Chapter 3: Back to the Past

20 years earlier..

It has been about nine months since the defeat of Cell and the world had peace. Everyone was relatively happy, save for one, Gohan. Everyone told him that time would heal his wounds and that he should be proud of defeating Cell. He had saved the planet, but Gohan didn't feel like he had saved anything. His pride cost him his father and widowed his mother. Now even his new baby brother didn't have a chance to know the great man their father was.

Everyone had gathered at Capsule Corp to celebrate the birth of Goku and Chi-Chi's second son, the newly born Goten. Even Piccolo had joined the fray, competing with Krillin and Tien in a game of pin the tail on the donkey. Gohan sat by himself, slowly eating a bowl of rice and staring off into the sky.

Bulma took notice and slowly made her way over to the now mother of two, as she held her own son, Trunks, in her arms, "What's up with Gohan?"

Chi-Chi sighed, holding the swaddled newborn in her arms, "I really had hoped he would have come out of this by now, but he's just been depressed ever since Goku died. Not even a new baby brother can get him out of his own head, he blames himself for his own father's death. It has to be hard."

Bulma had a worried look on her face as the two conversed, "Vegeta has been the same way, ever since Goku passed all he has done is lay in bed watching TV. Whatever passion he had passed on with Goku I guess…"

Up on the second floor of Capsule Corp, Vegeta was staring out the window at the festivities. "Damn you, Kakarot. Even in death, you manage to outdo me..two sons." It was a stupid thing to care about, but Vegeta hadn't been able to get Goku's death out of his mind. His passion to beat Goku had been his drive for so long, he couldn't remember anything else that mattered before. He scoffed and turned away from the outside world.."Damn you, Kakarot.."

Just as the cake was being cut a familiar whirring sound echoed in the air, Piccolo was the first to notice, "What is that..could it be?" the Namekian put his arm out, "Everyone back!"

Chi-Chi, Bulma, and the other guests hurried away as a large, yellow ship suddenly appeared out of nowhere, landing right on top of two picnic tables, crushing them with ease. Gohan looked up in his somber state, he immediately recognized the ship. "Hey, it's Trunks!"

Everyone started murmuring and anxiously awaited the exit of the purple haired, half-saiyan. The top of the ship opened up, revealing two figures who jumped out of the yellow time machine.

"Trunks!" Bulma screamed in delight as she saw the grown version of her son for the first time in months. Trunks smiled as he embraced the younger version of his mother, who was holding the younger version of himself.

"16!" Gohan nearly tackled the hulking android as he tried to hug him, 16 merely looked puzzled at the young teen. "16? It's me, Gohan!"

Trunks looked over at the two, "Gohan, I did tell 16 of you...but this is not the same 16 you knew. He is the one from my time."

"Oh..of course" Gohan backed away slowly and looked down at the ground. How could he have thought that this was the same 16. 16 was dead, as was his father, and it was his fault. "I'm sorry, Future 16."

"It's okay, Gohan." 16 held out his hand and patted the young hybrid on the head, "I hear you are quite strong. I would like to fight you sometime."

Gohan let out a small smile and looked up, "I would be honored." Putting his hands together and quickly bowed to the large Android.

No sooner did Gohan look up did a flash of light fly right by him, hurtling towards Trunks. Trunks softly pushed his mother back and crouched into a fighting stance. With a whip of his hands, swatted away the yellow blast. A familiar voice rang through the air from above, "So, you haven't slacked off." Vegeta slowly descended to the ground in front of his grown son. "Good."

Trunks stood back up, facing his father. "Was that really necessary?"

The Saiyan Prince scoffed, "Had to be sure." He turned and walked back towards the Capsule Corp building, "Welcome back, son."

Bulma ran after Vegeta, "You short, spiky haired son of a bitch! You could have killed me! The first time you are outside in weeks and you pull this stunt!" Her voice trailed off as she followed Vegeta inside.

Trunks put his hand on the back of his head and awkwardly smiled, "So...what's the party for?"

Chi-Chi stepped out of the crowd, holding her swaddled newborn son, "It's for this little guy, Trunks, this is my youngest son, Goten."

Trunks smiled at the oddly spiky haired baby, "Oh, he looks just like Goku!" The half-saiyan smiled and thought to himself..So that's how Goku prepared for the Cell Games.

Tien spoke up from the crowd, "So, tell us, how did you fare against the Androids?" The triclops looked over at 16, "Except for this gentle giant of course."

Krillin jumped out, "Yeah, tell us! You must have good news."

Trunks looked at the crowd, all anticipating his story with excitement. He started from the beginning, the end of 17 and 18…

A few moments later..

"So, after I killed Cell, we started rebuilding. That was a few months ago now, about six. Cell sure took his sweet time coming out of the woodwork." Trunks smiled, "But now my time is safe, from them of course."

Piccolo was next to question Trunks, "So, why is it you came back? You couldn't possibly be wasting precious resources coming back unless you had a reason."

"Well, about that, the rebuilding is going slow, very slow. My mother and I concluded that without some sort of help, we will run out of food and resources before the world can sustain itself. We concluded that we need the Dragon Balls…"

Yamcha looked puzzled, "But Piccolo died in your time, and that was before Dende, so there are no Dragon Balls."

Trunks nodded, "Not on Earth, no."

Piccolo smiled, "So that's your plan."

Yamcha looked confused still, "But, how will you use Dragon Balls then?"

Krillin nudged the former desert bandit in the side, "There are Dragon Balls on Namek, remember? Or New Namek I guess."

"Oh yeah!" Yamcha exclaimed, finally catching up to the rest of the group.

"That's right Krillin, but neither my mother nor myself know where New Namek is..and we don't have the technology or resources to get there.."

"That's where I come in." The present Bulma had come back out, still flushed red from her argument with the Saiyan Prince, "I just happen to have the coordinates to New Namek, and a spare ship for you to bring back with you. On one condition."

A weird look came across Trunks face, "What's that, mother?"

"You spend a few days here, there's a tournament coming up, some big space thing that airhead Mr. Satan and a few backers are putting together. I want you and the others to compete, deflate that man's afro a bit."

"Deal." Trunks put out his hand and gave his mother a thumbs up.

Bulma smiled and looked at her toddler Trunks, "Isn't that right Trunks, wanna spend some time with your future self?" She set her young son down and the little toddler staggered away slowly, "He's just learning to walk, before I know it, he'll be flying away just like his father."

Everybody laughed hard, except for Gohan again, sitting back in his corner table. Adult Trunks slowly made his way over to the young version of his mentor. "Say, Gohan. If I am going to be taking part in this tournament, I need a sparring partner. Can you help me? I haven't actually fought someone in a few months."

Gohan looked up at his purple haired comrade, "I don't know. Mom probably won't even let me compete.."

Overhearing her son, Chi-Chi ran right over, "Gohan! There is a 100 million Zeni prize! You are the strongest person on the planet! You will be competing. We could use that money! Y'know, your father competed in all kinds of World Tournaments before you were born. I bet he will be watching." Chi-Chi smiled slightly to herself, hoping the mention of Goku would get Gohan going. She didn't like him fighting, but if it got him out of his funk, she was willing to let it happen. Besides, it was a tournament, what could go wrong?

Gohan let himself get excited for the first time in a while, "Trunks, I'm gonna train with you. But I won't take it easy! I'm gonna make my Dad proud. Just you watch!"

A monotone voice spoke up from the back, "I would like to compete in this tournament." 16 stepped over to where Gohan and Trunks were, "I have not had the chance to see my combat capabilities."

"Well, the flier says all species are welcome, I'm sure that includes androids…" Bulma trailed off, unsure of herself.

"Then it's settled, let's all compete." Tien said, "Sure, we may not be Super Saiyans, but we can hold our own, right Krillin, Yamcha?"

"Sure." Krillin spoke up excitedly, "I got some new techniques to try!"

"Yeah, why not? I got nothing better to do in the offseason." Yamcha confirmed, having recently won the championship with his baseball team in his first season.

Gohan smiled, "Let's go train in the mountains, race you there!" The young Half-Saiyan rose his Ki and shot into the sky like a rocket.

"Hey wait!" Trunks followed swiftly with 16 lagging behind..

Chi-Chi sighed, "Saiyans.."

The other martial artists laughed, "Let's go find somewhere we can train, guys." Yamcha said, rising up into the air as the Krillin, Tien, and Chiaotzu followed.

Bulma looked over to Piccolo, "Are you going to compete?"

Piccolo scoffed, "I guess, I need something to do." He shot off into the sky, heading towards Kami's former place.

Bulma and Chi-Chi both let out a sigh, "Always left with the mess." they said in unison as they surveyed what was left of the party, grabbing dishes and heading inside.

The pair nearly walked straight into Vegeta, who was heading out the door. The Saiyan Prince turned and headed over to his old training spot, the Gravity Chamber, "Perhaps seeing Trunks ignited something in him.." Bulma thought to herself, "Maybe he has his fighting spirit back.."

Next Chapter, Chapter 4: The Intergalactic Tournament Begins!