Two more years had passed, and the androids continued to wreak havoc across the Earth. Dozens of cities were toppled to the ground because of them. They didn't just destroy it in one go, though - they could spend weeks terrorizing everyone who lived there just for kicks. What made it truly scary was how unpredictable their attacks were. They could go for months without any sightings, but destroy three cities in the span of a few days. Regardless of how strong they were or how many fancy weapons they had, no one stood a chance against them.

Trunks continued to aid in the fight, mainly in helping people escape. He'd either use his speed to get them out of a bad situation quickly or hold off the androids as long as he could to let others get away. He tried not to fight them head-on anymore. The now fourteen year-old was much stronger, but it still wasn't enough to take on the androids. He'd learned that there wasn't any shame in fleeing, if the situation got too much for him to handle. It was better for the Earth if he fled and stayed alive, instead of dying in a futile fight.

In the meantime, Bulma was continuing her search for Gero's lab. Even if he was dead, they needed to find it and destroy it, lest anything else came crawling out of there. She managed to find a few leads, but nothing else. She needed to get out there and scout out those places, herself.

But that wasn't her only plan.

One night, she was transcribing her father's old notes and came across his notes for his time travel idea. She thought he had gone mad when he brought it up, but now she saw some validity behind it. Her father made all sorts of hairbrained schemes, but he always seemed to pull it off, in the end. Maybe that was just what they needed in such desperate times. So for the past two years, she had begun studying time travel and trying to find a way to make it work. She had written plan after plan and theory after theory, trying to perfect her idea. And she did it all on her own, not even mentioning it to her son or Piccolo.

And then she finally made her breakthrough.

Trunks walked through the door to her room. "You wanted to see me, mom?"

She motioned for him to come sit next to her, an excited smile on her face. On her desk was a small box, with a motor attached to it and a piece of fruit sitting in it. She pointed at it. "Do you see that on the table?"

He squinted his eyes. "The box? What about it?"

Bulma carefully closed it, and pressed a button on the engine. "Just watch what happens to it!" She put her hands in her lap, glancing at Trunks to see his reaction. The engine turned on and the box began to rumble. Then, it disappeared into thin air.

His eyes widened. He put his hands on the table, searching for it. Then, he ducked his head to look underneath. "Where'd it go? It was just here."

She just grinned. "Go and check your room."

He stood up, accidentally knocking the stool down and went to his room. Bulma counted down the seconds in her head, until he came running back into the room. He was holding the box in his hand.

"It was on my bed," he yelled. "B-but how?! I didn't put it there! You didn't put it there!"

She laughed. "Sure I did. I sent it there myself. Go ahead and open it up."

He did, but quickly pushed it away from his face, covering his nose as he closed it again. "It's all moldy, now."

"It ought to be - I did send it back in time by a few days."

Trunks did a double take. "Wait, what?!" He looked at the box, turning it around in his hands. He moved some of the gears with his hands, trying to figure out how that was possible. "So… is this… a time machine?!"

"That's right!" She walked up next to him and took it out of his hands - she didn't want him to break it. "Your grandfather had this idea a long time ago. If I can get it working on a larger scale, then I think this might be the thing to help us beat the androids."

"H-how?!"

"Well, if we go back in time and warn everyone about the androids, then they'll have a better chance at beating them. And maybe we can learn how to beat them here, too!"

Trunks just stared at her. Then, he shook his head. "You don't need to do that, mom. I'll be strong enough to beat the androids soon. I'm really close to becoming a Super Saiyan - I just know it."

"We might not have that kind of time. Piccolo told you that it might be a long time before you're strong enough to fight them. And your father was a lot older than you, when he became a Super Saiyan. It's better we get the androids situation solved before they're allowed to destroy anything else."

"But what if I become a Super Saiyan before you finish the time machine? Can't I fight them, then?"

"Until that day comes, I say we try this plan out." She pulled a small blue notebook out of her pocket. She flipped through the pages until she reached a page marked with a piece of scrap paper. When she showed it to Trunks, it was a model for a bigger time machine. "Trunks, I want you in the lab with me, while I work on this."

His brows furrowed, as he looked at it. "Why?"

She sighed. "Because," she paused, trying to find the right words to say. "You're growing up, Trunks. Eventually, you might want to leave and fight this on your own. If that ends up being the case, I want you to be prepared. You'll need to be able to take care of these things, yourself. And that means knowing how all of this works."

As the words sunk in, he nodded. "Okay. I will, mom."

Bulma smiled and hugged him. "I love you so much, Trunks." She kissed the top of his head.

"Mom," he whined, rubbing his hair. "I'm not a baby."

She laughed. "But you'll always be one, to me." She pinched his cheek. He tried to push her off of him, even though he was smiling.

The months persisted and the seasons changed. Trunks, now age fifteen, continued to help Bulma in the lab. Progress had been made on the time machine, as they tested different methods out. She eventually managed to sketch a model of it, meaning it was closer to reality than ever. If they could get all of those parts together, they might be able to build it. That was going to be difficult, with the androids running around, but there was certainly a chance.

However, Trunks still had his heart set on becoming a Super Saiyan. It felt like a race against the clock for him to prove himself and his strength. He was pushing himself harder and harder in his training. It would sometimes take Piccolo knocking him out and carrying him back to the Lookout to get him to stop for the day. He never wanted anything in life more than that strength.

Trunks ran across the plane as Piccolo fired in his direction. He jumped, flipped, and dodged away from the oncoming energy, which exploded when they hit the ground. After he had come close to death when the androids started wailing on him, they focused a lot more on how to handle attacks. Dishing out attacks was useless, when one wasn't able to take them.

"Don't just evade," Piccolo yelled. "Stand your ground and attack!"

His feet dragged across the grass and he held his arms up to block the attacks. It burned against the skin on his arms, but that didn't matter. He kept his feet planted in the dirt, as the attacks kept coming. Then, he jumped into the air, throwing his hands to the side. He flew towards him, going so fast he seemed to disappear into thin air.

Trunks lifted his hands into the air and threw a bright yellow beam at him. Piccolo's eyes widened and he barely managed to block it. Not done, Trunks kicked him in the cheek, knocking him onto his back, before hitting him with another ball of energy for good measure.

He flew back and landed on his feet. After laying down for a few moments, Piccolo staggered back onto his feet. A genuine look of shock and surprise was on his face.

Trunks couldn't help but start laughing. He felt absolutely elated. "Yeah, I beat you!" He did a victory dance, improvising a song about how awesome he was. He had done it - he had beaten Piccolo in a fight. The student was now the master, and he couldn't have been happier.

Right in the middle of his song and dance, his whole body was engulfed in an electric-like energy, shocking him and making him fall onto his face. He stood back up, pushing the dirt off of his body. Light was dancing in Piccolo's eyes - he must have used his eye beams on him, again.

"Hey, no fair," Trunks yelled. "I totally beat you!"

Piccolo smirked, as he crossed his arms. "You let your guard down. The fight isn't over just because you say it is."

He huffed. "Whatever. I totally won that, though!"

After their training, they sat together on the edge of a cliff, looking over the landscape as the sun was starting to set. With so much stress and pressure, Trunks needed time after his training to just decompress and recollect himself. After all, good warriors always took the time to take a break and relax. So they both sat, quietly meditating.

Trunks looked up at him. "Piccolo?"

"Hmm?" His eyes were still closed.

"I was thinking - you told me the Lookout used to be for the Guardian of the Earth. What happened to him?"

He paused, before answering. "He left many years ago. A great threat came to the Earth that forced him to do so, in order to save it."

"What threat?"

He sighed, before he opened his eyes to look down at him. "This stays between us. Don't say a word of it to your mother. Alright?"

Trunks nodded, excited to hear what it was.

"Fifteen years ago, the Earth was invaded by an alien army. It turned out Frieza had survived the beating your father had given to him, and was looking for revenge. A couple of the Earth warriors managed to fight him off, but it wasn't enough. Thus, the Guardian was forced to act and sacrifice himself to stop them. With no guardian to look over the Earth, the Lookout became abandoned. The people living there moved on, looking for other places to live."

"Then, how did you end up there?"

"I was looking for a place to stay, and saw it was up for grabs. Nothing more than that."

Trunks blinked. He knew Piccolo wasn't telling him the whole truth. He could just tell by the look in his eyes. He was staring off into the distance, almost wistfully. It was the same way his mother looked when she started thinking about the past. A part of him wanted to prod, but he knew that would be useless - if Piccolo wasn't going to tell him something, that was the end of it.

They eventually made their way back to the Lookout. When they touched down on the platform, Bulma came running out, giddy with excitement.

"Guys, guys," she said, as she practically jumped up and down. "You'll never guess what I managed to do today!"

"What is it, mom," Trunks asked.

"I found out where Gero's lab is! We can finally go down and destroy it!"