The next day, Bulma was at Capsule Corporation going over everything with Nappa through the communicator. She told them about everything - Gero's shaddy past, his androids, his history with the Red Ribbon Army, the warning they received months ago, Tao's attempted kidnapping, and the destruction of Metro East - and it put together a clear picture of how much danger the Earth was truly in.

"Gods," Nappa said, "this is even worse than I thought."

"Exactly, exactly," Bulma said. "Do you think this will be enough to get the council to change their minds?"

"I can't say for sure - you know how stubborn a lot of them are. But this might convince them to consider it, at the very least."

She started typing, putting all of the files together. "Does the station have some kind of component that can print off stuff? They'll believe it more if they can see the proof."

"No, but we could get one."

"Good. Anything new on your end that I should know about."

"Yeah, and it's not good. One of the people on the investigation team presented us with some more information on Gero. She told us how revered he used to be on your planet. And she brought up your father's connections to him."

"What," she screamed. "How did they even know about that?" Her own father hadn't even told her about it.

"She didn't say. But the rest of the council has started discussing cutting off ties with the Earth permanently."

"That's insane! We're not gonna even get a chance to defend ourselves?!"

"Not if they get their way. The king stepped in and halted the vote from taking place, but if enough of them start getting antsy, they'll hold it anyway. I'll talk to Beets and see if he can install that printer you want. The sooner, the better."

"Call me when you do. I'll have it all ready to go. How's Vegeta holding up?"

"Well, he'll be happy to hear you're still safe. He won't be able to come out and talk to you here - people will get suspicious. And at this stage, we can't afford to get caught."

"I understand. Tell him that I still miss him."

"Can do. He's gonna be a wreck, when you finally come home."

She laughed. "Yeah, I bet he will. What about you?"

Nappa raised a brow. "What about me?"

"You know, how are you holding up?"

He breathed out. "Not great, but I'm managing. I feel better, knowing you and Raditz are safe. If you find that Gero bastard, kick his teeth in for me, will ya?"

"You don't even have to ask."

There was a knock at the door. "Bulma," her father said, "there's someone here to see you."

"I'll be out in a minute, dad," she yelled over her shoulder. She turned back to the screen. "Call me when you get that printer up and running. I'll talk to you soon."

"Take care of yourself, Bulma." And then, the transmission cut off.

Bulma got up, before leaning against her chair and putting her hand on her forehead. Since she got pregnant, anytime she stood up too fast, she got a bad headache. She was at a point where she couldn't even stand up for long periods of time without feeling like collapsing. She took a deep breath and exhaled. Soon, this would all be over and everything would be back to normal.

She got out of the lab and carefully walked up the stairs, leaning against the handrail. Her father was reading the newspaper - the front page story was about Metro East. He glanced up, then pointed towards the door. "He's out front, waiting for ya."

Bulma walked out the front door and off of the porch. She blinked when she saw who it was. "Piccolo?"

"Come with me," he said. "I need to show you something."

"What is it? Did something happen?"

"I'll tell you when we get there. We don't have much time."

She walked over to him. "Okay, okay, I'm coming." When she stood next to him, he picked her up and took off into the sky. She held onto his shoulders, wondering what, exactly, he wanted to show her. If he was that insistent over it, then it must have been serious.

They ended up at a small field about a half-hour away. It looked completely normal from above until Bulma noticed the giant craters sitting on the ground, the trees leaning backwards slightly. It looked like a bomb had been dropped. And she could make out a circle of something sitting just beside one of them.

"What the hell happened here," she asked.

"You remember how I told you we were warned about the androids months ago," he explained. "It's time you find out exactly how."

Piccolo lowered himself to the ground, kneeling slightly so Bulma could hop down. When she got a closer look at the circle, she gawked. It was a circle of bones, sitting in human-like forms. When she looked again, she saw they were wearing some kind of armor.

"Wait," she said, daring to get close to them. She carefully knelt down and looked at the chestplate. "This is the galactic standard armor. What's it doing all the way out here?"

"Six months ago, I felt a great power land onto the planet. Goku and I went to investigate it, and saw a spaceship land here - one from the Cold Empire."

Her eyes widened. When she turned over the armor, she saw their crest printed on the breastplate. "The Cold Empire? I didn't know they ever came to visit. Was it Cooler who sent them?"

"Not exactly - they came independent of them. It turned out a certain someone wasn't as dead as we thought he was."

"Who do you," her speech trailed off, until she gasped. She whipped her head around to look at him. "Frieza?! But how?! No one could have survived that explosion!"

"The 'how' doesn't really matter. We won't have to worry about him - in the middle of our fight, another warrior came in and finished him off for good. He said he was from the future and came to warn us about the android invasion."

"Wow. He must be really strong, if he's able to take on someone like Frieza. Who was he? Did you get his name?"

"His name's Trunks. And he's who your son will grow up to be."

Her jaw dropped, as she went rigid. "W-what?!"

"I know this is a lot to take in, Bulma, but you need to hear this. In his warning, he told us Gero was going after his mother. When I tried to get more answers out of him, he admitted you were her. And he was able to become a Super Saiyan. Not surprising, since Vegeta's his father."

Bulma just gawked at him, her mind completely blank. She sat on the ground and put her hand on her forehead, pushing her bangs back. Not only was her son the one who issued the warning, but he'd grow up to be just as strong as his father. Out of all of the shocking revelations she'd had since this whole thing began, this floored her the most. No wonder he never told her - she was having trouble wrapping her head around it, even with proof.

"I-I don't believe it," she whispered, in a daze. "How is any of this even happening? Am I going crazy?!"

"You can believe whatever you want, but that's the truth."

She looked back up at him. "Why are you telling me this now?"

"Kami thinks that even with all our combined strength, it might not be enough to defeat the androids. If you can get us back on good terms with the Saiyans, one or two of them joining us could be enough to tip the scales. But Gero could attack anytime and we need the manpower now. Trunks promised to be here for the fight, but the attack came early and he doesn't know about it."

"When Tao tried to kidnap me, right?"

"That's right. We can't afford to wait - he needs to get here now. But since he's in the future, we don't exactly have a way to tell him that."

Bulma put her hand over her mouth, looking down as she thought about it. He was right - it could take them months to get the alliance up and running, again, and Gero could attack tomorrow. Having her future son there would help tip the scale.

Then, it hit her. Her hand lowered into her lap. "The Dragon Balls! We can use the Dragon Balls to tell him! We just ask the dragon if it can call him up and then we tell him to get here sooner!" The smile faded from her face. "Oh, but it could take forever for us to gather all seven of them - they could be absolutely anywhere. Guess there really isn't a quick way around this."

He smirked. "Not necessarily. We already know where four of them are. We'd only need to find three more to summon Shenron."

She grinned. "Really?! That's amazing!" She ran up to him and hugged him around the waist. "Oh you're the best, Piccolo! I'm so glad to have you around!" He rolled his eyes, but didn't try to push her off. "I say we head there now! The sooner we get them all together, the better it'll be for everyone!"

He sighed, as he picked her up, again. "At least we're on the same page with that, kid." She giggled.

The sun had already begun to set by the time Bulma and Piccolo made it to Mt. Paozu. When they touched down on the front lawn, Chi-Chi came out of the house to greet them, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Glad you finally came home," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "You're lucky I started making supper late, or you would have missed it completely."

"Sorry for having bigger issues to deal with." He knelt, letting Bulma hop out of his arms.

Chi-Chi's cross attitude shifted, when she noticed her. "Oh, Bulma! I wasn't expecting you to stop by. It's good to see you again!"

Bulma walked up to her. "It's good to see you too. Hey, I have to ask you for something. Piccolo told me you had some of the Dragon Balls - is that right?"

"Yes, we do. Do you need them for a wish?"

"That's the idea."

"Wonderful! I keep them back in my room - please, come inside." She grabbed her wrist and practically pulled her through the doorway and into the parlor. "Just make yourself comfy, and I'll go grab them!" She took her apron off, hanging it on a hook before walking towards the back of the house.

Bulma sighed, falling into the couch. She put her hand on her forehead, pushing her bangs back and leaning against the backrest. She felt exhausted, being on her feet and flying around all day. There was nothing more she wanted than to just take a nap right then and there.

Piccolo leaned against a wall. "You okay there, kid?"

"Yeah," she said, exasperatedly, "I'm just tired. I'll be fine."

In a few minutes, Chi-Chi came out, holding a shoe box. "Here they are," she said. When she took off the lid, four glistening orange balls with stars engraved into their faces were sitting all in a row. When the light hit them, they seemed to emit some kind of unearthly glow.

Bulma sat up and leaned in closer, grabbing the two-star ball. "They're a lot smaller than the Namekian Dragon Balls. They kind of look like the one you were in, Piccolo. But how are you gonna find the last three?"

"The rest of us will probably split up to look for them," he explained. "The Dragon Balls react when they're near each other, which makes it easier to find out where they are. It shouldn't take us very long to find them all."

"That's good, at least." She breathed out, as she put the ball back into the box. "I guess we better start heading home, then. Thanks for everything, Chi-Chi."

Chi-Chi's brows furrowed and she frowned. She sat down on the couch and put her hand on Bulma's forehead and cheeks, surprising her. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

She let out a breathy laugh, before pushing her hands away. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just kind of tired, is all."

When she looked down, she gasped. "Bulma, you're pregnant! You shouldn't be going out all day in your state! Piccolo, how could you do that to her?! Don't you know how dangerous that is?!"

Piccolo's eyes widened, when she raised her voice at him. He just looked away sheepishly, muttering "my bad".

Chi-Chi rolled her eyes. "Men have some nerve, I swear. Bulma, you can wait until tomorrow to head back home. How about you stay the night?"

"That's very kind of you Chi-Chi," Bulma said, "but I'll be okay. Honest."

"You're pregnant and you're exhausted - I insist that you stay."

She sighed. "Okay. I'll stay."

After they had dinner, Chi-Chi and Bulma convened in the parlor. Chi-Chi made her a special tea that she said helped her while she was pregnant with Gohan. She was practically doting over her for the entire evening, constantly checking to make sure she was okay and comfortable. Bulma couldn't help but wonder if this is what Vegeta would be like, if he were here.

"So," Chi-Chi began, "tell me about the baby. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl, yet?"

"Boy. His name's Trunks."

"Oh, what an adorable name! And if he takes after you, I'm sure he'll be an adorable boy, himself!"

Bulma laughed. "You're too kind."

"Oh, I hope it hasn't been too rough on you. When I had my Gohan, there were days when I couldn't even get out of bed."

"I've had days like that, to be sure. But all things considered, it's been okay." She sighed, putting her hand on her stomach. "If only Trunks had picked a different time to show up."

"It happens - you don't need to worry about that. Gohan wasn't really planned, either - Goku and I had only been married for a couple of months. I was worried for so long that I wouldn't be a good mother and that I'd end up failing him. But Gohan is one of the kindest and most caring boys I've ever seen. I'm sure you'll do right by Trunks."

She shook her head. "It's not really that I'm worried about. It's just… his father, Vegeta, isn't here. We can't be together right now for this. What if something happens and he'll never get to meet him? I don't want Trunks to grow up without his father."

Chi-Chi put her hand on top of hers. "I understand. Whenever Goku runs out to fight bad guys, I always worry. He's such a strong fighter, but he might get in over his head. I've never been able to shake my nerves that there'll be a fight he can't come home from. But you know what - he's come back every single time. If Vegeta's anything like him, I'm sure he'll do the same."

Bulma smiled. "Thanks, Chi-Chi."

"And if you have any other problems with these boys making you overwork yourself, let me know. I'll be sure to set them straight." She winked at her.

She laughed. As Bulma thought about it more, she never really had a female friend outside of her own family. Every space she ever found herself in was male-dominated, so all of her friends and acquaintances were men. It felt nice to confide in another woman. One that could understand her and her problems.