"So, what do you guys make of the pictures?"

Krillin stood with his arms crossed, atop Earth's lookout, glancing back and forth between Piccolo and Dende.

"Its pretty brutal, that's for sure," Piccolo said.

The pictures they were looking at came from the police department's crime scene investigation team, who Krillin called after he finished vomiting upon discovering his now deceased friend Cooper. Krillin requested copies of the photos afterwards, but couldn't look at them himself without dry heaving. He was no stranger to brutal injuries after so many years of fighting alongside Goku, but the gory mess he stumbled upon at the coroner's office was on a different level.

"It looks like some creatures clawed their way out from each of the bodies, then teamed up on your friend." Dende shook his head.

Krillin sighed and nodded. "I don't know of any sort of Earth creature that would do such a thing. The first image that popped into my head were little mini Saibamen planted inside those poor girls, but I'm pretty sure those went extinct along with Nappa way back in the day."

Piccolo shook his head. "If there were Saibamen out there wandering around, one of us would have sensed their energy and destroyed them by now. But that doesn't rule out some other alien parasite we just don't know about yet."

"Whatever they are," Dende said, "it looks like they grow fast. The holes in the corpses they emerged from aren't that large, but the claw marks in Krillin's friend look like they're from mid-sized dinosaurs. The holes in the skylight they escaped from are way bigger than the ones in the corpses."

Flashes of memory caught up to Krillin, and he struggled to keep his lunch down.

"I appreciate you guys taking a look, but it sounds like you're just as lost as I am. Do you think we should show Bulma and the others, and see what they have to think?"

"No. Whatever this is, it's in hiding for now. No reason to ruin your daughter's special day by worrying everyone about something we know nothing about yet. I'll bring it up with Gohan when he gets back from training later this evening - maybe he's encountered something like this in his studies."

"If you say so, Piccolo. My police force is also out there searching the city for anything suspicious, so I should know right away if anything weird shows up. Before we head out though, I do have one other picture I haven't shown you guys yet."

Dende and Piccolo looked up at Krillin as he pulled a bloody Polaroid from his back pocket.

"As I was waiting for CSI to show up, I noticed that Coop had this sticking out of what was left of his lab coat pocket. He must have snapped it just before everything went down. Maybe I should have shown you this first, but I still have no idea what to make of it. I know the girls weren't pregnant when we found their bodies, so all the stomach swelling must be from whatever burst out of them, but the marks on their bellies..."

He handed the photo over, eliciting gasps from Piccolo and Dende when they saw it.

"What the?"

"Are those...it couldn't be! Why would their stomachs have the same markings as the five and six star Dragon Balls? "

Typically, Trunks avoided copying his future self's moves whenever possible. Like he had insisted in many past arguments with Mai, he was his own person, and he was dedicated to carving out his own path in life. Besides, he didn't have the cool sword or history of tragedy that would help him pull the look off.

But desperate times call for desperate measures. Goten's Kamehameha wave was barreling up at him, and his friend did not appear to be holding back at all that early afternoon. Trunks flipped his hands around in just the right pattern to summon up the energy he needed, then shouted out and countered with a wave of his own energy.

"Burning attack!"

His blast met Goten's mid-air, and the two Saiyans each took turns pushing for advantage with their respective attacks. Trunks yelled out as he mustered up more energy to add to his side of the attack, briefly pushing Goten's attack down far enough that he thought it would be enough to win the duel. But just as it looked like his attack was about to engulf his friendly rival, Goten found his second wind and pushed back, quickly swallowing up Trunks's attack.

Trunks was forced to abandon his position and dive to the side, where he watched as the energy shot out into space. He locked eyes with Goten and charged down at him from above, then swung wildly when he was close enough to make contact. Goten dodged, then caught Trunks with a knee to the stomach, followed by a nasty right hook that knocked the wind right out of him. Trunks fell to his knees to catch his breath.

"Is that all you've got? I was just getting started." Goten crossed his arms.

Trunks let out a few coughs as he regained composure and rose to his feet. "Are we done here? You know, there are places we need to be soon."

"You've gotten soft, Trunks. You used to train with me every day. I'm even rusty from all the time I've been spending on the movie set lately! What have you even been doing all this time? Standing outside Mai's house with a boombox over your head, begging for her to take you back?"

"My relationship with Mai is none of your business, Goten! She going through a hard time right now, and even if we can't be together she still needs me, okay?"

"Keep telling yourself that, buddy. Meanwhile I'm getting stronger by the day! Soon I'm gonna leave you in the dust just like my dad did to yours, years ago!"

"Fine, Goten, you're stronger than me right now. Is that what you wanted to hear? Now can we go? You're gonna be late to your own engagement party."

Goten rolled his eyes. "It's still early, and we're already going to be wasting our whole evening having the girls talk our ears off, why waste the whole afternoon too? We have plenty of time for one more round. Come on buddy, what do you say?"

Trunks shook his head. "You're going to make an even flakier husband than your dad..."

Goten smirked and dropped into his fighting stance. "At least my dad has managed to stay married to the woman he loves, unlike some other people I know."

Trunks put a tongue to his cheek and then powered up to Super Saiyan.

"You're a real asshole, Goten."