Disclaimer on prologue.

Notes: This the longest episode yet it will be eight parts when finished. It is also extremely dark in places I will be attempting to upload it every Friday for the next Eight Weeks. Unless Real Life gets in the way.

Warnings: Violence, Off screen torture, Character Death, and so on and so fourth. I don't feel it crosses the line to where I would have to change the fic rating over all to Mature but it might approach the line occasionally.

Pairings: I won't be naming them just that there are het and Slash couples featured in this fic. If I reveal pairings I feel for this section it will spoil the direction of this episode too much. So warning you that I'm not revealing them.

Travelers

Gero's World

Part One of Eight

"What have we gotten ourselves into now?" Goten yelled as they appeared in the middle of a town that was obviously under attack. "Look out," Goten shoved him out of the way and swatted a blast he didn't see coming out of the way. He turned to see a woman that he didn't recognize bearing down on them firing burst of energy. "I can't sense any ki from her," his best friend said.

"Worry about that later," he said as he powered up swatting aside the blast she was throwing. When she got close enough, he knocked her into the ground. He held back slightly because he didn't know how much she could take. He regretted it almost instantly as she was back on her feet and attaching again in just a few seconds. He glanced over at Goten for help only to see the woman wasn't alone as Goten was grappling with a strange man. He had to focus back on his own fight when the woman landed a glancing blow.

He heard Goten scream from behind him before going super saiya-jin. "Don't let them grab you," Goten said as he knocked the man away. He found out what Goten meant rather quickly when the woman snagged his arm and he felt his ki draining out of him. He had to transform himself to get free. "I warned you," Goten said grimly.

"Collection squad 3657 Units 5 and 3 request assistance," The woman said as she fell back beside the man. He heard the screams from the human populace of the town stop as their attackers left them and gathered around him and Goten.

"We are in real trouble Goten," he said darkly. His friend didn't have time to respond because they were suddenly fending off eight different attackers. They were outnumbered four to one and every time one of them managed to get a grip on them their ki level dropped.

XXXX

"Where do you suppose they came from?" The Namekian hovering beside him asked as they watched the two unknown super saiya-jin's fight. It was obvious they wouldn't last much longer they were beginning to slip out of their transformed state. "Could Vegeta have fathered other kids before his death?"

"No, that's impossible we'd have seen them before now as they are well trained." He frowned, "They are kind of stupid though they'd have won the fight easily if they'd just put the artificial humans down when they first attacked." He knew they couldn't have grown up on this world and been so stupid. "My guess is they are probably half-breeds from some other alien race."

"Still shouldn't we help them out?" His companion was looking down at them with a frown. He extended his hand and gathered his ki. He saw them start and the collection androids look up identifying them.

He released his ki in eight streams that shattered the collection androids easily. "There problem solved." He began to float downward his companion following him. "Let's go find out their story."

He could tell they were shocked by how easily he'd taken out the androids. "Gohan," One of them said knowing his name. He looked closely at him and saw a resemblance to his dad. He frowned. He wasn't sure his newly arrived aliens' theory was going to pan out.

"Who are you and where did you come from?" He asked warily. He glanced at the other one and was horrified to see that he looked like he'd have expected a grown up Trunks to have looked like.

"It's a long story but we are from an alternate world where things turned out different," The purple haired one said. "I don't know if we exist here or not but I'm Trunks and this is Goten." He gestured at his friend. "He's your younger brother on our world and I'm Vegeta and Bulma's son."

"I know who you are," He said to the purple haired one. "I don't know who you are," he said to his supposed brother. "And this is Talon." He gestured toward the Namekian who stood behind him.

"We should get out of here before any higher level artificial humans show up," Talon said from behind him. "Gero is sure to have noticed that power strike and will probably send her to investigate." He would love a chance to finish her off if she came but he knew now wasn't the time so he nodded and began to lift off. "The two of you should come with us, as this is a dangerous place."

XXXX

"We are really going to be here for a month?" He asked his best friend as they flew with the alternate version of his brother and the strange namek. Trunks nodded to confirm it then looked away. He wondered why they were going to be here for so long.

"What happened on this world?" Trunks asked. He noticed that this world's Gohan started when his friend asked that question. The namek glanced over at Gohan as if he was waiting for permission to speak.

"I'm going to fly on ahead and tell the others about our guest," Gohan said. "Talon, you can tell them the gory details." Even as he finished speaking his ki increased and his speed increased exponentially as he zoomed out of sight.

"You'll have to forgive Gohan," The namek said. "He doesn't like to talk about the mess Gero has made of our world." He exchanged a knowing look with Trunks. They had heard stories about the other time line and wondered if this world had similar events. "Everything went wrong after Goku died of heart disease." He paused for a moment. "It was about two years after that, when Gero and his army of artificial humans attacked and conquered West City."

"What happened to my family in this world?" Trunks asked. Goten glanced over at his friend. He wanted to know about his family too but felt it would be impolite to interrupt to ask.

"Your mother and Grand parents were converted into Artificial humans," Talon said darkly. "Gero intends to convert every life form on this planet into his network." He frowned. "They weren't artificial humans long Vegeta destroyed them all during his last stand against Gero." He frowned. "Since then West City has been rebuilt as their home and they are slowly rounding up every intelligent being on earth for conversion."

"Please don't take this the wrong way but where did you come from?" Trunks asked. "On our world there are only two namekian's on the entire planet Piccolo and Dende." Goten had to admit he was curious about that and had been waiting for Trunks to ask.

"After he merged with Kami Piccolo created myself and my brothers as an insurance policy in case he failed to destroy Gero." He frowned. "He passed on all his knowledge and engineered us to grow up much faster than normal." He looked away. "He created about thirty of us but there are only five of our generation left." He looked down. "Gohan is the only one who can match some of Gero's forces." He looked up at them again, "We should be arriving soon you can learn more from the others at our home."

XXXX

"You wished to see me," She asked as she entered the interface room where the master spoke to the members of his network. She waited as the wall opened allowing her to enter the master's private sanctum. It was a great honor to be allowed to speak directly with the master as he had the power of life and death over all of her kind.

She knelt down staring at the ground waiting for the master to give her permission to rise. She was not foolish enough to look up at him as he descended from the core of the city. "You may rise." She looked up into the broken face of her creator. He'd never repaired his body after the damage it has suffered at the hands of the Saiya-jin Prince Vegeta. The creator's brain was now housed in a secure vault somewhere in the city and his former android body was now manipulated by the many cables connected to it. "You are aware of the destruction of Collection Squad 3657," he asked.

"Yes master," she stated. She didn't know why her master was interested in the destruction of a collection squad it happened regularly and they were easily replaced. However she knew if her master was interested that there was something she was unaware of.

"There were two interesting people involved," He said turning toward a nearby screen. She saw images of two younger men fighting and even transforming like Gohan. "They appear to be hybrids who popped up out of nowhere." He looked over at her. "Do you have any idea where they could have come from?"

She thought for a second before saying, "Perhaps Vegeta had other children that they've kept hidden until they were old enough to fight." Her master laughed at her. An inferior part of her wanted to defend herself but she was not so foolish. She lived because the master allowed it and it would be foolish to test him.

"No my dear I think they didn't exist on this world until that moment," he said. "Look at the screen again my dear." She turned and saw a comparison of the purple haired one to images of Vegeta's dead son. "Our analysis all but confirms this is that child grown up." He looked over at her, "and how that is possible is what we need to find out."

"Shall I take a squadron and go capture them," she suggested? She was already calculating how many troops to take as she'd probably have to over come Gohan to drag them off. She frowned, "I will need to take several of the Guardian androids."

"No, you won't because you aren't going after them," he said simply. "I want information on them before I choose how to act." He smiled, "I will allow my spy in the pathetic rebellions ranks a chance to provide me with the information I require." He smiled darkly. "After all we are approaching a very important event and I will allow nothing to interfere." He began to ascend back to the ceiling. "You may go Videl."

"Yes master," she said before turning and leaving the interface room.

To be continued...