Chapter 4 - The Return
… And nothing happened.
Gohan input the command again. Still nothing.
"Oh right, I forgot… the machine's broken," Gohan said. Everyone else in the room fell over.
"Well then, FIX IT!" Vegeta shouted, being the first one to get up again.
Gohan put his hands up defensively. "Hey, c'mon Vegeta! I'ts no big deal… I mean, I can fix it, if you give me a minute…" Sure… it was just built by your genius daughter and she didn't get a chance to work out all the kinks… But whatever, no problem, I'll fix it. Yeah. Right. Instead he said, "But, well…"
"WELL WHAT!"
"Um… It might take longer to drop you guys off in your own times… The way the machine was supposed to work is that when I send you back, you all automatically go back to your timeline – you know, the same timeline. But now, I have to manually take each back to your own times." After I figure out how to fix the damn thing…
Gohan opened up the control panel and started fiddling with the wires, following the blue prints Bulla had left him "in case of an emergency." Although he was annoyed with her, he was at least glad she'd been thoughtful enough to leave them.
"Need any help?" Bulma asked, stepping forward and hovering over his shoulder.
"Yeah, maybe I can help. I happen to know a bit about time machines…" said Trunks as he started rummaging through the blueprints.
Gohan laughed uneasily. Great, more timeline contamination... "Um guys, no offense, but I need my space. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
When neither of them immediately backed off, Vegeta took it upon himself to yell, "LEAVE THE BRAT ALONE!"
Bulma was indignant at being treated like this, even if it really was typical Vegeta behavior. "Hmph!" she pouted and walked away. Trunks just nodded his understanding and left the other demi-Saiyan alone. Goten and Goku were oblivious to all of this, busy playing "red hands" in the corner. Goku didn't even seem to be phased by the fact that his seven-year-old son from the future was destroying him at the child's game.
"That should do it," Gohan said after what seemed like hours. In reality, it couldn't have been more than twenty minutes, but it was tense and a little awkward in the room. He stood up, wiped the grime from his hands after putting the panel back on, and turned to the crowd. "So… who's going back first?"
"I think gotten should probably go back first," Mirai whispered, pointing to Vegeta. Vegeta was eyeing the boy with a dangerous look. "My father might try to blast him if we wait too long."
Gohan nodded. He input the new command…
A small, circular machine appeared just outside of the gravity chamber. Trunks had been in the middle of looking for Goten, tears about to fall from his eyes as he worried about his best friend (and his own health and well-being), but he now looked up at the odd machine. He wasn't too worried – it had the Capsule Corps logo on the side. A door opened and out flew Goten.
"Hiya Trunks!" the boy called out before landing.
Chibi Trunks looked up at the small crowd that was near the door of the machine. They all looked sort of familiar, but just different enough that he couldn't be sure. "Hey, who are those people?"
"Oh, that's just a grown-up Trunks, my dad, your dad, Gohan and your mom," Goten said casually, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
The door closed and the machine disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "Ooookay…" Trunks said, unsure of what to do or how else to respond to that. Goten didn't give the other boy a chance to ask any more questions – he powered up to Super Saiyan and attacked his friend.
As the two recommenced their earlier battle, the earlier events of the day slipped their minds.
"Where's my dad?" a young Gohan asked, looking around in the air. Piccolo was doing the same. Gohan's confusion hadn't given way to panic yet, but Piccolo was deeply concerned.
"I don't know, Gohan-" He was interrupted by a bright light that appeared directly in front of them. A small machine was now in front of the two. The door opened, and out flew a smiling Goku.
"Hey guys!" he said cheerfully.
"What the-" Piccolo said as he recognized the beings in the machine. That's the boy from the future! And Bulma! And that's… is that actually Vegeta? He looks ridiculous with that haircut but with that scowl on his face it couldn't be anyone else. And that's… GOHAN! The Namek did a double-take, looking back and forth between his young protégé and the obviously older version of the same boy.
The man in the room just nodded an acknowledgement to Piccolo, the beginnings of a smile on his lips.
"Bye guys!" Goku said as he waved to the group. "Good luck with the whole Bulla-Goten thing! If I remember, I'll make sure to keep Vegeta from killing anyone!" Inside the machine, Piccolo could see Gohan smack himself in the face and Vegeta roll his eyes, most likely because Goku had said something he shouldn't have. The door immediately closed and the machine vanished.
"Would you care to explain that, Goku?" Piccolo crossed his arms over his chest. While he might not be worried anymore, he was still very curious.
"Huh? Oh, that. Well, I'd love to, but I'm starving!" His stomach growled as he remembered the buffet table from the video. "Let's head back home and grab some food! I'm sure Chichi will have dinner ready by now!" And of course, by the time Goku had finished eating, he had forgotten what had taken place.
Vegeta was about to resume his training in the Gravity Chamber when he felt a large ki – several, in fact – appear outside of the chamber. He quickly ran out of the machine, just in time to see Bulma step out of an odd, white, circular ship-like… thing. The pod had disappeared before Vegeta had reached it (most likely because the older Vegeta would have been far too upset at the prospect of seeing his beautiful long hair again).
"What the hell was that!" he demanded more than asked.
"Oh, nothing," Bulma said, smiling. If Vegeta is going to turn out so hot in the future… "Hey Vegeta…" she called him back before he could turn away.
And thus the night Trunks was conceived began.
The Z Senshi were confused. I mean, it's not every day that a boy from the future disappeared before he even steps into his time machine. Then again, it wasn't really the entire Z Senshi that was confused. Bulma seemed to know what was going on and was the only one who didn't appear worried. Well, that's not to say that Vegeta was worrying. It's just that he didn't know what was going on.
A couple of minutes later, the same bright light that had taken Mirai Trunks reappeared. A small ship was visible above his time machine. As the door opened, Mirai flew out, waving to two beings in the machine.
"Good luck!" he called. "And give my regards to Bulla!" One of the figures waved back, while the other just scowled. Vegeta couldn't get a good look at either of them, but he thought he saw Bulma wink at the scowling figure in the machine. Her wink was answered by a barely audible "hmph" from the machine. What the hell? thought Vegeta as he watched the door close. The machine disappeared in another flash of blinding light.
Mirai noticed the startled looks of the Z Senshi – as well as the curious looks of Gohan and Piccolo. He did his best to mimic the innocent Son smile he'd learned from his mentor, but to no avail. "What?" he asked, shrugging, as Bulma walked towards him, carrying baby him.
"Don't worry about them," she said, giving a quick hug to Mirai. "I promise I'll tell Bulla you said hello. I doubt your father would."
Mirai just grinned. "Thanks Mom."
Vegeta heard this exchange, but was just as puzzled by it as by Bulma's wink. He didn't even have time to ask the boy what was going on before the time machine flew into the air and vanished.
Gohan input another command and the machine rattled slightly as it went to its second to last stop. "Okay Vegeta," he said as he opened the door. "This is your time."
Vegeta nodded. He had insisted on being the last to return to his time, as if his presence alone could prevent any more problems. He was about to fly out when Gohan put his hand on his shoulder. "You're not going to uh… kill my brother or anything are you."
He seemed to actually consider it before answering. "I won't kill the boy." Gohan visibly relaxed at that. "Doesn't mean I won't beat the crap out of him," Vegeta added as he flew out.
Wellllll… that's a start. Gohan rolled his eyes and prepared to return to his own time.
The machine disappeared seconds after Vegeta had left it. In front of Capsule Corps was Bulla, looking confused. "What was that about?"
"You'll find out on your wedding day, I imagine," was Vegeta's only reply. He was about to go to the Gravity Room to train when he remembered something from years ago. He turned back to his daughter. "Oh yes, and your brother sends his regards."
Before Bulla could question her father about his strange behavior, he was already training, imagining how satisfying it would be to beat the snout out of Kakkarott's younger brat.