See the end of this chapter for an important question I have for you all. Enjoy!

Frieza looked annoyed, that his minions had been disposed of so quickly. He waved his hand, and shut his eyes. "What do you want? Make it fast, or move along." The unnamed warrior did not respond. "What are you waiting for? Either say something or get out of here. My patience runs thin when my time is wasted."

"I'm here to kill you, Frieza."

He opened his eyes, and looked at him. "You know who I am." He chuckled. "My reputation does precede me, even on this backwater planet. If you know who I am, then you must know that you are trifling with the strongest being in the universe. Or did no one have the courtesy to tell you that?"

To Piccolo, this kid sounded nuts. Even if he seemed aware of his power, did he think that he could come out of nowhere and defeat someone as powerful as Frieza? "Listen, kid, this is more than you can imagine. Get out of here, before things get rough."

The warrior looked back at Piccolo. His hardened glare faded away, when he saw him. He paused for a moment, before he spoke. "I know what I'm doing, Piccolo. You don't need to protect me."

That both shocked and confused him. How did he know his name? And why was he speaking as if he knew him? Come to think of it, how could he know who Frieza was, either? He looked like an Earthling; they didn't have this kind of knowledge, all the way out here.

"Hey," Goku whispered. "Do you know him?"

"No, I don't…"

"You'd be better off taking the Namekian's advice, lest you want to get yourself killed."

The warrior glared back at Frieza. "That won't happen. You're going to die, today."

Frieza looked to be growing tired of being talked to by him. "If you knew what was best for you, you would watch your confidence, boy. But, I suppose I can indulge you, if just for a moment." He looked back at his men. "I have a new mission for you: kill the Namekian, and subdue the Earthling. If you are not done by the time I have finished disposing of this unruly scum, there will be dire consequences."

Piccolo clenched his teeth, holding his ground as he stood in front of Goku. He glared at the soldiers, daring them to try to come close to him. Goku took his guarded stance, making it known that he wasn't going down without a fight. The soldiers looked to be reluctant to try this.

Sorbet made himself known, once more. "Lord Frieza, is this truly necessary? What use would a simple Earthling be to us?"

"Are you questioning my judgment?"

He grew meek, and shook his head. "No! Of course not! If you believe it is best, then we shall do it!"

"That is what I thought. Now, get to it."

As the soldiers hesitantly went towards them, the mystery warrior spoke, once more. "Listen up. There won't be going back, after this. My fight is with Frieza. Not you. Leave now, and I'll let you go. Attack them, and I won't hesitate to kill you, myself."

Being talked down to like this strengthened their resolve. Out of pure spite, the soldiers ran towards Goku and Piccolo, guns pointed at them. They both prepared for the onslaught, keeping their guarded stances.

Then, the wave of soldiers froze. The warrior was standing behind them, holding his sword. He slowly sheathed it. When the hilt met the top of the sheath, the soldiers fell down. Once again, neither Piccolo nor Goku saw that attack. He was an Earthling, wasn't he? How could he have gotten so powerful?

Frieza looked intrigued. "You seem to have more skill than I gave you credit for, it seems. I'm honestly impressed. Though, with my soldiers out of commission, you have just inconvenienced me to no end. Now, I'll have to roll up my proverbial sleeves and finish this job, myself. I hope you realize that I am not as kind and forgiving as they would have been towards the rest of your pathetic race."

"You won't get the chance."

He chuckled. "And what could you possibly do to stop me? Those peons are ants, compared to me."

The warrior stared him down, before a smirk came on his face. "I'll show you."

He put his fists to the side, planting his feet firmly on the ground. Bits of rock and rubble flew through the air, as his energy began to rise. He let out a loud scream, his hair flew up, and his aura flared around him, shrouding his form. The ground quaked beneath his feet, and flattened into a large crater.

Piccolo's eyes widened. He grabbed Goku, and ran back, taking cover away from him.

The warrior's aura shifted into a bright yellow hue. As his visage came back into view, he was glaring at Frieza with teal-colored eyes, and his hair was now a brilliant gold.

Frieza stepped backwards, eyes wide with fear. He couldn't speak, as he was forced to relive his past. He had only seen this once, before. He never thought that he would have to face one, ever again. He began to tremble, as he realized just what he was facing.

Those eyes – they were the same ones he saw on Vegeta all those years ago.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," he stated, with a confident smirk.

Frieza hunched over, clenching his jaw so tightly it might have broken. "YOU DARE MOCK THE MIGHTY FRIEZA?!" He fired a beam at him, hoping to put him down once and for all. However, he deflected it, without looking away from him. He lowered his hands, shocked that he managed to do that.

He breathed heavily, filled with rage and fear. Meanwhile, the legendary warrior continued to stare at him with a cool glare. He could not take this, any longer. He jumped into the air, pointing his finger upwards. A large ball of energy was being formed above him, growing bigger and bigger with every second.

Even on the ground, Piccolo and Goku could still feel the pulsing of that ball of ki. They covered their eyes, from the blinding light. "That's getting huge," Goku yelled.

"Any bigger, and it'll take the planet out," Piccolo yelled back.

"What?! We have to stop him!"

"No." He pointed at the mysterious warrior. "I think he can handle it."

"Lord Frieza," Sorbet yelled. He thought that his superior's son had gone completely mad. "What are you doing?! This will destroy the planet!"

"IT DOES NOT MATTER! IT'S WHAT THIS GOD-FOR-NOTHING ROCK DESERVES!" He did not care about making the Earth suffer or even if the Earth girl was here. All he wanted to do was be rid of the menace that stood below him. He threw it towards the ground, screeching along the way. The warrior did not move, as the ball hit him head-on.

Piccolo and Goku ducked their heads, as a harsh wind blew over them. The ground began to level, creating a huge crater, as the ball made its decent towards the Earth's core.

"We must get to the ship," Sorbet said. "We don't have much time, left!"

"NOT YET!" Frieza turned his attention back to the Namekian and the Earthling. There was one last thing he had to attend to.

He rushed towards them, kicked Piccolo, and wrapped his tail around his neck. Goku looked up, and immediately jumped back up. He brought his hands together, and put them to his side, powering up an attack.

"Ah, ah, ah," Frieza said, wagging his finger. "Remember my deal? Join me and I'll let your family go. My patience is running thin. I trust you to choose correctly, Goku."

Goku hesitated. Frieza's tail tightened around Piccolo's neck; he clenched his teeth, as he struggled to breathe. Goku stared in horror, watching his friend being tortured so brutally. He had thought that Piccolo might have exaggerated, but Frieza truly was pure evil. What if he found out about Chi-Chi and Gohan? Did he have no choice, if he wanted his family to be safe?

He began to lower his hands, and the ball of ki he built up dissipated. Frieza smirked. "I see you listen to reason, at the very least." He threw Piccolo into a bed of rocks.

"LORD FRIEZA! LOOK!"

He turned around and gasped. The energy ball was rising from the ground. The legendary warrior was still standing, carrying it with one bare hand. He stepped forward, and out of the crater, still glaring at him.

"H-how?!"

The warrior smirked at him. "Is that all you got?"

"WHY WON'T YOU PESTS STAY DEAD?!" He threw another blast at him, aimed at the energy ball. The added energy made it instable, and the warrior was caught in a large explosion of light and smoke. When the dust began to clear, he was nowhere to be seen: completely obliterated. Perhaps now, he could be finally free of these Super Saiyans.

"HEY, FRIEZA!"

His eyes widened. When he looked up, the warrior was still standing atop a cliff. He moved his hands in a pattern around, until a ball of energy went tumbling towards him. As he began to jump up, there was another noise behind him. Goku and Piccolo were both standing, and fired directly at him with their own energy beams. Unable to react in time, he took all of the blasts on, at the same time.

Without hesitation, the warrior jumped back down into the cloud of smoke. Suddenly, Frieza was kicked back up in the air, with the warrior closely trailing him. He unsheathed his sword and threw it down towards him. Frieza was completely frozen, as he stared at the legendary. His vision began to split. Too in-shock to realize it, he had been sliced in half.

The warrior sliced him up like minced meat repeatedly. He pulled his hand back and fired at his remains, destroying every last bit of his being. The ashes fell towards the ground, as the smoke began to clear.

Taking a breath, the warrior lowered himself towards the ground. He glared at Sorbet. He panicked and ran back into the ship. The engines started once more, and it rocketed back into the sky, leaving the Earth behind. The warrior sheathed his sword once more, clicking the hilt against it. His hair fell back down, returning to its lavender hue. A look of relief and peace was on his face.

"That was amazing!"

Goku ran over to him, and he stepped backwards, in surprise. He started jumping in place. "Hi, I'm Goku! Do you wanna go for a quick round with me, or something when you're blonde and stuff? You seem really strong!"

"Oh, uh," a shy smile formed on his face. "I don't really have time for that right now, Goku. There's something more important, actually."

Goku pouted. "Okay…"

Piccolo walked up next to him. "Who are you," he asked, bluntly.

The warrior's eyes widened. "Yes. There's something important I have to tell you, Piccolo." He stepped closer to him. "We'll have to-"

"Goku!"

The three of them looked up. A hover car was coming in for a landing, behind them. When the doors opened, Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien Shinhan all came out. They ran towards them. The warrior sighed and closed his eyes, as he stepped away from Piccolo. "I'll tell you in a second," he said. Piccolo nodded.

"Are you okay," Yamcha asked. "We could feel you guys all the way from Tien's dojo."

"What the hell happened," Tien asked, as he looked at the battlefield. "It looks like a bomb was dropped here."

Goku put his finger on his chin. "Well, this half-robot guy showed up, wanting to destroy the world and kill everyone. Me and Piccolo went to try and stop him, but he was super strong. Then this guy showed up," He pointed at the unnamed warrior. "And it turned out that he was super strong, too! And he managed to defeat him! There was another short guy, but he ran away."

"Wow," Krillin said, looking positively horrified. "I didn't think that anyone would come after the Earth, like that."

"That's Frieza for you," Piccolo said.

Yamcha walked up to the mysterious warrior. "So you were one of those big energies we felt, weren't you? That must have been some fight. What's your name? I wanna thank you, for keeping the planet safe."

He blushed and lowered his head. "I can't really tell you that. This is something only one person should hear." He looked back over at Piccolo. "As I was about to say earlier, we need to discuss this in private."

Piccolo shrugged. "Fine by me."

Before they could walk away, Goku put a hand on Piccolo's shoulder. "I'm coming with you. If he tries something, then I still can help you fight him off."

He groaned, and rolled his eyes. "Goku, I can take care of myself. Back off."

"Please don't worry, Goku," the warrior said. "You all will know, soon enough, but this is something only he should hear. I promise I have no reason to fight any of you. Please understand."

Goku and stared at the warrior, after he made his confession. Finally, he nodded. "Alright. But if something goes down, I'm coming right over to help out."

"W-wait," Krillin said, with apprehension and nervousness. "What's so important? Why will we find out, later?"

The warrior and Piccolo ignored the cries of concern, and left the rest of the group behind.

"Hey," Tien said. "How come you didn't put up more of a fight, over that? The guy's a complete stranger: you can't know if he's telling the truth."

"I can't sense any evil intentions in him. I don't think he means any harm. Besides, Piccolo's right: I think he'll be okay."

"Yeah," Yamcha interjected. "Plus, if he was bad, then he would have just tried to fight us, after he took out that bigger guy you talked about."

Tien shook his head. "I don't think I'll understand how you can trust like that."

"You're one to talk," Krillin muttered to himself.

The unnamed warrior and Piccolo moved to a parallel field – far enough away so that no one could hear then, but close enough for them to see what was going on. The warrior wanted to ease some of their suspicion, hoping to earn a bit of their trust. If he was going to help them, doing this was vital to his plan.

Now came the hardest part of this: explaining himself. Where would he even begin?

He hoped that this Piccolo was like the one that he knew.

"Alright," Piccolo said. "You have my attention. Now, who are you, and what do you want to tell me?"

The warrior had his eyes down, but finally looked up at him. "I should probably start by telling you who I am. It's gonna sound crazy, but please just listen to everything."

"I can assure you I have probably seen crazier."

The warrior nodded. "My name is Trunks. I arrived here in a time machine from seventeen years in the future." Piccolo only raised a brow at this comment; if he was surprised, he was doing a good job of hiding it. "If the calculations are right, I should be born a little under a year from now. But, that's not the important part...

"A year from now, on May 12th, West City is going to be attacked by a menace – an android created by Dr Gero."

"An android."

"Half human, half machine – a medical and scientific monstrosity. He had an obsession for these kinds of experiments. It attacked the whole city, but Gero only wanted one person – my mother. She escaped, but Gero tried to get her back for years. As a last-ditch effort, he set two more androids loose. The doctor ended up getting what he deserved from them, and they did him in, themselves. However, without a master, they were wanton for chaos and destruction, killing and maiming any poor soul they got their hands on. And the worst part is that no one can defeat them…

Trunks paused, searching for the right way to put this. He kept his head down, not wanting to be put off by any horrified reactions. "Piccolo, you and I are the only warriors that are still alive, in the future. Everyone else was killed by the androids. Even with our strength together, we couldn't defeat them."

Piccolo stayed calm, though he was horrified at that realization. If someone who bested Frieza couldn't take them down, then how strong were these androids? He could ponder the remaining implications, later. "Why wasn't I killed?" That sounded a lot unlike him. If there were some great menace like that, then either he would confront it himself or they would be drawn to him.

"It was because of today. You told me you want to fix a mistake."

Piccolo narrowed his eyes, in confusion. He and Goku hadn't been backed into a corner, when Trunks showed up for the fight. Frieza was a lot more than he had anticipated, but it hadn't gotten hopeless. He could only ponder what could have been his mistake. No reason to do so, though: Frieza was dead, with no chance of coming back.

He nodded. "Alright. You said May 12th next year at West City. Is that right?"

"Yes. If you put a stop to those androids and Dr Gero, then we could save the future. If I can survive long enough for the time machine to recharge, I will be there to help you. Now, I should get going. It was good to meet you and the others, Piccolo." Trunks turned around and powered up, ready to fly back to the spaceship.

"Wait." He stopped, and powered back down. "You talked a lot about your mother. Who is she?"

Trunks left his back facing him. His shoulders were tense, as his hands were curled into white-knuckled fists. Piccolo could see him trembling slightly.

"If we know who she is, that will make our job finding the androids easier."

Trunks turned around, keeping his head down. His voice was low, sounding solemn and full of remorse. "My mother is an old friend of yours – Bulma."

Piccolo nodded. That made sense. He could see the resemblance, for sure – he had her eyes. "I'm guessing Vegeta's your dad."

Trunks didn't comment, but that answer was a no-brainer, as far as he was concerned. He looked up at Piccolo, with a hardened expression. "As I was saying, I need to get going. I hope to be seeing you in a year. Good luck to you all." Trunks powered back up and flew away.

Piccolo watched him as he flew off. Trunks had been polite and respectful to them all, but suddenly got an attitude, when he mentioned Vegeta. It left him to wonder what else had changed, in his supposed future. If he ever returned, he would have some questions for him.

He didn't have long to let everything he had heard sink in: once he was alone, Goku and the others rushed back over to him. They demanded that he spill the beans on what he said. He informed everyone of what was going to happen a year from now, and all that would follow if they did not put a stop to it.

"You're joking right," Yamcha said. "That sounds crazy, right?"

Krillin nervously laughed. "Yeah. A time machine? That's just stuff that happens in movies."

"You can believe whatever you want: the androids will be coming, either way. I plan on spending the next year training, so we can be ready for them."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Tien said. "Even if that's not true, something else could come – just like that guy you and Goku fought. We need to be ready for it, either way." His words cleared some of Krillin and Yamcha's skepticism. Maybe they should start training. If they went up against that Frieza guy, they wouldn't have stood a chance.

"Well, I say we get training soon," Goku finally interjected. "We can take out those guys easily, if we work and train hard enough!"

"I think we should head to Roshi's place, gather everyone, and tell them what's going on," Yamcha said to Krillin. "Someone might know a way to help us out."

"Oh yeah. Surely Roshi could think of something!"

"I'll come with you," Tien said. "We need to get Chiaotzu, back at the dojo."

"Sounds like a plan."

Goku put a hand on Piccolo's shoulder. "We should probably tell Chi-Chi and Gohan what's going on, too. I wouldn't want them to get in trouble, when the androids come."

That was exactly what Piccolo was thinking, as well. "But remember – don't let word of this spread. We don't want to cause panic before anything happens. It'll only make this Gero guy's job easier."

The Earth warriors agreed to Piccolo's terms, and they split up. Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien left on the hover car they came in, rushing off to Kame House to warn the rest of their group of friends. Goku called for Flying Nimbus and flew back to Mount Paozu, with Piccolo flying next to him.

Trunks watched this from afar. All went according to plan. Now, he had to prepare for the day he'd return. As much as he wished he could stick around and enjoy the company of the Earth warriors more, he had to return to his future. He had his own responsibilities to uphold and could not waste any more time than he already had. As he flew back to the time machine, a smile formed on his face. He was rejuvenated with a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.

Hope.

So I have a question for you all - how do you want to hear about the future? Should it be condensed into flashbacks in this story, or should there be a History of Trunks-style spinoff all about the future timeline? It's pretty different than what was in the manga or show, so some of it has to be shown somehow. A separate story would mean one more thing for you all to read and might mean delays in this story, but including it in flashbacks might make it rushed and this story might end up too cluttered. I'm torn, so please let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you're thinking of this story, so far, and how you're liking the direction that it's going.