Chapter 21: Plan to Medicate the Saiyans

NOTE: If you read this within the first hour or so of it going up, I uploaded the wrong version. It's fixed now, but you may want to re-read it.

Hey there. I went and made a couple of changes to chapter 19—nothing that affects the plot. Basically, the way Raditz breaks Cooler's hold is different and the effects of his finishing headbutt have been reworded. Nothing major, but those were the areas that were really suspiciously similar, and made me wonder if my subconscious knew more than it was letting on. And for the record, I've talked to npberryhil, the author of Bringer of Death, and everything's fine (in fact, he even helped me with several of the scenes on this chapter). Thanks for your support and understanding, everybody.

Finally, if you don't like the name that I've come up with for the future girl, tell me. I wasn't entirely sure about it, and there'll be an explanation of where it comes from at the end. Right. I'm sure you all want me to get on with it and write the chapter already, so I shall.

"What I'm about to tell you is the history that originally happened. It 'should' have happened, so to speak. Cooler and his father arrived on Earth, but Raditz was able to get here in time to defeat them. Unfortunately, he made a mistake—and I'm sorry to say, Goku, it was kind of your fault. You urged him to spare King Cold's life, and—though I don't know exactly what happened in your conversation—he did. Cold, by this point, was unconscious and all his soldiers were too scared to intervene—Cooler was dead. So Cold and his men were forced to flee, and that was the last we saw of them for quite some time. Three years of peace followed, in which I was born…" The girl's monologue was interrupted as Goku's brain finally made a connection.

"A-hah! You're the child of one of us!" He grinned, pleased with himself. They were standing in the flat wasteland, a couple of miles away from the others. "That explains the Capsule Corp jacket, and how come you're like a saiyan and a human at the same time! So, do I have a daughter, or…"

"No, Raditz is my father." Thestrange girl reached up and flicked the sides of her unruly black bangs behind her ears, revealing just how much she resembled her father with her hair back. She stood in Raditz's familiar pose, confident but always slightly on edge, a stark contrast to Goku's carefree half-slouch.

"Wow, cool! Raditz gets to be a dad! So, uh, who's the mother?" Goku didn't bother asking, so, how are you almost an adult? He reckoned she'd get to that eventually.

"Launch. I believe you know her. If I'm careful not to alter history in too many ways, I'll be born sometime in the next three years. Launch will have a baby girl, and she'll name her Break…" She trailed off, thinking of her mother. She wished she had known her better.

"Launch, huh? With Raditz? Who'd have thought?" Goku laughed out loud. "That's great!" He managed to calm himself down. "Uh, go on."

"All right…" Break continued her story. "We're still not sure what King Cold was doing for three years. Our best theory is that his empire was falling apart at the seams without his sons, and he was rushing around the galaxy trying to keep it together. Maybe he was scared of another defeat. But whatever happened, he returned to get revenge for his humiliation. This time, he was in his third form."

"So, he could transform too?" Goku asked, and Break nodded.

"He never got a chance to today—in either timeline. Fortunately, Raditz made quick work of him—as I did. But when he returned in his third form, Raditz was no match for him—even as a Super Saiyan! And even with help from Earth's most powerful warriors, Cold was untouchable. Plus, based on your previous encounters with Frieza and Cooler on Namek, everyone feared that he had at least one more form left. They were completely outmatched by this terrifying enemy, and it was getting to the point of no hope. So, as a last resort, my brave father used a technique he'd learnt while in space to save us all—Instant Transmission. It let him instantaneously move himself and anyone he touched to anywhere he could see, or sense."

"Hmm, sounds pretty bad." Goku added, his demeanour shifting from its typical light heartedness into concern for the lives of his friends and family—even those from a different version of history. "So, did he move Cold to some distant location in space, then come back to Earth?"

"No." Break's face darkened. Staring at the ground in frustration, the girl ground a small rock into dust with her foot. "That wouldn't have worked. Cold's race can survive in the depths of space, and he would have just come back again. Plus, I don't think my father had enough range to get them outside the solar system. Raditz…" she paused, a sudden rush of emotion making her almost choke on the words. "...he teleported himself, and Cold with him, into the heart of the sun. It was a surprise, apparently—he'd obviously experienced a great deal of change since first coming to earth, but nobody would have ever expected such a selfless deed from him."

"He…" Goku looked over at his brother's distant figure. "He did that? That's…I, uh…huh."

"Naturally, the Dragon Balls were gathered, to bring him back. But of course, that had to be the day when the androids struck!" The girl clenched her fists in anger once again. Even the thought of those two gave her a sense of panic—a feeling of constantly looking over your shoulder, always fearing the end might be moments away.

"Yeah, you mentioned them." Goku hopped up and down with excitement—another enemy more powerful than a Super Saiyan was coming! This he wanted to hear. "Are they tough?"

"They're monsters." She gave her father's signature scowl at the mere mention of the duo terrorising her world. "They struck a random city—for fun, I guess—and destroyed one of the Dragon Balls before they'd all been collected. Before Kami could recreate the ball, it was over. The planet's strongest fighters—Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, Piccolo, Nail, Zarbon—everyone died. Only a few of us escaped. Over the next seventeen years, they've been hunting down and destroying the last remnants of humanity! It's a living nightmare—we have to stop it fromever happening!"

"And, uh, do I die fighting the androids?" Goku gulped. "You didn't mention me…"

"I'm sorry." She shook her head. "You died of a heart virus during the three years of peace. It's unknown now, but in my time we have a cure." She pulled a small vial out of her pocket, and tossed it to Goku. "Here. Take it if you ever catch a seemingly untreatable disease—it'll cause fever, chest pains, and eventually incapacitation. Death follows in a couple of days."

"Wow, thanks!" Goku clutched the vital medicine in his hand. "Hearing how you're gonna die, then being given a chance to avoid it in advance…that's so weird! Heh heh…"

"And that brings me to the last part of my story—it might answer any remaining questions you have. Bulma, a woman I believe you know very well, was one of the survivors. She's like the mother I never had, really, and we're all extremely lucky to have her. As you know, she's a scientific genius, and recently…well, recently in my time, about twenty years from now to you…she finished her latest creation—a vehicle capable of travelling through time. Unfortunately, once again disaster struck at the worst possible moment…"

Age 784...

The building was disguised to look like just another ruin dotting the landscape, but inside, it was a fully working multidisciplinary laboratory, with salvaged equipment from two decades of scavenging. Bulma, assisted by her son Trunks, spent most of her time there, staying awake on determination and enough coffee to supply a small nation. Her work, however, had finally paid off—the time machine, roughly spherical, with a glass cockpit bubble and balanced on the ground on several spindly metal legs, stood just outside the lab, ready to go. It was bright yellow, proudly bearing the Capsule Corporation logo as a memory of old times, and the time and place co-ordinates were already programmed in. It just needed a passenger...

"All right," Gohan said. He was a grown man now, with old scars and a world-weary look on his face, but an air of hope always seemed to shine through. He was still wearing his Turtle School gi to honour his father, whom he hadn't seen since he was a child. With him were Bulma (wearing her pyjamas from three nights before and with the mandatory coffee mug in hand—last night, putting on the finishing touches, had been one of those nights); Trunks, her son, bearing the same pale green skin as his deceased father and a mess of lavender hair (an oddity—surely purple would be a result of red and blue hair, not green and blue, mixing—that had never been adequately explained), standing beside her in casual shirt and jeans; and Break, smiling as she thought of the possibility that they might actually have a chance to put things right. Gohan continued speaking. "Are we all clear on the plan?"

Trunks nodded. "Whoever goes has to take out Cooler and King Cold before Raditz arrives, or at least stop him fromsparing Cold's life—and deliver the medicine to Goku. Then, they'll have to warn the whole group of what's coming—. "

Break picked up where he left off. "—so, with Goku and Raditz still alive, and three years of preparation, they'll stand a much better chance against the androids than we did in our timeline." She almost couldn't believe it—what if they actually could do it? It seemed too good to be true (and in her world, if something seemed too good to be true, it usually was—so naturally, she had her doubts, although she put them down to habitual paranoia). But more than that, she desperately wanted to be the one to go back. The chance to meet her parents, for what was basically the first time (she'd been too young to remember them before) was incredible. Not to mention all the legendary figures Gohan was always telling them about—Goku and Piccolo and Tien and all the others she'd heard of but never seen. "Right. I see you've all done your homework," Gohan replied, smiling a little. If you looked closely, you could still see the optimistic little boy who went to space and back for the sake people he'd barely known. But the happy light in his eyes was dimmed, and sometimes it just seemed like he was tired of living. Then again, the life he led, who wouldn't be?

"That's wonderful." Bulma yawned, trying to take a sip of coffee but missing her mouth. "But I haven't slept in seventy-two hours, so could we just hurry up and save the future already?"

"Ah, calm down, Mom," Trunks said, laughing. "This is important! So, there's only one thing left to decide…who's going?"

Gohan considered this. "On balance, I think the person going back is in the most danger, and has the most difficult job. Since you two are just kids, and no offense, Bulma, you're no fighter, I think I should go."

"No way! I can handle it!" Trunks protested. "Besides, we need you here!"

"Hey," Break cut in, "I'm much more powerful than you, Trunks, I'd be able to take care of myself a lot easier! But yeah, Gohan, you should stay. What if the androids…the, uh…the…" her quivering voice trailed off, interrupted from above by a terrifying shadow.

"Oh, do go on," the cruel voice called out. "What if the androids do what?" All eyes turned upwards in fear—not now! They were so close!

"Damn!" Gohan mentally cursed himself for holding this talk outside. The time machine itself needed to be outdoors to work, but they should have waited until they had absolutely sorted everything out before wheeling it out. We've left ourselves exposed—Goku or Raditz would never have made a mistake like this! Gohan emptied his mind, achieving mental balance and powering up to Super Saiyan. "Bulma! Get inside!" he shouted, and she scrambled in through the door. There was a passage underground—she'd know the plan. The lab would be empty of people and vital equipment within two minutes. Gohan just hoped he could hold them that long.

The androids descended to the opposite side of the small 'clearing' between the ruined buildings. Seventeen, a black-haired teenage boy wearing a red scarf, stood slightly in front of Eighteen, a blonde girl of similar age in a denim jacket. They were almost exactly equal in height and build, giving a strange overall appearance—opposite yet the same. "Well, Seventeen, look at this merry little gathering…how rude of them to start without us," Eighteen said, in her all-too-familiar mocking tone.

Gohan's mind raced. He was sure he could drag out the fight long enough that Bulma could evacuate the lab and escape. But he'd probably lose his own life in the process. That was bad enough, but Break, Trunks and the time machine were here too! He couldn't think of any way to distract both of the killer machines long enough to get the kids and the machine to safety…

"Break." Trunks' voice cut through the nervous silence. "Get in the time machine. Go. I know Gohan won't leave us to face them—it has to be you!"

"Trunks…" Break stared, shock creeping onto her face. "You'll die if you try and fight them…"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Trunks' eyes began to fill with tears. "These…things…killed my father! I won't run away when I can give you a chance to change all this!" With a start, the saiyans realised that the boy had never actually fought the androids—he'd always held more of a support role, aiding escapes and moving bystanders to safety. He was a fairly competent fighter, but definitely not on the level of a Super Saiyan, and with no real batle experience except training with the others. He'd always wanted to fight, but reluctantly agreed that he'd only be getting himself killed. "Hurry, before they attack!" He yelled, turning to face the androids, who looked like they were growing bored. "Get out of here!" His mind was made up, and Break knew he wasn't going to budge. "All right…" She sniffed a little. "I won't forget you!" she promised, climbing into the time machine. Her voice betrayed her sense of fear, the worry that she might never return-and if she did, everyone she cared about would be dead. "Come on, turn on already…" the initiation sequence began, the machine powering on agonisingly slowly.

"Well, I'm starting to get bored," Seventeen decided. "Let's have a little fun with them, Eighteen."

"Sounds good to me," his female counterpart replied. Gohan and Trunks tensed for battle, putting themselves between the androids and the time machine. Gohan's golden aura rippled as tension built up in his body. Trunks snarled as he powered up to maximum, his canines elongating into fangs and his eyes blazing yellow—another trace of Zarbon's DNA. "All right, come on!" he yelled, his determination to protect Break and assure she made it safely to the past completely overriding his fear of the androids.

"Ah, so you do want to fight." Seventeen narrowed his eyes. "That's good. It's so boring when they give up and try to run away. Chasing humans is only fun for a couple of minutes, then it just gets repetitive…"

"Yaaah!" Gohan charged forwards, surprising his enemies by making the first move, his jump kick taking Eighteen off her feet. He pressed his advantage, his fists flying and landing a stream of furious blows, but realised after several seconds that she could easily have dodged if she wanted to—she just felt like showing off her durability today. "Damn it, what does it take?!" he grumbled, bringing his arm around for another attack. She saw it coming and vaulted over his head, laughing to herself a little as she landed behind Gohan, facing away from him.

Trunks was left facing off against Seventeen. The dark-haired android brushed back his hair, smirking. "This won't take long," he said. "You've made yourselves very annoying, running around ruining our games. I think it was last week you stole a few of our playthings. So we'll have some fun killing you…And then we'll get around to the girl—whatever it is she's trying to do." That set off something inside Trunks, and he leapt at Seventeen, but the android intercepted his attack with one hand, whirling the other around and smashing it into Trunks' side, jarring against his ribs. Trunks staggered off to the side, and Seventeen casually walked over towards him. Trunks whirled, firing a continuous stream of energy bolts from both hands, but they impacted on his implacable foe with no visible effect. Seventeen just grinned, then his image wavered. Within a second, he was inches from Trunks, and then the android thrust his hand forwards and all the pain in the world gathered itself up and dropped into Trunks' stomach. "Aaaaaah!" he shrieked, and Break looked up on hearing the noise, frantically trying to hurry the time machine up. It had initiated its final countdown, and had only a few seconds to go before it was fully ready.

The picture that greeted Break brought tears to her eyes and despair to her mind—Gohan was on the floor trying to get up, but every time he made an effort to stand, Eighteen kicked him back down, tutting and shaking her head. Seventeen had shoved his arm right through Trunks' middle, dark green blood dripping off of his hand, and was chuckling to himself as wordless screams fought their way out of the boy's mouth. Trunks gathered all his willpower and forced himself to speak, staring Seventeen right in the eyes. "I'm…dying now, I know that…you killed my father, and all his friends, and…now me too. But—" he grabbed hold of Seventeen's upper arm and held on with all his might. "—I'm not going alone!" Energy started to crackle up and down his body, and Seventeen's eyes widened. He tried to pull his arm out, but the combined force of his own attack piercing his victim's body and Trunks' death-grip was too much for him to escape in such a short space of time. White light, hissing and spitting, shimmered around the two of them, and all too quickly, they were consumed in a colossal explosion. Tears flowed freely as Break pressed the ignition, and with little more than a quiet hum and a gentle vibration, she was transported twenty years into the past, leaving her adoptive family to fight and die without her.

Age 764...

"…And that's when I got back here," Break finished telling Goku. "I took a few minutes to compose myself, then went to deal with King Cold."

"Huh. And here I thought you had everything under control…" Goku looked genuinely concerned. "I wonder if Gohan will be all right…"

"I don't know." Break shrugged, rubbing her eyes. "Maybe Trunks' sacrifice killed Seventeen. Maybe not. Either way, maybe Gohan escaped, and maybe they killed him. I…I just don't know. I carried out the plan anyway. Do you understand now? I wanted to tell Raditz more, since he's the Super Saiyan and therefore our best hope, but…I haven't been born yet. Who knows what'll happen if he finds out. I might never exist. But I can trust you, right?" She looked at him hopefully, and Goku saw past the mystery visitor from the future, to the frightened child underneath. "You won't tell anybody what I've told you?"

"Sure!" Goku gave a thumbs-up, much to her relief. "I'll tell everybody about the androids, and what to expect, but as for you—I'll just tell them to wait and see. Okay?"

"Thanks so much!" She did her best to smile, but again, it was obvious that happiness had been a rare thing for her growing up. "All right, look. If you all train hard these three years, you'll stand a better chance when the androids do appear. Plus, you'll have Raditz, and who knows—maybe you can become a Super Saiyan as well!"

"Hey, that'd be cool," Goku chuckled. "I wonder what my hair would look like…by the way, how did you become a Super Saiyan? What happened?"

"Uh…nothing, actually. For some reason, I've been able to transform from an early age—but my emotions get even more out of control than a normal Super Saiyan's. I can't think clearly at all. I guess I get that from my mother—it's such a weird coincidence, her turning blonde and getting violent as well. It must have mixed with the Super Saiyan, uh, genes or…um…something. I'm not a scientist, I don't know."

"Oh, okay." Goku wondered what this timeline's version of Break would look like. "Well, anyway, I wanted to ask—is that my Power Pole on your back?"

"Yup." Break drew the unique weapon, idly spinning it around. "Gohan gave it to me. He always thought of it as a sort of symbol. A reminder of you. He said whenever you were around, everything was all right."

"Thank you, Break." Goku looked serious again, the mention of Gohan sobering the mood. "For coming back to change all this. You, Gohan, Trunks…you shouldn't have had to grow up without any parents. Don't worry, we'll make things right." There was something encouraging about his words.

"I believe you, Goku. Good luck, all of you." She looked apprehensive. "Well, I have to go. I don't want to stay here too long, or I might affect the timeline in more ways than I intended, and I have to find out if anybody survived. But once I've checked how things are in my future, I'll return, three years from today, and see if I can help you against the androids."

"That sounds great!" Goku waved in a mock salute. "See you then!" He watched the girl from the future fly off into the wastes, presumably back towards wherever she'd hidden her time machine (or, if it was in a capsule, simply to a remote location to use it). So sad…she's a kid who's had to grow up far too soon…

"Well, are you going to explain what all that was about?" Raditz was practically venting steam in impatience.

"Uh…I can't really tell you all of it. Will you trust me? For her sake, a lot of what she's told me has to remain a secret until later." Goku was clearly uncomfortable with keeping the truth a secret. "Please?"

"Well, damn it, what can you tell us?" his brother asked. Goku explained carefully all about the androids, their appearance and abilities. "As for the girl, she'll return in time to help us fight the androids. By then, I think it'll be safe to tell you the rest."

It must be something extremely important, Tien thought to himself, if even

Goku can resist telling the truth…

"By the way," Goku continued, pointing to Raditz's plain brown, somewhat ragged clothes. "What's with the caveman getup?"

"Well, the pod I got into had a pre-programmed route set for the planet Yardrat, and I had to go there before I could get it to take me to Earth. I stayed there for a while, but their style of clothing was ridiculous, so I made my own." Raditz sighed. "I had…a lot to think about, staying on Yardrat. It struck me as exactly the kind of rich, beautiful planet with weak natives that I'd have conquered while working for Frieza, wiping out the entire population without a second thought. But they didn't know of Frieza or the saiyans, so they offered me nothing but kindness. They…they were all living breathing beings, individuals, each with families, lives, histories, their own little personality quirks…" his voice was wavering. "…the kind of people who offer shelter to a complete stranger, nursing them back to health and letting them stay for weeks in their homes…I even made friends with some of them, would you believe it? But…before…I've killed so many. People just like them. I would have, you know, a year ago. I almost wanted to kill the Yardrats, too, for no reason other than that's just what I do."

He looked over at Goku, his face a battleground of emotion. "Hey, Raditz…" Goku put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "It's okay now. You didn't, is the important thing. You've changed."

"That's just it!" the older saiyan snapped. "I don't know where I stand, Goku!" He continued so quickly Goku didn't have time to ask what had happened to 'Kakarot'. "I've changed, but not enough…or maybe too much…I'm not like you—the things I've done, I don't think I ever can be! But I'm not like I used to be—like Vegeta still is! I can't just do what I want with no moral cares! I want to kill, but I can't bring myself to! I'm a saiyan warrior, but I don't know what that means anymore!"

"I'm…sorry…" Goku was wide-eyed, trying to empathise, but he had been blessed with very little moral ambiguity in his life and found Raditz's conflict difficult to imagine. "But I'm not sure I can help. It sounds like you need to sort some things out. Your state of mind right now, it really doesn't sound very healthy."

Raditz took ten seconds to mentally compose his reply. "I'm going," he decided.

"Where?"

"I've been in space for far too long, I've learnt a technique that lets me travel anywhere instantly, and I've finally found the energy signature of the person I've been waiting to see for months." He brushed Goku off, raised two fingers to his forehead and vanished. It wasn't simply speed—there was no energy to follow. His ki simply disappeared, instantly reappearing on the other side of the planet.

Launch, currently in her shy, blue-haired state, was humming to herself as she stood on the beach outside a rebuilt Kame House, idly skimming stones across the ocean. The way the rocks flew across the surface of the water, framed against the sunset, was strangely mesmerising. Her last one bounced six times—the day's record—before being plucked out of the air. Raditz stood on the sand in front of her, holding the stone out. "Is this yours?" he asked, smiling despite his inner turmoil when he saw her. Launch beamed, skipping forwards and hugging him around the waist. "I knew you'd come back! I knew it!" Why had she missed him so much? Truthfully, she didn't know—they hadn't been that close when he'd left for Namek. Maybe she was drawn to that difference, that uniqueness—and you didn't get more different than an alien warrior. Besides, she'd sensed there was more to him than the arrogant exterior he projected. Raditz had similar thoughts—should he be getting too attached to this human? But there was something special about her, in both personas. The blonde one was always questioning, confronting him, practically the only human never to show any fear of him—maybe she reminded him of his own warlike people. And as for the shy one, there was something in her eyes. Trusting, not judging anyone. And right now, he needed that.

"Hey, hey." He threw the stone to the side, and gazed down at her—she only came up to the tall alien's shoulders. He took her hand in both of his. "It's okay. Everything's fine now." The moment was somewhat ruined when neither of them knew what to say next. Raditz started to say something, realised how ridiculous it sounded, and tripped over his own tongue, ending up with a sort of senseless mumble. Launch laughed out loud—in retrospect, it was better than anything he could have said.

Raditz stood on the roof of Kame House, bracing himself against the cold wind. It was midnight, or close enough. "I've decided," he said to nobody at all. He had sat up with Launch all night, just…talking. Talking about everything they could think of, until it didn't matter what they were saying anymore—it was communication, the odd girl out and the runt of the litter finding something they never knew they'd been missing. And now she was asleep, he found himself still needing to talk. What he'd decided, it needed to be said aloud. It made it a promise of sorts. "This planet—with its wonderful, ridiculous, oblivious people—it's worth defending. I've seen where the life I used to live leads. You die, forgotten, on some barren little world in the middle of nowhere. Or you live, and end up just like Frieza and his family." How could he have hated them so much? The saiyans were really just like them. "I won't live that way anymore!" Without trying to, he burst into his Super Saiyan form, lighting up the night for miles around. Accidents were narrowly avoided as distant ships mistook him for a lighthouse.

For the first time in his life, he had something to fight for. Something to lose. "This is my home now, and when these androids show themselves, I'm going to send them straight to hell!"

In case you didn't get the chapter name (I don't know how well-known the thing it's based on is), it's based on the DBZ not-quite-movie 'plan to eradicate the saiyans'. If this was a comedy series, I would definitely have instead written a chapter called 'plan to discombobulate the saiyans'. I love that that's actually a word.

Anyway, Break. Well, it's got two origins, actually, though they're sort of the same. Confused yet? Okay, her mother's name is Lunch in the manga, Launch in the anime. So I went from lunch to breakfast, then took the first half of the word to make it shorter. Plus, 'break', like 'launch', is a somewhat violent verb. It implies action and strength (at least I'd like to think so).

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of the alternate future, and a bit of (overdue, in some people's opinion) character development.

Q: I was first thinking that it was Zarbon and Bulma's daughter, but her becoming a Super Saiyan rules that out of the equation. The other two explanations would be Goku/Bulma(No.) and Gohan/Bulma.(HELL NO!) I'm curious about who this character is.

A: Well, it wasn't Bulma's daughter at all! Not sure why you thought Goku (who's married) or Gohan (who's about 15-20 years younger, I think?) would be with Bulma…

Q: Regarding the unknown female from the future...pure awesome. It's something we've all probably wondered before, what if Trunks had been a girl, but you actually brought the character to life. I already feel a connection to the character and can't wait to find out more about her.

A: Well, I'm guessing this chapter did that.

Q: I did have some objections to whether or not Raditz would have been able to defeat Cooler last chapter, though. First off, their power levels were the same ratio as Vegeta was to Dodoria when they fought and Vegeta effortlessly dominated. Raditz was around 90% of Coolers power, just as Dodoria was around 90% of Vegeta's, yet the gap seemed insurmountable in the case of the latter. In Bringer of Death, SSJ Vegeta was 97% of Cooler's power and was thus able to bridge the gap with his superior skill and planning. However, in the case of Raditz, who was never known for his exceptional skills in battle, I feel that it is very unlikely he would win. You wrote the fight in such a way as to present his victory by determination alone, however, I find this to be a very unrealistic outcome. Consider that when SSJ Vegeta later fought King Cold's 3rd form he was at 94% of Cold's power, yet the frost demon was able to handle him with relative ease-in part due to Cold's fighting abilities being more advanced than Cooler's but I think the point is made. This wouldn't have been a problem if you had Davidstarlingm as your physics/mathematician/power level expert/editor though. ;P

A: Hmm. It's a good point. However, well, my reasoning in this instance is basically to cite Toriyama's slight inconsistency, say that there probably isn't a fixed number I can apply (though if you think that you have a system that works, go ahead), admit I maybe should have put Cooler at 155 million or so to make the gap smaller, and point out SSJ Goku vs. Frieza (admittedly, there were mitigating factors such as how much Goku was trying, his tiredness, being unused to his power, etc., but I'm sure there's an extremely long, geeky argument I could make for this whole thing which would end in me losing anyway, and in my opinion takes second place to the plot…so I'm not going to go into it. And I'm going to say that not posting power levels anymore is probably a good thing, seeing as I don't have a detailed system for retaining consistency.)

Q: One thing about the new chapter... In my opinion you should have ended with the ssj girl telling goku who she is instead of doing the cliffhanger like this.
Anyway i know who she is anyway.
Still think id have preferred the other possibility on who returns to this timeline.
Any chance we get a second timetraveller that isnt cell?
I want Zarbon jr.! ;-)

A: I could have done that, but I hope you can see what I was going for, opening this chapter with Break's narrative and her identity coming to light along the way. Also, I think that 'Zarbon Jr.' (or as we now know him, Trunks) is probably now unlikely to use the time machine. He's just a little bit dead.

Q: Well, I started reading this story only two days ago, and I must say, I am quite hooked. One of the few things able to keep me occupied in this present time. I can't wait for more.
Also: Raditz and Launch's Kid. Her Normal State Lunch, Super Saiyan Launch. (I could still be VERY wrong, but if I am right, nice touch guys.)

A: Ooh, good call. To you and everybody who guessed this.

Q: Well, this was certainly a development. A quick not though: Its going way to quickly.
The story is becoming one major event after another and though I know you don't want to rewrite what happened in canon DBZ, it helps slow things down and creates a nostalgic feel.

And

While I sympathize with your want to not rehash canon events, I think you are leaning a bit too far in the other direction- your pacing is incredibly breakneck the point where we don't really get a sense of progress or passing time- major events happen so fast that this almost reads more as a highlight reel than a consistent narrative. In cutting out filler, I think you may have gone a little too far into the meat and are throwing out the baby with the bathwater by having absolutely no downtime between major events.

A: Points taken. I'll work on it. Did this chapter help? I don't think it moved as fast as some. It did have one battle in the middle, but that had already happened that morning…er, will happen twenty years in the future…um, will already have happened that morning twenty years from now…uh…damn time travel tenses.

Q: The saiyan girl though from the future, raditz and bulma im assuming or maybe someone else. The other pairing would have to be launch and raditz (uncontrolled power seems abit of a give away)
i don't think vegeta will be with bulma now i don't think. However, why does she want to speak with goku why not Raditz since he's the powerful super saiyan here?

A: Because she didn't want to tell Raditz she's his daughter, or it might stop her ever existing—since events as they stand lead to her being born, she doesn't want to mess with things. Goku is the next most powerful, a potential Super Saiyan himself, and if he keeps his mouth shut events will proceed as they did.

Q: [various comments asking if there will be a Meta-Frieza]

A: Wait and see.

Q: Good chapter. Did goku train with king kia?

A: King Kia? Is that King Kai's evil twin? But seriously, in regards to all questions about Goku, no, he wasn't dead for nearly long enough. Who trained where and how much everyone's improved will be answered in the next chapter, when they all gather to plan strategy and whatnot.

Q: shame that raditz didn't use his "Watch the birdie" attack, that he tried to use 2 times in the anime, but got interupted before using (1st time when picking up goku's powerlevel, 2nd time when goku grabbed his tail)

A: They only named that in the anime, and I was under the impression that it was called 'double Sunday' or something equally silly. In the manga, it was just a generic energy blast. But has Raditz developed any named techniques while in space/will he over the next three years? I don't actually know.

Q: Amazing! So "Trunks" is a girl, and I guess she is Raditz and L(a)unch daughter!
And very nice "I lose mental control when I transform.", I can see you already pointing to the Full-Power Super Saiyan, where they get full control of the transformation, thoughts and feelings.

A: I was more pointing to her mother being Launch. Her Super Saiyan transformation has the normal emotional change from SSJ plus Launch's aggressive blonde state on top of it. This meant she could transform from an early age, without needing a 'trigger' event, but whenever she does, she goes completely ballistic, like Broly-levels of instability (but, obviously, nowhere near his power). I know this is extremely shaky science. I'm an extremely shaky scientist (actually, I'm not a scientist at all…not professionally anyway). It's DBZ after all; we can't all be Honour Trip and analyse everything to ten decimal places. I'd rather write Super Saiyans fighting androids, how about you?

(No disrespect to Honour Trip. Really. See you on Wednesday.)