone is now trying to minimize the damage caused while he fights my clone. Which is why it's really important I get Goku so we can help his clone defeat my clone and then take on Eighteen."
"Oh! Is my dad almost here?"
"Yeah, he'll be landing in just a few minutes. I'm going to sit down now." Trunks lowered himself to the ground with a wince.
"Oh, right!" Gohan spoke, as if just remembering something. "Krillin! Come here, I think he needs a senzu bean!"
"A what?" the purple haired teen asked, as the short bald man came over with a small brown bag in his hand.
"Senzu bean," Gohan explained. "If you eat one, it'll heal all your wounds and replenish your energy."
Trunks could only stare in bewilderment as a small green bean was placed in his hand. Uncertainly, he put it in his mouth and chewed. It felt like a cross between celery and uncooked bean, and tasted of fish; not very pleasant. When he swallowed, however, it was as if all his aches and pains evaporated into thin air. Instantly his exhaustion fled and he felt like he'd just woken up refreshed and ready for a new day.
The feelings seemed strangely familiar, and when he remembered from where, guilt washed over him. This was how he'd felt... when Gohan died. He'd thought it'd been weird at the time, but he'd forgotten about it when he'd seen his teacher's body. Broken and mutilated from protecting his stupid, selfish, arrogant student from the androids. He could have saved himself with the bean, but instead had given it to Trunks. Why? Gohan had stood a much better chance of defeating them, why had he thrown that all away?
"Uhm, are you okay? Your hand is bleeding..."
Trunks hadn't realized he'd been clenching his fist until he looked down. Opening it, he could see the fresh crescent shaped cuts from his fingernails. He grimaced, and forced himself to meet the onyx colored eyes of his teacher's past self. "I'll be alright, sorry. Just... remembering something."
"Must have really been a doozy, for a second there I thought you were going to go super," Krillin commented, frowning uncertainly.
Trunks hesitated, before speaking, "I was remembering the death of a very close friend of mine, he was killed by the androids because of me."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Gohan stepped forward and broke it with a stern frown. "You shouldn't blame yourself for it, you're not the one who killed him."
"I might as well have. I shouldn't have-... it was my fault," Trunks murmured.
"No," the demi-saiyan argued, "Whoever he is, if he was really your friend, he wouldn't want you to blame yourself for it."
Trunks blinked in surprise at the child. Of all the people to say that...
"You're right. He wouldn't have wanted that," the teen finally spoke with a reluctant smile. "Thanks."
"No problem!" Gohan replied happily.
"Hey, do you sense that?" Krillin interrupted looking up, and the other two followed his gaze, extending their ki senses.
"Ah, Goku is here," Trunks answered. The two others grinned widely as they turned to announce the news to the others. Trunks followed at a more sedated pace, willing to allow them a moment with their loved one without the interruption of a stranger. Besides, Trunks was just a little apprehensive about this upcoming meeting with his mother's old friend. He was practically a legend told of in bedtime stories for him.
There was a rumble of an explosion as a round pod came slamming into the ground. It left a crater about twenty feet in radius, and the spherical spaceship inside sizzled from the atmospheric reentry heat. Goku's friends all lined up along the rim of the crater and waited anxiously for the pod door to pop open. When it did, and a man, looking amazingly like an older version of Goten, stepped out to cheers. The Saiyan peered around at everyone in confusion.
"What is going on down here?" Goku asked. "First I felt Freeza and another evil ki land on Earth, then I sense another not-evil ki take on and kill Freeza, then that ki leaves the other evil ki alone, but it just died for no apparent reason on it's own! Then a couple of new ki signatures pop up out of nowhere and have this big fight with the first new ki... and well, now you're all here to greet me? I didn't even tell anyone I would be here. Who are all these new large ki signatures? Piccolo? Vegeta? Who killed Freeza?"
"He did," Bulma spoke up, pointing to Trunks. "Well, him and the evil android that followed him from his world, and then created evil clones of you and him using the technology on Freeza's ship."
"Oh? What happened to the evil clones, did he defeat them too?"
"No, they're still alive," Trunks spoke up. "I managed to convince your clone to stop being evil, but my clone... wasn't so receptive. They're fighting now in Satan City, can't you sense them?"
Goku frowned as he tilted his head sideways and furrowed his brow in concentration. "Well, yeah, but... neither of those ki's are evil. They're not even fighting for real, more like playing around."
"Wh-what?" Trunks asked, a sinking feeling settling in his gut. "They're destroying the city! We have to go stop them!"
"They are wrecking a lot of buildings," Goku admitted. "But they haven't killed anyone, and I don't sense any killing intent from either of them. It's kind of strange. Oh, well. We should go stop them from destroying any more buildings at least. Man, those two are really strong!"
"Yeah, tell me about it," Trunks grumbled, a little relieved he'd stopped asking questions he didn't know if he could answer. He hated lying, but the thought of going against Eighteen's plan terrified him. Mostly good or not, she was still super scary. "Come on, let's hurry!"
He took off back toward the city, a part of him already grumbling about having to be beat up by his younger self again. Seriously, it was getting old fast. Behind him he sensed Goku and the Z fighters take off after him. Including his mother who must have bullied someone into carrying her. Yamcha probably. Goku sped up to fly along side him and the Saiyan sent the teen a curious glance.
"Who are you anyway? I don't think we've met before, but this wouldn't be the first time I've forgotten someone..."
"Uh, no, we've never met before," the purple-haired time traveler replied, shooting a glance behind them before increasing his speed to lengthen the gap between them and the others. Confused, Goku matched it.
"Actually who I am is a bit of a secret and you have to promise not to tell the others, okay?" Trunks blurted out.
"I guess that sounds alright, so long as it's not a bad secret...," the saiyan murmured uncertainly.
Trunks gave a small smile. "It's not all bad, and the bad parts you can tell about. Just the parts about me specifically have to be kept secret or my existence will be in danger."
"That sounds really serious."
"It is." Trunks shot another look over his shoulder to make sure the gap was still sufficient. "See, I'm from the future. I haven't even been born yet, but I will be in about two years. I came back in time to warn you about two powerful enemies that will be appearing soon."
The teen wasted no time telling Goku all the relevant details of his future. About the androids, and how they destroyed everyone and everything. How he was the only fighter left and that he just couldn't do it on his own. How his mother had built him a time machine to come back in time and prevent the untimely demise of her old friend who may have stood a chance of defeating them.
"So.. wait...," Goku interrupted. "Your mother is an old friend of mine who built a time machine? Don't tell me... Bulma's your mom?!"
Trunks nodded. "You can't tell anyone or I might end up not existing."
Beside him, Goku folded his arms and tilted his head in consideration. "But Bulma and Yamcha have been together for ages, finding out they had a kid would probably only encourage them."
"What? Oh, you think... no, Yamcha's not my father," Trunks corrected him uneasily. "I'm half Saiyan, like Gohan. My dad is Vegeta."
Trunks had to stop when Goku suddenly fell out of the sky in shock. The Saiyan recovered quickly, though and matched speeds with him again. "Bulma and Vegeta are your parents?!" he almost shouted.
Trunks hushed him urgently, glancing behind them to see if the other's had heard. He didn't think so. "Yes, but it was kind of a moment of passion and they never made it official. If they get wind of it, it might not happen and I won't be born."
"Wow... that's just... but what happened with Yamcha?"
"Uhm, I'm not really sure, that was all before I was born. I think he cheated on my mom, though, and they broke up," he explained awkwardly.
"Huh. That explains how you were able to defeat Freeza. Are these androids really so much more powerful than him?"
"You're about to find out for yourself."
The city came into view and the two stopped over the edge of it to let the other's catch up. Gohan, Vegeta and Piccolo arrived first, followed shortly by the group of humans. They took a moment to stare at the blur of motion over the city of two small figures. The amount of ki emanating from them was almost overwhelming. Every once in a while one would hit the other and they'd be slammed hard into a building, demolishing it before leaping up back into the fray.
"We... have to stop that?" Krillin asked nervously.
"And that's just the two kids, we don't even know where the android is," Yamcha added, grimacing.
Suddenly one of the blurs got off another hit and one of them was shot straight for them. Instantly Goku's hair flashed gold as he leapt into the path and caught the slightly disoriented black-haired child. "Wow, he looks like a little me!"
Goten's eyes shot open at the sound of his voice and a huge grin split his face as he waved his arms up and down excitedly. "DADDY!"
The purple haired teen's eyes widened in surprise as his mind raced to try and figure out a way to cover up the slip. He needn't have worried, his younger self was already on it. In a blur of green gi, his 'clone' took advantage of Goten's dangling form to head butt him forward into Goku and then slam them both into the ground.
"He's not your father, idiot. Remember?" the boy called down after them. He turned to smirk at the gathering around him. "Oh, goodie. You guys found the senzu beans and came back to play some more. Who's first?"
He didn't get to find out as a sudden ki surge from below made him dodge back instinctively. Goten's fist grazed his chin as little Trunks barely got out of the way. "Don't hit my daddy!" the child roared furiously.
"I was trying to hit you, it's not my fault he was holding you!" the other boy shot back, frustrated at his friend's inability to grasp the nuances of their situation.
Teen Trunks knew he was going to regret it, but he flashed to super Saiyan anyway and tried to insert himself into their fight. It went about as well as expected. His younger self ascended and instantly slammed him into the crater next to Goku. He wasn't even sure if he'd been hit by a kick or a punch. Still, he had to look as if he were doing something to help the fight.
"Look at them go!" Goku's voice called excitedly as he hovered above the crater Trunks was pulling himself out of. "I can barely keep up."
"You... you do realize we have to stop them, right?" the time-traveler asked, staring at the Saiyan in bewilderment.
Goku shrugged, "They still don't have any killing intent. I figure if we get them to slow down enough, we can talk sense into them. Why did he call me 'daddy'?"
Trunks' mind raced again to come up with some excuse, but he was interrupted by a cold, almost emotionless voice from his nightmares.
"They may just be messing around," Eighteen spoke, "but I'm not." She hovered not far from them, watching them like a bored cat might watch a pair of mice.
Frowning, Goku looked her over seriously. "This is one of the androids? I can't sense her at all."
"Yes," Trunks answered, drawing his sword. "They don't have a ki to sense, but they can't sense ki either. She's as blind to us as we are to her, except she's used to it. We should fight her together."
"No, I want to try to fight her on my own. Go help the others, your clone is slightly stronger than mine and little me might not be able to stop little you from hurting the others," Goku told him.
"You're an even bigger idiot than I thought if you think I'm about to let you do that," the blonde interjected. "You'll die if you don't take me seriously." She didn't give them time to react before she was on them, pulling them both into a fight.
Even with two on one, Trunks was fairly certain she was holding back on them, which was disturbing because the androids he knew would have had a more difficult time holding off two super saiyans the way she was. It didn't help that any blows he did manage to land hardly seemed to have any effect on her at all.
After a particularly painful kick to his ribs that sent him crashing to the ground, Trunks gained enough space to charge a ki attack. He refrained from using any of the special attacks he'd learned from Gohan in case they were well known and might raise questions. He stuck to the moves he'd taught himself. His hands were a flurry of activity as he focused his ki into them before bringing them together and launching it at Eighteen. "Burning attack!"
"Big tree cannon!" a younger voice shouted and another blast knocked into his own, sending the two spiraling off course. They crashed into a mountain miles out of town, and the teen watched in stunned silence as they exploded in a large mushroom cloud almost worthy of a nuclear bomb. He wasn't the only one who'd stopped to watch the fireworks.
"Whoa! That was awesome!" his younger self crowed. "Let's do it again!"
"Me too! I wanna try!" Goten added.
"Alright, let's see how big we can make it!"
Several worried gazes whipped around to stare in horror as the two children began charging another attack.
"Kamehame-"
"Final-"
It was Eighteen who intervened, disappearing in one instant before reappearing again in front of the two right before they released their attacks.
"Ha!"
"Flash!"
The sheer amount of energy emanating from the large combined ki ball washed over them all like waves of heat from a raging inferno. The blasts impacted with the cyborg at the same moment she raised her rarely used android barrier that encased her in an orb of pink glowing energy. It still drove her back as she focused on keeping her shield up and at an angle that would send the blast into space instead of the Earth, likely destroying it.
Eventually her barrier collapsed, and she was left trying to deflect it with her arms. Well, there went her brand new jacket she'd acquired from one of the demolished shops, one more cost to add to her babysitting fee. The energy had made short work of the fabric and was currently burning into her arms, she wasn't certain she could hold out much longer.
It was a relief when she spotted the presence of two others taking spots beside her and charging up ki attacks, they were taller than the ones she'd been expecting, but she'd take what she could get.
"Kamehame-HA!"
"Final FLASH!"
She added her own energy into the opposing blast and together the three of them forced the orb of glowing death away from the planet and out into space. It traveled for a ways and exploded giving the illusion of two suns in the sky before it faded to nothing.
"Won't Vegeta notice you used his attack?" Goku asked, turning to the teen trunks in confusion.
The demi-Saiyan snorted. "Not like it matters after mini-me did it first." He turned to Eighteen. "Truce?"
She hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, we're done here. I didn't think those two would get so out of hand. Speaking of which, I'll be right back."
The blonde blurred in a burst of speed before appearing right behind Goten and little Trunks in time to snatch them before they could make up their mind to run. "Just what exactly were you two thinking!?" she growled low into their ears. "You know ki blasts are only for emergencies."
"He started it!" the purple haired boy protested, pointing at his older self.
"He has clearly learned to not blow up his home planet. Something I'd have thought you two would have learned by now. Your mother is right there, do you think she would have survived the blast? What about Krillin? Yamcha? Tien? Even Gohan?"
Goten's head jerked up to fix her with a teary eyed look of horror. "No!"
He broke away from Eighteen and rushed at his brother, making the other boy flinch. Goten didn't notice as he frantically looked him over for injury. "You're okay, right?"
Meanwhile his purple-haired partner in crime scowled sullenly back at his blond babysitter. "Tch, we knew you could stop it."
He didn't even look the least bit guilty. Fine. He wanted to play hardball, so could she. The cyborg dragged him over to where Yamcha was currently floating with Bulma in his arms. Ignoring the way everyone tensed and attempted to surround her, Eighteen thrust the nine-year-old at the woman and dropped him in her lap.
"He's your son. You deal with him."
Watching the little demon spawn freeze up in horror, and hearing the panicked choke-gasp thing from his older counterpart made this whole debacle worth it. And watching Bulma's eyes narrow into slits after overcoming her shock as she turned a scowl on the little devil was just icing on the cake.
"Oh, really?" the blue haired woman questioned, her voice dripping with malice.
"Are you trying to get us erased from existence?!" a panicked voice interrupted, and Eighteen sighed as the older one shoved himself in front of her. Really. Who exactly did he think he was intimidating by doing that? She was almost tempted to swat him away like a fly, but she really didn't want to start another fight.
"Don't worry, you already proved changing stuff here won't change anything for us... unfortunately for you. Might be interesting to see how this timeline turns out." She paused, then added, "So, are you going to fix our time machine? Or do you really want to find out what will happen to this timeline if we're left here?"
"Wait, time machine?" Bulma asked, pausing in the stern lecture she had been giving the nine-year-old. The kid looked thoroughly chastised, floating in the air where his mother had him by the ear and winced at every motion she made that pulled on him. Yamcha was eyeing the child with no small amount of apprehension and incredulity of how docilely the kid accepted his punishment.
"Ah- ah, nothing! Time machine? She didn't say time-," the older Trunks spoke up hastily before the android rolled her eyes and elbowed him out of her way none-too-gently.
"Yeah, time machine," she said, ignoring the dirty look the teen was giving her as he doubled over and held his stomach. "It broke-"
"It didn't break, you blasted it!" younger Trunks protested.
"-and we need it fixed before we can go back to our time," she finished as if he hadn't spoken.
Bulma's eyes had lit up with understanding even before the android and finished speaking. Bulma always had been crazy smart when she wasn't being young and stupid about boys.
"If this is my son... then... did I build the time machine?!" she demanded excitedly.
Eighteen nodded. "Yes. Would you like to come and try to fix it?"
"Would I?!" She exclaimed, turning to the child. "You take me to my time machine right now, little mister!"
"Yes, Mom."
Obediently, little trunks scooped his mother up out of Yamcha's arms (discreetly sending the man a dirty look and sticking his tongue out at him behind Bulma's head) and flew at a carefully sedated pace back to their landing area.
Eighteen briefly considered going after them, but honestly she was sick of the kid and Bulma, even at this age, could more than handle him. Demon spawn or not, Trunks loved his mother. Not to mention Vegeta would have his hide if he hurt her in any dimension. Timeline? Whatever it was they were in now.
She was not surprised to see the elder Trunks follow after them. He shot her a questioning look in parting, but she ignored it in favor of turning her gaze to Krillin. Goten was content with jabbering away endlessly at his dad and brother. He'd be fine. Which meant she had some time to spare.
While other people might be depressed to see their spouse flinch from their gaze, Eighteen only found it amusing.
She disappeared and reappeared right beside him, slinging an arm around his neck before he could jump away in surprise.
"Hey there, Cutie. You and I are going to be very good friends..."
"Almost done!" the blue haired scientist announced proudly, before frowning and tilting her head to the side to look at it again. "I think."
"You think?" Eighteen asked, raising an eyebrow. She was perched on a rock off to the side watching everything impatiently.
Krillin was sitting on the ground next to her, going through the pictures in her wallet. He couldn't stop staring at his family. His family. His gorgeous wife, and his adorable little girl... Did he mention how hot his wife was?
Bulma waved away the android's concern. "I'm sure it'll work fine. I couldn't 'fix' your time machine, but I at least got it hooked up to his time machine so you should be able to travel back together. Future me will probably be able to fix it better than I could. Unless you wanted to be stuck here for a year or two while I researched it?"
"No, I need to get back to my daughter as soon as possible," Eighteen stated firmly. She was getting paid by the hour, but her little girl was stuck in their timeline without an adult. This was unacceptable.
"Well, then this is the best you're going to get, I'm afraid." The inventor stepped back, grabbing a rag to wipe the grease from her hands.
The elder Trunks grimaced at the reminder of him having agreed to take them back to his timeline. "I'm still not entirely sure this is such a good idea."
"It's our only idea," Eighteen countered, getting up. "Let's get moving. Trunks, Goten, into the time machine."
It didn't take long to get her charges into the small vehicle, not once Trunks realized none of his favorite video games were even close to being released yet, and soon everything was ready.
"Train hard, guys, and stay safe," the older Trunks warned, as he let the transparent dome click into place. His controls came to life and he was relieved to see his mother's jury-rigged piggyback system was running as smoothly as could be expected.
He still had some misgivings about bringing along the other time travelers, but he wasn't about to leave them behind. Even if his younger self was a demon. Seriously, how had that happened? His mother would have murdered him if he'd ever been so disrespectful!
He pressed the button to begin the time-travelling and the two machines rose into the air together. They all waved their final farewells and Trunks had just one worry left as world faded away around them.
He really really hoped his mother didn't have a heart attack when they got there.
A/N: Eeeeh, not my best ending. Not my best work either, but I had this old thing sitting there 95% finished since forever. I finally just bucked down, tacked on an ending and decided to post it.
There may or may not be a sequel, I haven't had a ton of writing time as of late, you may have noticed.
Sorry I've been gone for so long, real life is very time consuming, but I'll never stop writing. I can't help but write, it's like an obsession. Whether or not I write anything that's good enough for the public is a bit of a debate... Heh.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little drabble of insanity, and thank you for reading it. Review if you feel so inclined, it would just make my day! :D
-Py