A/N: I don't own DBZ or the characters, that honour belongs to Akira Toriyama. I use British English spelling.
Vegeta and his eight year old son Trunks go back in time to warn the past of the Androids' arrival. When the machine needs repairing the two of them are stuck. At least the past has good food! There's just one problem... Bulma begins to fall in love with Future Vegeta, instead of his younger self. Can Vegeta ensure his son's birth, defeat the Androids, and save the world?
Vegeta shot into the air, the wind around him singing like the blood in his veins that called for vengeance. He'd hated Zarbon with a passion he usually reserved for Frieza, but the one experience he'd had with his cousin had shaken him at the time - not that he had ever admitted that - and the idea of ripping her green head from her body to see how she liked the feeling of her skull imploding had definite appeal.
Of course, he had to get through the automations currently closing in from above first…
Gathering a ball of ki in his palms, he experimentally fired it upwards. It soared in a straight line, and when it hit the automations it exploded with an electric crackle, creating a small hole in the formation.
Within seconds the hole was filled by more machines.
Vegeta paused in flight to hover midair, then began to draw on his energy to produce his signature attack. The air flickered with purple light that danced in his hands and up his arms, and when he fired, it exploded across the automations like a rippling wave. But when the smoke cleared, there were no gaps in the machines, and they continued their rapid descent.
Interesting. It was as if the automations had learnt from his first attack and prepared enough for his second, making it unable to penetrate their shields. Curious to test his theory, Vegeta launched into a choreographed attack, launching several blasts after the other. This time a few of the automations fell. He repeated the same attack sequence, but didn't succeed in eliminating any.
Next, Vegeta tried the same formation, but with the final attack changed. He only disabled one automation. The bastards were learning. They reminded him of the bots Bulma had created for him after he'd agreed to stop picking fights with the androids and instead train to defeat them. He was going to have to find a weakness in them, and quickly, or they'd soon learn all his attacks and move from defence to offence.
He needed to get closer to them and fight them close range.
Vegeta considered becoming Super Saiyan, then decided against it, realising it was something the machines couldn't possibly predict and he should keep it up his sleeve. Remaining in his base form, he shot up towards the centre of the still-approaching horde.
As he got closer, he could distinguish the individual machines more clearly. They were a dark grey, oval in shape with eight angled arms that connected to the machine beside it. They reminded Vegeta of Earth's spiders, but they each had a glowing blue light on the front that Vegeta suspected fired a weapon and they were much larger than arachnoids – only slightly smaller than Vegeta himself.
He veered to the left before hitting the centre, colliding instead with a different group of machines in the hopes that he'd caught them off guard. They broke apart at his impact, firing burning hot ki. Each blast merely singed his skin, and Vegeta twisted in the air, grabbed one of the machines by its arm, then swung it into another. Both machines died and plummeted to the ground, but the hole he'd created was quickly replaced.
His method so far was inefficient. He needed a way to take them all out, or he'd be here forever. The only clue he had was that they all acted as one. They were connected, and thanks to his WTO days, Vegeta knew all about exploiting an enemy's relationships to gain an advantage.
Taking a punt, Vegeta dropped down so he was no longer at close range, then powered up to a level just below turning Super Saiyan. He began a full onslaught to the left flank of the machine fleet. He kept his shots as wild and unpredictable as possible, drawing in more machines from other parts of the fleet as they tried to fill the gaps. Their descent to the planet slowed, and when Vegeta saw the number of machines had clustered in his area of attack, he flew back up, punched a hole through one of them, then sent a blast of power to it.
The machine let out a horrific screaming sound, almost as if it was alive, and Vegeta kept his ki pulsing through it, overloading the machine's energy core. It exploded abruptly, sending shrapnel flying, and about twenty more rows of machines around it exploded too, unable to let go of each other in time to avoid the energy overload.
Letting out a sharp laugh, Vegeta realised he'd finally made a sizeable hole in the automations that they couldn't fill. He moved to try a similar attack, hoping they hadn't had time to assess and learn from his last one when the machines all separated.
Four of them flew straight towards Vegeta, surrounding him then pressing their bodies to him. He made to increase his ki to blow them off, but before he could the automations made a clicking sound.
"Fuck," he grunted out as he remembered what Ara had said. The machines had the same abilities as Zersa.
He felt sharp needles press into then pierce his skin. Then the pain started.
Trunks hopped his knight deftly up and to the right across the board, taking out Videl's bishop and setting himself up for a move against the king. "Check!" He crowed triumphantly, dancing a little in his seat.
Videl's eyes widened and she shook her head in disbelief. "I taught you this game a few weeks ago and you're already kicking my butt?" Her eyes narrowed before a grin broke out on her face. In a sweeping move, she pulled her queen across the board, taking out his knight and positioning it in a direct path to Trunks' king. "Check mate."
"What?" Trunks leaned forward to peer at the checked board, trying to figure out how he'd missed that possible outcome. "No way."
"Yes way," Videl said, leaning back in her chair nonchalantly. "You were too caught up in your own move to think about what it would mean for me."
"But…" Trunks tried to think of a way out of her move, but his king was well and truly trapped. "I want a rematch."
Videl laughed at that. "Maybe tomorrow, kiddo. I need to-"
A resounding explosion cut her off and the room shook, sending the board and all the chess pieces scattering to the floor. Videl let out a yelp and threw herself on top of Trunks – as if he were the one needing protection! - and the small pieces of plaster began to fall from the roof, covering the room like snow.
When the shaking stopped, Trunks shoved Videl off and immediately began sensing his father's location. He didn't need to look far, as Papa's ki signature was heading straight towards them.
"What was that?" he asked, coughing from the floating dust.
Videl just shook her head and clambered to her feet.
A moment later, the door to the room burst open and Papa strode in. His gaze looked Trunks up and down, and apparently deciding Trunks was unharmed, shifted to Videl. "Your father is directing everyone to the lower tunnels. Take Trunks and go with them."
"Is it the androids?" she asked, her voice tight. At Papa's sharp nod, Videl clenched her shaking fists, her fear showing for a moment before her hands relaxed and her face became stony. "What about you?"
"They are here for me," Papa replied. "I'll draw them off."
"They are here for us," Trunks said standing up then brushing the plaster from his clothes. "I should come with you."
"I'm only drawing them off, not engaging them." Papa drew a hand over his face, and when he dropped it Trunks realised just how weary the man looked. "The less variables the better and if it doesn't work the humans will need someone to protect them." He tossed Trunks a capsule. "Look after that. It's everything we have on the time machine."
He turned to go then, striding out of the room the same regal way he'd entered.
"Papa!" Trunks called out.
His father paused in the doorway, but didn't turn around.
Trunks opened his mouth, but found that he wasn't sure what he'd wanted to say. "Don't die," he said finally, his throat closing slightly at the words.
Papa glanced over his shoulder at that, and gave him a two-fingered salute. "See you soon, son."
The pain came in rolling waves, blacking out his vision and searing every nerve ending.
It's not real, Vegeta told himself.
But his skin felt as though it was being peeled off his body layer by layer while his muscles and bones twisted and cracked underneath. And his head - that was the worst of it. He could feel his brain pulsing and stretching under his skull.
He'd been through this once before, and even managed to avoid giving up the truth. Move! he commanded himself. Fight back!
Vegeta barely managed to wriggle a finger when the agony intensified until he couldn't feel his limbs, let alone move them… and it grew until he couldn't do anything but scream.
His father lay on the small white bed, his bruised skin dark blotches against the white sheets. Trunks held Papa's hand and mentally catalogued every injury his father had sustained lest he forget how lucky he was to have his father alive.
Five broken ribs - two on the left, three on the right. Internal injury to his right kidney. Collapsed right lung. Broken right tibia. Shattered right knee. Fractured left ulna. Concussion. Abrasions to twenty three percent of his body. Two lacerations - one to his left thigh, the other to his forehead.
Papa had fallen unconscious the moment he'd seen Trunks, and seven hours later he still hadn't woken up. The human's doctor had done their best, but he'd been told that if his father was human, he'd be dead already.
The door behind Trunks opened then closed quietly, but he didn't look up, knowing who it was. "I should have helped him," he said, voicing aloud what he'd been thinking since his father arrived back barely conscious and bleeding out.
"No… Trunks." A warm, comforting arm wrapped around his shoulder and he felt Videl's head lean on his. "You have no way of knowing if that would have helped or made things worse. The most important thing to your father is knowing you are safe. He wanted you to stay."
"I don't want to lose him too."
Videl pulled back, then moved beside him, cupping his jaw and gently forcing him to look at her. "Kiddo, I know. Believe me, I know. But he came back. He's a strong guy - he'll pull through."
"This time," Trunks said bitterly. "He used to have Gohan. They had each other out there. Now all he has is me. He's protected me my whole life. I should be doing the same for him."
"Trunks, protecting you is his job. He's your father-"
"If I'd protected my mother, she'd still be alive," Trunks snapped.
Videl continued talking, but Trunks blocked her out, going back to assessing his father, eyes only flicking from Papa to check the numbers on the monitor next to him.
Trunks knew instantly that something was wrong. Everyone had made it to The Clunker, which was now cloaked, and Trunks had spent the last ten minutes in the control room staring through the large window at the black expanse that had taken over the sky, torn between staying to protect everyone and flying off to help his father.
He'd barely been able to make out his father, so small he was against the massive automation threat, but when he'd seen the damage Papa had been able to cause, Trunks had let out a whoop of excitement.
It was short lived though, because moments later his father's ki plummeted, then spiked erratically. Papa was in pain, and a lot of it.
Trunks immediately powered up to Super Saiyan and fled the ship ignoring the shouts of Ara commanding him to stay put. Once outside, he took to the air, closing in on his father's ki.
When he got close enough to see, he realised that Papa was enclosed by automations and that they held him captive. Trunks could just make out Papa's limp, dangling legs, but the rest of him was surrounded. The sound coming from his father's throat was like no other Trunks had heard. A wild, desperate cry.
With a scream of fury, Trunks fired at the machines, dodging the retaliatory blasts from the automations still coating the sky. He managed to destroy one of the machines by Papa, and he got close enough to grab his father and rip him away from them.
The moment Papa was away from the machines he opened his eyes with a gasp, a scream dying on his lips. "Don't let them touch you," he choked out, before spinning to the side to deliver a sharp kick to a machine that had ventured too close. "I told you to stay with the ship."
Trunks scowled as they positioned themselves back to back, arms up defensively. "Rules of engagement, Papa. When it goes to hell..."
Papa let out a hissing sound between his teeth, blocking a blast from one of the machines. "There are no rules," he finished the familiar mantra. "But I had it under control, brat."
"It didn't feel like it to me."
Papa growled in response. "If you want to make it out of this alive," he let out a roar as he fired at approaching automations, "you'd better start doing what I damn well tell you to do."
"You and me, together," Trunks retorted through gritted teeth. "That's what you said. I'm not going to let you die like Mama."
Trunks felt his father's back stiffen against his. Another wave of machines came at them, firing blasts, arms whirring madly.
"Trunks," Papa started to say. "Listen closely. That's not-"
But Trunks never found out what his father was going to say as a heavy wave of energy pulsated through them, cutting Papa off. Trunks felt each and every one of his cells tremble before all the ki he had inside him vanished, as though it had been sucked out. He couldn't find enough energy to even cry out as he tumbled to the ground below, and could only reach out for Papa, who fell beside him, as everything spun until everything faded to black and a deep nothingness took over.
"What do you mean we have to go?" Trunks asked, staring at his father who was currently pulling on a grey t-shirt that was three sizes too big.
Papa yanked it over his head, wincing at the movement, then pulled it down over his mottled green and yellow torso. "The androids won't stop until they find us." He dragged on a pair of pants then limped across the room to pick up a pair of laceless sports shoes. "If we stay here the humans will be collateral damage. If we leave, when the androids close in we can at least attempt to escape without detection. There are too many humans for us to do that here."
"And we are supposed to leave them defenceless?" Trunks demanded, his stomach roiling at the thought.
Papa sat back on the edge of the bed to shove his feet in the shoes, then paused to look at Trunks, his black eyes unblinking in their stare. "I know you have made a friend here. For a human the girl is not a complete waste of space. But she is more likely to die if we stay."
"This is running away." Trunks blinked back hot tears of anger. "I don't want to run. I want to fight."
"We've talked about this. We are in a temporary retreat. Our first mission needs to be to complete the machine." Papa sighed and dropped his head, rubbing his temples with his forefingers. "I don't like it either but we are playing the long game here." He looked back up at Trunks, his eyes pleading. "Do you understand?"
Yes, Trunks understood. He just didn't like it. He swallowed hard then nodded, noting how his father's shoulders relaxed at his agreement. Papa was probably right - he usually was. But that didn't make it any easier.
The cold was the first thing Vegeta noticed as he awoke.
The way the frigid air slunk over his skin, seeping into his pores, reminded him of every corner of Frieza's ship. The lizard liked every room to be heated to his body's preference, whether he would ever enter the room or not, and all the warm-blooded soldiers were left to suffer. Vegeta had spent many nights huddled under the meagre blankets provided, trying to rid himself of the bone-deep chill that permeated the ship.
He was never successful.
Vegeta peeled his eyes open and peered through sticky eyelashes, half expecting to see his old room, with Nappa curled in a ball in a chair, and a snoring Raditz passed out drunk on the floor.
Instead, he found himself lying on tiles inside a dark, cramped cell, the only exit a heavy metal door.
"Papa?" A small, groggy voice came from the darkest corner of the room and Vegeta could just make out the huddled shape and his purple hair.
Vegeta grunted his response as he sat up gingerly, his lungs burning in the thin air, every gasp in making his teeth tingle. "You hurt?" he managed to get out.
Trunks shook his head and looked at his hands. "F…feel weird though," he stammered through chattering teeth. My ki is gone. That blast… it was some sort of EMP."
"Hm." Vegeta tried to draw on the ki from his well deep inside. It normally overflowed with so much energy he had to train daily to keep it level, but all he felt now was the smallest of sparks that was barely enough to keep his heart beating. Was this how humans felt all the time?
Trunks stood up, using the wall for stability. "The one we tried to use on the androids disrupted electrical signals. This one seemed to disrupt ki. A Ki-MP." The boy chuckled at his own joke, making Vegeta roll his eyes.
Still, if his son could find humour in this situation it meant he wasn't lying when he'd said he was unhurt. Relieved, Vegeta struggled to his feet as well, taking in a few deep, steadying breaths. The lack of ki had him feeling odd, and he knew it meant he wouldn't be able to use his Super Saiyan transformation. An annoying setback, but he hadn't spent so much time training in his core form, building up his strength for nothing. Vegeta had learnt at a young age not to take anything for granted, and his ki was no exception.
He made his way to the door, drew back his fist, and slammed it into it. The force of his punch left a sizeable dent in the door, but before he could try it again, the door opened, revealing a Sasbala - a small, bird-like creature no taller than Trunks. Vegeta couldn't tell if the alien was male or female, and while the species usually had a luxurious rainbow array of feathers, this one's had mostly fallen out, giving him the appearance of an oversized, semi-plucked chicken.
"No need for that," it chirped through its small beak. "Zersa will see you now, Prince Vegeta." It nodded towards the back of the cell. "You too, youngling."
Trunks joined Vegeta at the door and they glanced at each other, then shrugged at the same time. "Keep your mouth shut," Vegeta warned quietly as they began following the Sasbala down a labyrinth of deserted hallways, each so cold condensation had frozen in droplets to the walls.
Each breath the two Saiyans took came out in frosty clouds, and Vegeta resisted the urge to rub his arms to keep warm. He glanced at his son as he felt themselves getting closer to a ki level that wasn't far off his own base form. Trunks' expression remained stoic, and Vegeta could tell from his flickering gaze that he was doing as Vegeta had taught him and taking in his surroundings to look for an advantage.
The Sasbala stopped at a double door, then turned to them. "Through there," he commanded, then he scuttled away back down the hall they'd just came from.
Vegeta frowned in confusion. He'd been expecting armed guards, but for Zersa, this was almost… welcoming. Stuffing down his hesitation, Vegeta shoved both the doors open so they swung inwards and hit the walls beside them with a slam, then strode in, Trunks keeping step at his side.
The room was large and white, and smelt so strongly of acrid cleaning products Vegeta had to resist gagging from the assault to his sensitive nostrils. But all the cleaning in the universe couldn't hide the underlying scent of death in the room.
One wall was taken up by huge holographic screens, and in front of them hovered a chair, eerily reminiscent of the one Frieza used. It spun around, revealing a tall, green-skinned woman whose delicate features resembled Zarbon's. She was beautiful, even with the left metal half of her body. The reconstructed side of her had been crafted carefully to make her features perfectly symmetrical, and she'd braided the wiring spilling out of her temple into her hair.
She smiled as her gaze fell on him, the organic half of her mouth curving crookedly. "Vegeta," she said, her voice sickly sweet. "I've been expecting you."
A/N: No Earth scenes this chapter, sorry! Writing these in-space action scenes is hard but hopefully you're enjoying them. If not, Vegebul moments will come in droves soon enough. Now for the review commentary.
So Ara and Vegeta were together at one point? How? Is it after raddish was killed?
At some point, very briefly they had a "moment", and you'll find out when and how at some point in this story.
I am curious how the divergent places both Vegetas are in will converge eventually - if they ever do. Will they meet again? For how long? If they do, will younger Vegeta ask more questions to learn from him before they go their separate ways?
Haha I can say that the two Vegetas will meet again at some point. Where and when? My lips are sealed!
I love the way its written only complaint I have is some times I don't know which Vegeta you are fighting about until a couple sentences in. future Vegeta, present Vegeta, memory future Vegeta, or memory past Vegeta... lol I love Vegeta but there is a LOT of Vegeta's.
Yeah, sorry I don't know what to do about that without awkwardly saying "Future Vegeta" every time. I try give clues based on where they are and what they are doing, and italics are always time-travelling Vegeta's past. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This story makes me sick. Hardly anyone is in character. Trunks in this is not like future trunks or even kid trunks. FYI the only time trunks doesn't listen to vegeta is when he us part of the fusion gotenks. And that's still only rarely. loser.
Ouch. I haven't been called a loser since I was in high school! How nostalgic. Anyway, Trunks in this story is not Future Trunks or Kid Trunks. He is a completely different character. The fact that he is different is actually the entire point of this story (if you read my bio page it mentions that) which is to explore how a change in a past event can change who your are as a person. If you are young or lucky enough to have never had a life-changing event that altered you permanently, then it's probably not something you'll understand.
With all the new spaceships and stuffs, is present Vegeta going into space to visit them soon?
Ziiiiiiiiiiippppppppp. ;)