Chapter Three - Return of a Hero
"It feels so strange." said the girl, looking at the world around them as they flew. The area where they were was rocky mountains, not a whole lot of plant life around, but there were scattered spots of green, and numerous birds were in the sky with them. "It's been so long since I've been here, and the last time..."
The boy nodded. "Yeah. I don't even remember it like this, I was still too young when the devastation happened." he said. He glanced over his shoulder, then, as he felt powers behind him. "Looks like they're following, and keeping their distance."
"Can't blame them, we're the strongest people on the planet right now." she said. "They want to know what's up, and if Goku's really on his way, but they'd be wary after what we just did."
"Suppose so." he replied. "It's weird, though, being stronger than everyone. We've always been trying to catch up to them, so we could help, and now here we are..."
"I just hope this works." she said. "Three years isn't much time, and there's such a long way to go."
"I know, but it's the best we could manage."
The others flew along a few hundred yards back. Bardock, Gohan, and Piccolo were flying side by side at the front of the group, Vegeta a little further back and higher above them, and Hotaru off to his left with Yamcha, just a bit further up. Krillin and Appla, who was carrying Bulma, were at the bottom of the group, flying below Gohan, Bardock, and Piccolo.
"Any ideas on who these two might be?" Krillin asked, watching the two distant points of light that marked the unknown pair's progress ahead of them. "I mean, they're both even stronger than Goku was back on Namek. They took out Frieza and his father like it was nothing."
"It's absurd." said Vegeta. "She's as powerful as a Super Sai-jin." He glanced over at Gohan and Bardock then, whose full powers he'd sensed shortly after arriving on Earth. "Stronger, even. How is that possible?"
"Sai-jins aren't the end all power of the universe." said Hotaru. "Before the magic that now binds us, the Tanarians were the most powerful race in the universe, far stronger than anything that exists these days. We don't know any sort of exact figure, there's no way to compare the powers of old to what we Tanarians are able to do now, but we do know these suppressed forms are severely weakened over our true forms."
Vegeta snorted. "I've heard the talk." he said. After the Tanarian race had rejoined galactic civilization following Frieza's down fall he had, indeed, heard the stories about how powerful and great the Tanarian race had once been, but he considered most of them to be overly exagerated. "I seriously doubt even those old Tanarians would have been any match for the Sai-jins of that age."
Hotaru scowled and Yamcha sighed. He knew Vegeta had just pushed the wrong button. She was as proud of her ancestors and her heritage as any Sai-jin, and as unwilling as any Sai-jin to allow any sort of insult to them. The Tanarian royal turned her gaze from the pair before them to the Sai-jin prince.
"You felt how powerful she was." she said. "That was only in the first transformation. Based on what I sensed from her after she transformed, her true form power would be somewhere around two hundred and ninety million." Vegeta turned to look at her, disbelief clearly evident on his face, so Hotaru continued. "I'm a lot weaker than her, but even I'd have a power of over eighty million in my true form, stronger than everyone in this galaxy, except for your father as an Oozaru."
"It looks like they're landing." Bulma said, cutting in before any arguments could break out. Hotaru and Vegeta turned their attentions foreward again and found she was right, the pair was descending toward a large open plain.
"So this is it?" the girl asked, glancing around.
"Yeah." replied the boy as the others landed a few dozen yards behind them. "According to both the tracer system and the pre-loaded records the pod will hit about fifty yards north of this position, just beyond that large boulder. We should be clear of the impact blast radius here."
"Should be?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Sorry, it's just a rough guess. I've never witnessed an actual pod landing, before. It's antique technology, no one uses them anymore."
"Well, I trust your rough guesses better than most people's certain facts." she said, digging into a pocket of her shorts. She pulled a small case out of her pocket, flipped it open, and extracted a capsule. With a quick push of the button and a toss the capsule exploded and, as the dust cleared, revealed a mini-fridge.
She turned her gaze to the others, then. "Come on over." she said, walking over to the fridge. "We've still got about two hours before Goku arrives. Nothing to do but wait, may as well get comfortable." Pulling the fridge open she pulled out a can of soda and tossed it over to her friend, then another one which she sat on top of the fridge. "You guys want anything?"
"Umm... I... do you have orange?" Gohan asked tentatively, as he took a few steps toward them. Yamcha and Krillin both hung back a little at first, but soon the others were making their way over as well and they followed.
"Sure do kiddo." she said, pulling one out and throwing it to him.
"Ah, thanks." he said bowing a little and then opening it. "Ummm... how do you guys know my dad?"
The girl sighed. "That's... complicated." she said, tossing drinks out to some of the others before closing the fridge and opening her own can. "It's been... a long time since I've seen him. I was just a little kid then, I barely even remember him."
"So, you met him years ago?" asked Bardock, curious.
"Something like that." she replied. "Like I said, it's complicated. I can't go into the details right now, but I'll explain it once Goku gets here."
"How do you know he'll be here?" asked Piccolo.
"Easy, tracking." said the boy. "His space pod is close enough that the satelites have picked up his appraoch and projected his course."
"That's a Capsule Corp. jacket you're wearing." said Bulma, eyeing up the boy's jacket. "That's my dad's company. Do you work for us?"
"Uh, no." he said, glancing at her and then quickly looking away. "No, just... a fan."
"Um," started Gohan, looking at the boy. "When you fought Cold, you were a Super Sai-jin, weren't you?" he asked.
The boy nodded. "Yeah."
Vegeta snorted. "I don't know who or what you are, but with those eyes and that hair, you're no Sai-jin."
The girl grinned so widely it looked like she was trying not to laugh. Turning her head, she looked over at her friend and spoke in Tanarian. "I told you he wouldn't believe you. It goes against his pride and his whole 'I'm better than everyone' attitude." she said.
Yamcha choked and then started laughing, Hotaru grinning as well, the only two among their group who could understand her. The boy just gave him a glance, shook his head, then went back to not looking at anything in particular.
"So," Bulma started. "With everything else we still haven't asked your names."
The pair glanced at each other for a moment, then the girl shook her head. "I understand your curiosity, but let's save the twenty questions until Goku gets here." she said. "I promise, once he arrives we'll explain everything. Or, at least, as much as we can." She could tell that Bulma was disappointed, and that neither Piccolo or Bardock were happy about waiting, but they all let it go, each of them picking a spot somewhere in the area to sit down and wait.
Yamcha and Hotaru picked one of the larger boulders in the area and sat down on top of it. Hotaru's curiosity about the girl was bordering on obsession and she'd not taken her eyes off of her since they'd landed. She constantly caught the girl glancing her way and the quickly looking off in another direction.
"There's something about her..." she said softly. "I feel..."
"Like you know her?" asked Yamcha, and Hotaru nodded. "Yeah, me too. It's strange, because I know I've never seen her before in my life."
"You've known Goku a long time, did he ever mention...?"
Yamcha shook his head. "No. And it doesn't make much sense, either. She doesn't look that old, but Bulma was the first girl he'd ever met and that was a little over a decade ago. She said she was a little kid at the time, can barely remember it, so it had to have been more than ten years ago, but the time frame just doesn't match-up."
"Is it just me," Krillin started, walking over and joining Gohan, Appla, and Bardock where they were sitting. "Or is there a physical resemblence?"
"What do you mean?" asked Gohan.
"No, it's not just you." said Appla. "I've been seeing it, too. Not all the time, but when you look at them at certain angles..."
Bardock nodded. "Yeah. The boy looks kind of like the Prince, and the girl a bit like Hotaru..."
"What do you think it means?" asked Krillin.
The two Sai-jins shrugged. "Probably nothing." said Bardock.
"It's not uncommon for even unrelated Sai-jins to bare a resemblence." said Appla. "And from what I understand, the Tanarian gene pool is pretty small these days."
"I suppose." said Krillin.
"How do you think they know Goku?" asked Appla. "You know more about his childhood than us."
Krillin shook his head. "I don't know." he said. "He never mentioned anyone like them. Would make more sense if they'd said they'd only just met him recently, out in space."
The boy and girl waited in silence, the boy continuiously checking his watch, and occasionally glancing toward Vegeta, while the girl kept looking Hotaru's way. The others milled about, discussing who the pair might be, debating on how they knew Goku, though Piccolo also waited in silence, meditating to pass the time. Vegeta also kept quiet, prefering to spend the time glaring at the boy.
At last, after what seemed like an eternity, a series of sharp beeps sounded from the boy's watch drawing everyone's attention. "Time's up." he said, glancing at its face. "Goku's pod just hit the atmosphere, he'll be landing in about ten minutes."
Everyone looked up and then Gohan started to smile. "I... I can feel him!" he cried. "It is, it's dad!"
"Yeah, that's definitely Goku." agreed Bardock. "And he's gotten a lot stronger since Namek."
"So... what they said... was right?" Bulma asked looking over to the pair.
"Seems that way." said Appla, also following her son's approach. They all waited in rapt anticipation then as the minutes ticked by, seemingly at a crawl. All eyes were on the sky, waiting for the first sign of Goku's arrival.
"There!" Gohan cried, pointing as a spark of blue light flashed in the distance. All eyes quickly diverted that way as the light grew and grew in size. A moment later a space pod zoomed by overhead and crashed to the ground a short distance away, blasting out a crater nearly twenty yards in diameter. Instantly, everyone was moving and in a matter of moments they were gathered at the edge of the crater, the dust still not completely settled from the impact. And then the pod hissed and the door slid open, and a second later Goku stepped out of it.
"Goku!" Yamcha cheered.
"Welcome back Goku." Piccolo said grinning.
"Daddy!"
"Huh?" He looked up and saw his friends and family standing there cheering. "Oh, hey guys!" he called. "How'd you get here so fast?" he asked as he floated up to the edge of the crater and landed in front of them.
"It's thanks to those two." Yamcha said, nodding toward the two mystery people standing just to the right of the group of Goku's friends. "They told us where you'd be landing and when."
"Really? Who are they?"
"You don't know them?" asked Piccolo.
Goku glanced over at the two of them again, a look of concentration coming over his face. "I don't think so." he said. "Why? Should I?"
"Well, they seem to know you. The girl says she met you a long time ago. And they knew exactly when and where you'd be landing." Bulma said.
"Really? That's wierd." said Goku, scratching the back of his head. "They really don't look familiar, though I guess if it was a long time ago..." He shrugged. "I know Frieza detected my ship earlier and knew where I'd be landing. Who beat him and that other guy, anyway? I felt two really strong Kis. Piccolo? Bardock? Vegeta?"
"It was them." said Appla, giving a nod toward the mystery pair. "The boy transformed into a Super Sai-jin, and the girl can apparently transform into a Super Tanarian."
"What, really?" Goku cried, surprised. "He's a Super Sai-jin, too? Wow, and so young. But... what's a Super Tanarian?"
"It's the term Yamcha coined for my race's transformation." said Hotaru. "I hadn't known anyone other than my mother and I could do it." she said.
"Huh, wow. And you don't know who they are, either?" asked Goku.
"No, but they promised to explain once you got here." said Krillin.
"Yes, they did." Piccolo said, turning to face the pair. "So, do we get our explanations now?"
The boy and girl glanced at each other, then turned their focus back to the others again and the girl nodded. "Yes." she said, then sighed. "What we have to tell you may be hard to believe, but it's all true. We will tell you all that we can, but we can't tell you everything just yet. Some things need to remain secret for now, for reasons you will soon understand. You'll know enough, however, to prepare for what is to come."
"What's to come?" asked Gohan. "What do you mean?"
The girl paused for a moment, to gather her thoughts. They had decided before setting out that she would do most of the talking, it seemed safer to them that way, and so she had prepared a full speech to give when the time came. Now that it had, however, all of the words she'd planned to say were slipping from her mind before she could call on them.
"My name is Sakura," she began. "My friend and I are from the future. We have come back in time twenty years in order to give all of you a warning, and a chance. A chance to create a better world, a better future, than the one from which we come."
"The future?" asked Krillin, raising an eyebrow and clearly not convinced.
"Is that possible, Bulma?" asked Yamcha, looking over at her.
"I don't know, maybe." she said.
"I assure you, it is." said Sakura. She smiled a little, then. "In fact, it was Bulma who built our time machine."
"M-me?"
Sakura nodded. "Yes. To give us, to give everyone, this chance."
"So, what are you here to warn us about?" asked Appla.
The girl sighed. "The world and time that we come from is... horrible. The Earth is a desolate wasteland now, completely devoid of life, after the Sai-jin Counterattack fifteen years ago. Many other worlds are in the same condition, or worse. And the entire galaxy has been taken over by the Red Ribbon Army."
"What!?" cried Goku. "But... how? I beat them years ago!"
Sakura nodded. "Yes, you did. But, while you stopped their leader and destroyed their main base, their head scientist, a man by the name of Dr. Gero, escaped. He has a... personal vendetta against you, Goku. When you put an end to the Red Ribbon Army you also put an end to his life's work, the Androids employed by them."
"He wants revenge." said the boy. "And so ever since his escape he's been working on creating the ultimate Androids for the sole purpose of killing you and taking over the world. In just under three years time, on May 9th, he'll complete his work and take over the Earth, after which he'll challenge you, Goku. You'll go to fight them, and they'll kill you."
"But... he's a Super Sai-jin now!" Yamcha cried.
"So am I." the boy said.
"But these Androids..." said Sakura. "Their power is incredible. In the seventeen years since they first appeared..." she closed her eyes and clenched her hands into fists. "Our allies, our friends, our families, they've fallen and died, one by one. Just a few years after Goku's death only a handful of us were left. Myself and my friend, Gohan, Videl, and..." her eyes opened again, and met Hotaru's. "My mom."
Yamcha blinked. He'd thought it unusual that this girl had the same name as his new daughter... "Wait, you mean that... you're...?"
Sakura nodded. "Your daughter." she said smiling. "It's... nice to get to see you again..."
"In all these years," continued the boy. "No one has yet managed to defeat even a single one of the Androids. Everyone who has fought them has either barely escaped or been killed."
"About a year after the Androids first appeared, Vegeta was killed." said Sakura. "Which marked the start of what's come to be known as the Sai-jin Counterattack. Planet Vegeta and the Sai-jin race launched an all out war against the Androids. It also marked the start of the end of the Sai-jin race. Gero, annoyed by the incessant attacks by the Sai-jins, launched a campaign to wipe them out. A very successful one. As far as we know, my friend here is the last one."
"WHAT?!" cried Vegeta, eyes widening. "That's impossible!"
"It's true." said the boy. "Most of the race was wiped out in a single day, when Gero destroyed planet Vegeta. Only a few were off world at the time, and in the years since then all of the Sai-jins we know about have been killed, aside from me. And I'm only half Sai-jin."
"But, what happened to Gohan and Videl?" asked Goku. "You'd said before they survived..."
"For a while." said Sakura. "Vegeta wasn't the only world to be destroyed. Any world that resisted was either decimated or obliterated. Any world known to be harboring our families or allies faced the same fate." the girl closed her eyes, tears shimmering at their corners.
The boy laid a hand on Sakura's shoulder and continued the explanation. "Gero eventually tracked us to Tanaria. Videl stayed behind with Hotaru when the Androids came, to buy the rest of us time to escape. They died, making sure the rest of us got away."
"It was two years ago, when he tried to challenge them at their base and put an end to it at last, that they got Gohan." said Sakura, barely over a whisper. "Now... now it's just us. And we're no match for the Androids, not even close. Everyone else was so much stronger than us, and they never stood a chance."
"Which is why we've come back here." said the boy. "We can't change the future, but we can create a new one... and we hoped we might be able to find a way here to beat them in our time."
"What do you mean, you can't change the future?" asked Krillin. "Haven't you already changed it by talking to us?"
"No." answered Sakura. "Bulma explained it to us while she was still building the time machine. You can't change history. The past is set, what's already happened can't be altered. Time does not allow for the introduction of a paradox. However, by traveling into the past it is possible to create a divergent, alternate, history. A new time line branching off from your point of entry with a future that has yet to be written into history. We can't alter what has happened in our time, our history, but we can try and create a new one where things go better."
"Man, if these things are strong enough to beat Super Sai-jins, is three years really going to be enough time?" asked Yamcha.
"It has to be." Sakura said. "It's all we've got. We'd considered traveling back further in time than this, to give our warning. The machine has enough power to go back up to thirty years. But... today was the best option. Too far back and Goku may not have become a Super Sai-jin on Namek. Or Gohan and Bardock may not have transformed during the battle with Slug and his son."
"And we wanted to be absolutely certain that Frieza and his father didn't get to ravage the Earth this time." added the boy.
"Wait, what?" asked Hotaru. "Ravage the Earth?"
Sakura nodded. "In our history we weren't there to fight them as we did here. While the rest of you dealt with the soldiers who'd started to spread out, Gohan and Bardock attempted a surprise attack against Cold. But it failed, and they were both killed. Everyone else soon followed, and in the time left before Goku arrived, they and their remaining soldiers managed to wipe out a little over half of the Earth's population."
"No way!" Krillin cried, wide-eyed.
"Goku stopped them quickly, once he finally landed." said the boy. "The damage was eventually undone, Goku traveled to Namek to use Parunga to start reviving people. Once Piccolo and Kami were back Shenron was used as well, where possible. But it was a major blow once the battle with the Androids started. Once Piccolo was killed by them, there wasn't any way to bring him back again and the Earth's Dragonballs were lost."
"Wait, Parunga can only revive some once now, right?" asked Gohan. "But we revived Piccolo on Namek beofre Frieza showed up..."
"That was the old Parunga." said Piccolo. "Elder Guru's set of Dragonballs. Elder Moray's set is a new Dragon. He's never revived me before."
"But he has me." Krillin said, frowning. "And so has Shenron. Man, I didn't even make it to meet the Androids at all, did I?"
Appla glanced over at the short human and frowned, thinking about her own situation. She was in the same position as him. She'd been revived twice already, first by Shenron after being killed in the battle against Zarbon, and then later by Parunga following her death at Slug's hands.
"I didn't live to meet the Androids either, did I?" she asked. "I've been wished back twice, too..."
Sakura shook her head. "No. Neither of you lived beyond today in our time."
"Well, thanks for saving our skin, at least." said Krillin. "But can't we just find this Dr. Gero and take him and his Androids out now, before they attack?"
"If we had any idea where they are, but we don't." the boy answered. "We can't even be sure he's even on Earth right now, he cleaned out the Red Ribbon Army's bank accounts after they fell. He could have bought tickets to any planet in the galaxy, could have even bought his own space ship, or his own planet."
"I guess all we can do is wait and prepare." Goku said.
"We'll leave you to it." said Sakura. "We need to get back to our own time, in case our new base is attacked. We're not much, but we're all the others have for defense. Take care, and train well."
Goku nodded. "We will. Will you two come back?"
"If we can." Sakura said. "It takes a long time to recharge the time machine. If... if we're still alive we will come back and help you three years from now. If we don't come back... then you'll be the last hope."
"Wait..." Hotaru said as the two turned to leave. They stopped and looked back as the woman walked over to them. "You're... really my daughter?" Sakura nodded and Hotaru pulled her into a hug for a few seconds. As she released the other woman she turned and looked over to the boy. "You take care of her..."
"Don't worry, I'll keep her safe." he said.
"Bye." Sakura said softly as she and the boy turned and flew off.
The group stood in silence as they watched the pair fly off, no one saying a thing until the lights of their auras had faded away. Whlie he watched them go Goku mulled over what they said, and then something that they'd mentioned, that had slipped his notice at first, at last clicked. And so, he was the one to break the silence as he suddenly cried out in surprise.
"Wah! Wait a second!" he cried, turning to face his father and son. "What were they talking about when they mentioned you transforming, and who are Slug and Sanil?"
Bardock blinked, and then grinned. "A lot's happend while you were away, Goku." he said. "Both Earth and Tanaria were attacked. We had to deal with a powerful pair of Nameks, Slug and his son Sanil, here. During the battle against them, Gohan and I both transformed into Super Sai-jins."
"Oh, wow, really!?" Goku cried, excitedly. "So, how strong are you guys?"
Bardock's grin grew, he could see Goku was contemplating the training possibilities. "Not as strong as you were on Namek." he said. "About around where Frieza was earlier."
"That's amazing!" he said, then turned to look at Hotaru. "And Tanaria was attacked, too?"
She nodded. "On the same day as Earth, apparently." she said. "By Recoome and some more of Raven's people."
"Recoome!? But we beat him on Namek!"
"Apparently he got away, and got his power boosted by Raven." she said. "He was a lot stronger when he came to Tanaria than he was on Namek. I reached my transformation in the fight against him, and it almost wasn't enough."
"Wow. I'm sorry I missed it all." he said, clearly disappointed.
"I'm still worried about these people pulling the strings." said Hotaru, frowning. "I mean, they've already outright attacked us once, sending Recoome to Tanaria, and we still know next to nothing about them."
"Let's worry about the here and now first." Bardock said. "These Androids are a threat we can do something about."
"Bardock's right." Piccolo said. "We can worry about Raven and whoever she's with, and what their plans are, later."