Note: If you are here for Trunks and Mai shipping purposes be aware she does not appear until season two. More on that in the note at the end of the chapter, but if it is your *only* reason for coming then just go elsewhere because this is not an instant gratification ship fix, it's a slow burn falling in love romantic drama and the falling in love happens as the plot goes on, the plot does not revolve around the falling in love. As for lore while it is not actual canon and I am aware that it is not actual canon, this story subscribes to the theory that the "Arcosians of Arcoss" that the Saiyans meet in King Kai's story in the English dub are Frieza's race. Though the theory was debunked I still like it better than just calling them the Frieza clan. Frieza's clan is his clan, but Arcosian is their species. For simplicity I'm referring to Appule's race as Appullatiens because they're a prominent and plentiful minion species and just "alien" doesn't cut it for me, take that as advance sampling and warning of my sense of humor.
Episode One
'A New Beginning'
Darkness and peace. Wrapped in warmth, cradled on a soft surface the warrior tossed and turned fitfully as the sweet serenity of sleep was pierced by a loud noise like the shriek of so many demons.
His eyes twitched at the seemingly incessant beeping, and he stirred from his bed.
The alarm clock on his nightstand woke him, and the young warrior yawned widely as he sat up and turned it off.
Today was a big day of course, and he couldn't be late.
He quickly hopped out of his bed and gathered up his clothes, which he'd laid out the night before. Gray pants, black shirt, and blue jacket, all of them recently mended from the wear and tear of battle. He dressed, but his gaze lingered on his sword.
For a long time it had been a part of him and he wouldn't have even considered leaving it behind, but now it felt unnecessary.
The Androids were gone, and he was powerful enough to defend the Earth without it. Still, he decided he ought to wear it and let the people see their defender as a warrior, even if the fighting was over.
Trunks examined himself in the mirror, and decided he looked pretty good.
Well . . . all right at least.
He took a deep breath to steady himself and opened the door to his room just as his mother was about to knock.
"Mom?" Trunks didn't try to hide his surprise, "What are you doing?"
"Making sure my son is prepared. This is a big day. You're not nervous, are you?" Bulma asked as she inspected him.
"I am a little." Trunks admitted.
"That's okay, it's understandable." She told him, then added, "I'm so proud of you, Trunks."
"Well this was your idea." Trunks said, feeling his cheeks blush.
"And you're smart enough to go along with it." his mother joked.
At least he was pretty sure she was joking.
The restoration of the damage the Androids had done was nearing its conclusion, the cities had been rebuilt and though the lives lost couldn't be restored without the Dragon Balls humans were a resilient breed.
But there was still one thing missing, at least according to his mother.
Surviving martial artists had been searching for the golden warrior who had killed the Androids and many had ended up at Capsule Corp.
There had been just a few at first. Some had wanted to train with him, others had come to challenge him once it became apparent that the heir to the Capsule Corporation was actually a talented fighter. Finally his mother had come to him with an idea, and after some convincing Trunks had agreed to let what was left of the world know that he was the one who had destroyed the Androids.
Now martial artists had come in droves. Trunks could sense their energy, he could sense their spirit and he knew that not one in ten of them were up to the challenge he was about to present them.
Trunks was trained by Gohan, he was the son of the Prince of Saiyans, he was the defender of humanity. He had slain Frieza in the past and the Androids in the present, but as his mother so often reminded him he was alone. If anything happened to him . . .
One last thing was needed before the Earth would truly be put back together. He took another deep breath and stood up as straight as possible. "All right mom," Trunks said as he exhaled slowly, "let's find a new crop of warriors to train. Let's remake Earth's defenders."
Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z
Darkness and peace. Wrapped in warmth, cradled on a soft surface the warrior tossed and turned fitfully as the sweet serenity of sleep was pierced by a loud noise like the screams of so many victims.
His eyes twitched at the seemingly incessant beeping, and he stirred from his bed.
The chime of his red lensed scouter's communicator woke him, and the Arcosian warrior reached out to retrieve it and place it over his circular ear.
"Commander?" Genora's grating voice rang through his skull.
"You'd better have a good reason for waking me." He grumbled.
"Y-yes, Commander," Genora stammered, "The captain wants you on the bridge."
"Have we reached our target?"
"Yes, sir! We're in orbit now."
The Arcosian warrior nodded to himself and hopped out of his bed. He took his battle armor from the table where he'd left it and slipped it on. It was a sky blue breastplate with brass colored thigh and shoulder pads.
"On my way." He said, switching the scouter's communicator off. He headed for the door, which obediently slid open to allow him to leave.
It wouldn't be a long walk to the bridge, but he used the time to reflect on how, in the time of the great Frieza he'd never have had to lead a troop of weak warriors on a planetary extermination mission.
The Planet Trade Organization had fallen behind since the loss of its upper leadership, and while the Arcosians had been a valued class almost as good as nobility before now they were almost all pressed into service to fill the back-orders that had been piling up.
So many paying customers were wondering when their new planets would be available for migration. It was the job of the Commander and scores of others like him to clear those planets now.
That didn't mean he had to enjoy it. Killing weak aliens day after day, exterminating entire species so that even weaker aliens could take their planets.
The large doors to the bridge opened and the commander marched in, seeing his strike force assembled and ready. Their light blue and silver armor marked them as his elite team, five in all.
Two humanoids, Ganmo with orange skin and Prage with purple, as well as a pair of Appullatiens Ayappa and Avaug both with slimy yellow skin, though Avaug had pink spots. The final member of the squad was Damson, whose species had never been divulged, though the Commander knew him to be its sole survivor after the Galactic Trade Army had cleansed his home world for sale.
Damson was large and reptilian owning a thick heavy spiked tail and armored plates going down his back like a shell. On his head was a bony horned frill and his snout ended in a sharp beak, his arms seemed somewhat short for his body and his fingers were short two-digit affairs with a long spiked thumb on each hand to match the long sharp spikes that jutted from his knees.
Behind his force were two score of typical soldiers dressed in navy blue and brown battle armor, some with energy blasters others without. They were arrayed in squads of ten with a Lieutenant in royal blue and brown armor.
Their average power level was only five hundred but their officers sported power levels up to three thousand. Of course the Commander's elite force was much stronger. With an average of thirty thousand and Damson pushing forty they could almost rival the Ginyu Force of old, if the records of their power levels were accurate anyway.
The Commander himself was as strong as Captain Ginyu, he knew that for certain. Unfortunately no individual had yet reached Lord Frieza's power level, though the Twins who ruled the clan now were said to have reached it when their power levels were combined no one was allowed to scan them and the Commander strongly suspected it was a lie.
Captain Kalt, the ship's commanding officer and a fellow Arcosian stood on the bridge with his hands clasped behind his back staring out the circular window at the planet they orbited. His power level was only forty thousand himself, about average for an Arcosian. It was his breeding and tactics that made him an officer, not his strength.
It was a blue and green world, utterly insignificant except for the fact that it was the property of the Planetary Trade Organization and its ape-descended lifeforms just didn't know it yet. Their world had been bought and paid for, and they simply had the indecency to still be on it.
"You took your time, nephew." The captain said calmly.
"What's the rush?" The commander asked.
"Our quota, Commander." The Captain answered, turning to face him. Captain Kalt had pale off-white skin and a teal carapace. His dome had a somewhat silver hue and his long horns gradually curved downwards. The bands under his eyes were the same silver color as his dome, but he had no visible lips or mouth. Instead his carapace covered his face like a surgeon's mask.
Not like the Commander's light blue skin and black bands and lips. The Commander's own carapace was a light gray color, almost white. His dome was the same icy blue as his battle armor, and his horns jutted upward in what he was told was a striking resemblance to King Cold. Both the Captain and Commander shared the same red eyes.
The same eyes as Lord Frieza.
They were of the same clan after all, so some similarities made sense of course. Their race's natural ability for transformation played a part as well. Though no living Arcosian had locked away as many forms with as varied strength as Lord Frieza.
Of course it was hard to know for certain. It was now well established that scouters of those decades had been inaccurate and unreliable. Records claimed Lord Frieza's power level had been an absolutely unrealistic sixty million after all, with some rumors placing it at double that.
Luckily scouters were more reliable now. Lord Frieza had been strong, of that there was no doubt. But the idea that anyone could have a power level in excess of one million was laughable and impossible.
But however strong Lord Frieza had been unfortunately with an entire galaxy to control the planets in need to extermination for recolonization by paying customers was a long and troublesome list. It was so long that the Galactic Trade Army was still cleansing worlds the Saiyans had been expected to clear decades ago.
Like the world their ship hovered in orbit over now. It didn't look like much and the Commander shrugged with indifference before asking, "Where are the highest power levels concentrated?"
"The largest continent at its center." Genora, the green Appullatien who worked the ship's controls with her identical counterparts Gareno and Orenga answered.
"Highest power level only registers as Eight thousand." Gareno added.
The Commander scowled and folded his arms. "That's it? You didn't even need to wake me up."
"Eight thousand is still greater than any of my Lieutenants, Commander. Besides, I want this planet cleared in forty eight hours." The Captain said tersely. "You will see to it, Commander; I will not be late for our rendezvous with Alpha Station, nor will I be very pleased if General Boreal's vessel has arrived before ours."
"Right, so that's what it is. No fear then, I don't want the General looking down on us any more than you do." The Commander scoffed again and turned a jaundiced eye to his squad. "First one to the biggest power level gets to kill it."
They all groaned. They all wanted what might be the only real sport on the planet, but none of them were half as fast as their Commander. He smiled companionably at them and said, "I'll give you a ten second head start."
It seemed to appease them, even the slowest of them, Damson snorted and smashed his fists together in hopeful anticipation.
"I want this planet clear in forty eight hours, no later. But let me tell you, for every hour we finish ahead of schedule I will allow you an hour of short leave once we reach the station."
"Bring us in to land, Genora." Captain Kalt said, taking the command chair. "All squads . . . carry out planetary extermination."
To Be Continued . . .
On the next episode of Dragon Ball COED . . . Trunks makes his announcement and finds someone he thought was long dead, and Kalt's crew launch their attack only to find the natives have some surprises in store for them.
Note: This is actually something of an old story, I had the idea for it when I first saw a Dragon Ball Heroes video, and I've been writing it in earnest since around the time Xenoverse one came out, so I was aware of the Trunks and Mai toy ship but assumed it was constrained to their kiddie versions and would have no bearing on this story which does not include them (so far . . . I dunno, it's still going) Season one was finished by the time I became aware of Future Mai's existence which is why she doesn't show up until season two, now I have been accused of switching ships by including her and many people feel she doesn't feature frequently or prominently enough so again, if you're only here for a ship fix you're probably just going to be frustrated because not only is the romance a slow burn the two of them have (gasp!) lives and characters outside of their falling in love, and this upsets some readers. Xenoverse also provided the basic character images which are available on Deviant Art, look at Zoness1124's Xenoverse gallery. Because of its age there are certain things you might want to see in here that aren't going to be in season one yes Mai is one of them, as I said at the start. Also remember to review, as that is the closest thing to currency that keeps this story coming.