Age 767
Father... You are a strong, proud, stern, and lonesome man. You're just as mom said you were. Please, survive what is coming. And good luck to you, my younger mother. Trunks thought to himself, as his ship started to float and fade out of the timeline. He knew he'd come back in 3 years to help again, but he still worried.
Age 785 - Timeline 2
Trunks arrived in the future, but he knew something seemed very off about it. The city looked somehow smaller, yet in better condition than what he had left it. Could it be that his mother's theory about changing the past could actually change the future? He had to investigate.
Capsule corp lab
Trunks looked around, and there were staff, yet pretty sparse. There were more robots around than people. Even some odd alien types, but humans were few and far in between.
"Hey, do you know where Bulma is?" Trunks asked a walking by small green staffer. They had small yellow eyes, black sclera, and an odd orange tip on their head.
"Prince Trunks? Aren't you supposed to be off planet training with the emperor?"
"Uh, I am? I mean..." Trunks just was trying to understand the situation, but getting into a conversation with someone from a timeline he wasn't too sure of that also recognized him with a title of 'prince' didn't seem like a good idea. "Look, can I just speak to my mother? Is she around?" Trunks insisted.
"Uh sure, Doctor Bulma is in the basement lab still working on the special experiment. It's classified to all staff. I'm really curious about what it is. Say, you know about it right? Can you give me a small scoop on what it-" Trunks dashed down without waiting for the staffer to finish. "Hey! Aw man, I'll never find out what the heck that big ship is supposed to be for. It doesn't even have any fuel..."
Basement lab
The entrance needed a touchpad to enter, so Trunks gave it a shot and touched it. The door opened with a boop sound. It was a small elevator that went even further down into some sort of bunker. Looked like something used for emergencies, but re-purposed into a lab.
"Welcome, Prince Trunks. Please refer to all lab notes from Doctor Briefs, and relay any feedback. Would you like a root beer?" A robot said from a voice that came from everywhere yet nowhere.
"Uh Yes?" Trunks said, confused. A Root beer came in from a crane hand.
Maybe the future already changed enough? Maybe I wont even have to go back, but. I really need to know whats going on... Trunks thought.
The lab was a mess, but extremely large in size. Near the entrance, there were two desks that hovered slightly above the ground. The desk on the right was stained with bits of residue oil. It had a scatter of makeup remover tissues, wrenches, a multitude of monitors and keyboards. A box of used nicotine patches sat on the floor next to the trash. Notebooks with papers practically falling out were spread on and off the desk.
The other desk, which Trunks assumed was his, was half full of books on time travel theory, space time, black holes, bio-mechanical engineering and molecular regeneration. The other half was full of books on political structures, combat theory, war tactics, and sword craft. There were also books scattered on the desk about magic, the afterlife, and relationships. There were tons of empty cans of root beer, and empty lunch boxes you'd typically get at a convenience store.
"Mom! Are you there?" Trunks yelled. He was a bit flustered, but was trying to contain his worry as he looked around the lab.
"Trunks?! What are you doing here? I thought maybe AI-16 was malfunctioning again, so I ignored the greeting. Aren't supposed to be training off planet?! Did Vegeta kick you out of his silly empire he's running? Did Buu destroy yet another planet? I swear... I wish Vegeta would let me help more. I'm not sure what we're going to do about Babidi. He's been around for so long tha-" Bulma turned around to look at him, but she had an even more confused look on her face after giving a glance.
"Did you get a haircut? I've never seen you cut it this short. And you're wearing a capsule corp jacket? Interesting. You tend to just wear plain lab coats, or your father's symbol with one of those galactic armors I designed. I guess it's nice to see you wear the branding. Not a bad look. I see you made yourself a new sword. Wait... You're looking a bit thinner than usual. Have you been eating well?" Bulma was observant, but usually she got carried away in the details.
"Mom, look. I came back from the past. I'm trying to figure out why everything is so... Different."
"You keep saying Mom... That's... Cute. You usually say Mother... Ah. Uh Anyway we haven't finished the time machine yet... At the same time, maybe I did already in the future? Huh. Interesting..."
"No, wait. Let me try to explain. I think I already changed the timeline... You told me that it's possible I wouldn't be able to change our own timeline, and that I'd end up back in the same world I left, but it looks like I really changed things."
"Wait. How far back did you go. I think I'm starting to vaguely remember what's going on..."
"Remember when Frieza came to earth? I was the one to take him out and-"
"Oh! Right! Piccolo told me about that before he... Uh. Anyway, so, it looks like my time machine works! Although... I don't think your warnings helped out as much as you think..."
"What do you mean?"
"Well. There were 5 androids, not 2."
"5 androids?!"
"Yeah. You'll want to take a seat. It's a bit of a long story."
Age 767 - Timeline 2
"I was speaking truth when I said you had no chance of victory! Numbers 17 and 18 will be here to kill you soon!"
"What? There's more androids?" Piccolo remarked.
Android 20 shot a blast towards the ship carrying Bulma to cause a distraction.
Gohan, in a desperate dash, attempted to stop the blast, which still managed to get through.
"I'll show them all as soon as I get to my lab." Android 20 was committed to getting this plan done no matter the cost.
"Bulma! Are you ok?!" Gohan yelled. He had managed to get baby Trunks, but couldn't see Bulma.
"Next time, stay home, Woman. You're just in the way." Vegeta yelled. He dropped Bulma, to the ground who was clearly hurt. A bit roughly. "You let me get distracted and let him get away! Where the hell did he go?" Vegeta frantically looked around.
"Gee, thanks, 'prince'. Really appreciate it." Bulma remarked sarcastically.
"Bulma! You're ok!" Gohan yelled, relieved that she was ok.
"Trunks! Oh my little boy! Thank you, Gohan! That was a close one... But I'm pretty sure my legs are broken... Wish he'd gotten me out sooner. I can't really move. I think I'm going to need a senzu bean..."
"I refuse to let him run away!" Vegeta sped off in search. Tch. Why did I let myself get distracted like that. What nonsense...
"There he goes again, I guess." Bulma said. Krillin handed her a senzu bean. The recovery pain was pretty intense, but she always wondered how it was exactly that worked chemically.
"Shouldn't we follow him or try to stop him?" Tien said reluctantly.
"Let him go on his power trip. He'll most likely destroy the android if he finds him. It'll save us the trouble." Krillin said.
"Say, that old geezer, was he an android?" Bulma said.
"Huh? Yeah? Why d'you ask?" Krillin said.
I think that was Doctor Gero. I remember seeing his picture in a scientific journal or something. Odd. I wonder if he turned himself into an android." Bulma contemplated nervously.
Under the rocks behind the rest of the fighters
"Ain't anyone gonna help me out?!" Yajirobe exclaimed
Vegeta grumbled as he gave up and returned back to the rest of the weaklings. Maybe the woman can make some device to find the android easier.
"Oh nice of you to join us, Vegeta. I was just saying that the guy you just fought is named Doctor Gero." Bulma said.
"Doctor? I don't care if he's got a goddamn PhD in chicken crap, I'll wipe him off this planet once I find him." Vegeta spat.
"Bulma, does that mean you know where his lab is?" Piccolo tried to interject, trying to move the conversation along.
"Let's see... As I recall, it was in the mountains near North City. Rumor has it that he converted a cave into a lab, but maybe he could have relocated. I wish I had known Doctor Gero was connected to the Red Ribbon Army..."
"I see. If we can get ahead of Gero, we can destroy these androids he mentioned as well. We were only warned about 2..." Piccolo said.
"Hah. Child's play. I'll locate it first and make sure to wipe all of them out. That other artificial human barely put up a fight." Vegeta proudly stated.
"Well, we haven't seen them yet, and it looks like Gero has to activate these supposed androids. Maybe we can destroy them before they get activated? We can't risk it if they turn out to be more powerful than the ones you just fought." Bulma explained.
"I'd never dream of doing anything so cowardly. I'll let him activate them. As far as I'm concerned, this whole thing has been a joke, and I should show my prowess against these hunks of metal. Now keep out of my way. I'll take care of this." Vegeta said.
"Hey where do you thi-" Tien said, but was cut off by Kirllin
"Let's just follow him there, Tien. At best we can help if it gets out of hand. At worst, we can just watch the show." Krillin said.
"Bulma, can you tell my dad about this for us? Maybe if he recovers in time, we would really want him to join us." Gohan said.
"Uh. Sure, but I cant really do much, since my plane is busted, remember?" Bulma said.
"Gohan, you can take Bulma back. We can probably take care of the androids coming, if the current androids are any indication." Piccolo said.
"Oh, okay. But make sure to be careful." Gohan said worriedly.
"Hey... Can you take me too? My ride's also busted" Yajirobe said from under the rocks still.
Gohan let out a small sigh.
On that thought, the rest of the fighters followed Vegeta to the round about location of the lab.
Over the cold mountains
"-We have 5 left, so that's 2 for each, but I guess Piccolo can take the one left, since he's the strongest between all of us." Krillin said.
"These will come in handy" Tien said.
"-They've already been activated!"
"These are the artificial humans you bragged about? Hah, what a joke." Vegeta taunted.
"..Keep under control?" Krillin said nervously.
"None of that matters right now! Hurry up and take of them before they get away!" Gero exclaimed
"Oh? Number 16...?" Android 18 noticed the number on the pod.
"... He seems a little different from us, though." Android 18 said curiously.
"After all, I'm the only one here who can handle these things." Vegeta cockily stated.
"Don't touch that switch!-" SHisshh
"What a monster... He killed his own creator..."
"So what? They kill those they don't like, regardless of who they are; just like the saiyans. You soft-hearted eathlings could never understand."
"Well well, another android. Guess that's 5." Vegeta said. "Now then, how about we get a work out in.
Edit: 1
Had to edit some grammatical, and character specific things. I have a pretty bad health condition, so my first draft usually doesnt look great. My second draft is reviewed by me and a friend. Sorry if there are mistakes the first read around.
Also, that Staffer is an Alpha-seijin, if you didn't catch it before. which is a brief planet that Kid Buu destroyed during the original DBZ run.
Author's note:
So I wanted to make a preface to the fanfic because I want to gauge interest. I have a whole lot more already written that I will fix up and release, but I also dont wanna make it if it sounds like a silly idea. Let me know what you think. My chapters won't be this short normally.
I also tried to write around the parts that are pretty much the same as the normal timeline so it didnt feel too redundant. It gets pretty wild after though.
Edit: 2
Had to do a pass for grammar and some plot related weirdness. Want to make it all consistent for when it all gets wild.