AN: Well, here we are again. This was intended as a one-shot, just supposed to be a little "ooh" story meant to stir up possibilities. But for some reason I just can't seem to leave well enough alone and I wrote another chapter, and then another. So, I suppose the story can continue the only way it can: with a cyborg-space-lizard-dictator.

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Frieza eyed the barren, rocky expanse of ground they had landed on, a steep cliff offering a wall on one side and pillars of stone spotting the landscape to the east. It was a dull environment, though admittedly a great deal better than Namek. On their approach vector, he had seen vast oceans and sprawling grasslands, beautiful features that usually prompted a high re-sell value on the World Market. However, Frieza had no intentions of leaving enough of this planet to sell for gardening mulch.

Thanks to the saiyan that called this diminutive planet home, he was now half machine, sporting monstrous metal appendages to replace his lost legs, tail and arm in addition to the augmentations grafted onto his face and chest. He was an abomination of science, never mind the sizable increase in power he had acquired, and that was going to cost the saiyan everything he held dear.

"Well," Frieza's father, King Cold, began with that ever-present sarcastic air, "here we are on Earth, the opposite end of civilized space. Where is this so called 'Super Saiyan'? From what you've said, he should have been able to detect us coming and have come to meet us."

"It wasn't just the one, Father, I've told you this. It was a saiyan named Goku along with Vegeta that tried to kill me." His towering father hummed and, in an elderly moment, tried to bring his glass of wine to his lips, only to remember that he had left it on the ship. Going on seventeen hundred years, Cold was getting along in years though still at his fullest maturity in terms of strength, leaving no doubt that neither Frieza nor Cooler could seize the throne from him for the next few centuries.

"I rather liked young Vegeta; always so quick to anger and absolutely ruthless. Shame we can no longer use him."

"After what he did to me, his death is assured!" Frieza growled, clenching both fists tightly enough to force oil from the mechanical elements to ooze out like blood. "Captain Clearahe, take your men and fan out. Look for Earthlings and kill them at will. Try to draw the attention of the one named Goku and lure him back here. Vegeta will doubtlessly follow." He smirked to himself. "Monkey see, monkey do."

Captain Clearahe, a tall humanoid with purple skin and scaly yellow patches on his chest and forearms, saluted his lord and master before rallying his direct subordinates and blasting off into the clear blue sky. Frieza had already moved on to different matters and was no longer paying attention to their retreating forms. As such, he completely missed the flashes of light that heralded the severed pieces Clearahe's team falling back to earth.

Turning, he regarded the new arrival whom had just landed a little ways off. The purple haired youth replaced his longsword in its diagonally positioned sheathe strapped across his back with an audible click. He looked like a human, but the only human Frieza had ever seen was barely four feet tall, so it was still open for debate.

"Well, who is this?" The arcosian inquired playfully, not at all perturbed by the loss of his men. This new one might be fun to kill before they went and slaughtered everyone else on the planet.

He never saw it coming.

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Two hours was a very long time to wait in the middle of a sandy field in near silence with a full group of martial artists, a scientifically genius though almost manically annoying woman, and a complete stranger who had killed two frost demons single handedly and then supplied soda.

Mondays.

"Time's up. Goku and Vegeta should be landing any moment now," the mysterious saiyan spoke up, straightening from his half leaning position against a rock and began looking up into the sky. The others followed suit, wondering if they could actually trust what this man had claimed about the arrival of their two missing saiyans.

Several minutes of doing exactly the same thing as they had been the past few hours later, two specks in the sunny sky became visible just moments before they crossed the distance and crashed into the ground side by side, a large crater forming around the landing spots.

Everyone crowded around the lip of the crater to look down at the two easily recognizable space pods, triangular emblems emblazoned on the hatches that were now slowly swinging open. Twin curtains of thick white gas seeped out from the opened portals, creating a dramatic environment for the two figures that were casually pulling themselves from their respective pods.

"Daddy!" The cry came from Gohan upon seeing his father, alive and well. The Earth raised saiyan looked up at them and laughed joyfully, glad to finally be back home. His traveling companion, Vegeta, didn't say a word, merely rolling his neck and arms with a strangely neutral expression on his face. This caught the attention of the mysterious youth, as well as the tall namekian who had also remained silent thus far.

"Heya guys!" Goku floated up out of the hole to better greet his friends, Vegeta following suit. They both wore strange garments that appeared to be made out of silk, or perhaps a very high grade of cloth. Ceremonial looking vests sporting a single pauldron brought forth memories of the PTO armor, though these were of a more elegant design. Vegeta still bore the scar inflicted on him by Frieza, but he didn't seem to care one whit about it.

"Man, I can't tell you how good it is to see all of you again. But," and here he acknowledged the unfamiliar presence, turning to face the lavender haired man, "how did you all know where we'd land?"

"He told us," Krillin helpfully supplied. "Right after he beat Frieza like he was nothing."

Both saiyans looked startled at this information, now looking at the newcomer with intrigue.

"You did that? Wow, I guess I should thank you." Goku grinned childishly while rubbing the back of his head. Vegeta crossed his arms with a deep scowl. "We would have stepped in, but when we felt your energy, we knew that you could handle it."

"How could the two of you have intervened from way out in space?" The mysterious man inquired, baffled by this revelation. Once again, Goku spoke up with the prince remaining silent, a drastic change of character that had Piccolo wondering just what had happened on their exodus in space.

"By way of a nifty new technique we picked up on Planet Yardrat. It allows a person to travel great distances instantly."

"You mean time travel?!" the anonymous man took a step forward, a look of shock on his face. This garnered a few curious looks.

"Nope. See, you dematerialize and travel as a beam of light to-"

"Kakarot, why do you always forget how it works?" Vegeta at last spoke up, annoyed at the other saiyan's forgetfulness. Goku shrugged.

"It's hard keeping track of all the little details. I prefer just using it than explaining it."

"Hmph!" Vegeta huffed, rolling his eyes. "Regardless of this clown's poor instructions, it's called 'Instant Transmission', and it does just that." To prove this, he placed two fingers to his forehead, located the strongest power signature on the planet besides those gathered around him, and vanished with a electric crackle. A mere moment later, he reappeared in exactly the same spot, except now he was holding in his free hand a very surprised looking Master Roshi.

"But-but-but Kame Island is halfway across the planet!" Yamcha exclaimed, reeling at this display. Vegeta grunted and dropped the martial arts teacher to his feet where he tottered dangerously, unsure of what exactly had just happened.

"So long as we can sense a power signature, we can Transmit to it. That's the only drawback," Vegeta detailed, rubbing his hands together, thoroughly missing his customary gloves.

"That sounds pretty helpful. But back to the matter at hand, I came here to discuss something of grave importance with Goku," the purple headed swordsman announced, standing anxiously a few feet away from the group.

"Just me? Anything you want to say to me you can say to all of them," Goku chimed, indicatiting the tight-knit group of friends…and Vegeta.

"Yeah, what gives?" Yamcha, aggravated, took a step forward. "You drag us all here for two hours and then won't tell us why? You still haven't even told us your name yet!" The scar faced baseball star had apparently forgotten that the youth he was addressing had quite simply slaughtered two-thirds of the Cold Dynasty.

"Please, it's imperative that I don't tell you anything compromising as it might have dire ramifications."

"You're from the future."

What Piccolo said was not a question, merely simple fact. They all looked at the tall namekian in shock before staring at the young man with new eyes. Everyone knew that Piccolo was not one for flighty fantasies, and anything he said had very good odds of being the truth.

"That would explain a few things," Bulma said, almost to herself. "He knew exactly where Goku and Vegeta were going to land." Gohan adopted her train of thought easily.

"Not to mention he knew of my dad without ever having met him. Nobody but us knew that he was even off planet."

Finding himself at the mercy of the keen minds of the past incarnation of his mother and mentor, Trunks felt a blush creep into his cheeks, feeling like a little kid all over again.

"Well, that's pretty cool!" Krillin exclaimed, having finished assuring Roshi that he hadn't died abruptly and been transported to some kind of afterlife.

"If he has something to say to us about the future, then we should probably pay attention," Tien observed, Chiatzou nodding in agreement beside him.

"I guess that cat's out of the bag," Trunks shrugged, disappointed that his careful deception had been obliterated in seconds, most probably by the slip of tongue that he had about time travel. "Yes, I am from the future, and it's a terrible place. A pair of Androids were created by Dr. Gero, of the former Red Ribbon Army, and have wreaked havoc on the planet for close to twenty years. Countless thousands are killed each day and the populace is steeped in terror that tomorrow might not come."

His face grew dark as he recounted the facts, feeling that it was a nightmare that would never end, even here in this relatively peaceful version of the same planet in the past. He had been raised amongst death, and that would forever shape him into a realist. He knew exactly what waited for him upon return.

"But how did you travel back in time?" Bulma spoke up.

"You and your father managed to create a time machine over the course of ten years in which Gohan and I were the only ones able to fend off the Androids long enough for civilians to escape." Both Bulma and Gohan looked slightly relieved at hearing of their own survival, but Goku had a look of consternation on his strong features.

"These Androids," he began, "why didn't we beat them?"

"You tried to. But almost every single one of you were ruthlessly murdered by the pair of them; hopelessly outmatched. Not even you, Vegeta, could stand before them; Gero had made them even stronger than a super saiyan and you were no match." Vegeta huffed and looked to the side in resentment.

"What about me? Didn't I get to fight the androids too?" Goku, as obsessed with fighting as ever, inquired.

"No, you never got the chance. Shortly before they were activated, you came down with a fatal heart virus and passed away in your bed."

Everyone looked ill at ease, having heard their deaths foretold to them as certainly as the weather report. Goku looked put off.

"Bummer. They sounded pretty strong and I would have loved to fight against them at least once."

"But, aren't you scared about being killed by them?" Trunks asked, shocked by the openness of the desire. Goku rubbed the back of his head for a second in thought.

"Well, I guess I am scared a bit, but that's no different from when I faced Frieza on Namek. If you don't carry fear with you into battle then you are your own worst enemy."

Trunks grinned. Goku had met his mother's descriptions perfectly and he knew that the fate of the world would be safe in his hands. Pulling a small vial from his jacket pocket he tossed it to the saiyan.

"Here you go. In this time, there isn't an antidote for the virus, but in the future Bulma was able to synthesize one from your blood after you died."

"Oh cool! It's purple so it might be grape flavored. Thanks! But I still don't know your name and I kind of feel crummy that I can't call you it."

"I'm sorry, but telling you even that might change history in unintended or even harmful ways."

Vegeta laughed raucously at this, startling all of them out of their near silence.

"Boy, if we could change the future by the events that we did from here on out, you would have ceased to exist a dozen times over by now. Whatever you have to say, it couldn't possibly be any more potentially damning than being the one to finish off Frieza, or saving Kakarot. You have made our two times separate in the stream of reality. Good job." Though his last few words were mocking, Vegeta spoke the truth and everyone, especially Trunks, knew it.

"Well, I'm not sure that I should because my identity could possibly prevent some of you from what fate you were supposed to have," Trunks supplied, admittedly and understandably desperate. Mercifully, Vegeta seemed to grow annoyed with this stalling and turned his back on the man. Consequently this caused him to directly face Bulma who had been, almost subconsciously, checking the Prince out. The two caught each other in a confused staring match that lasted perhaps a few seconds too long before Bulma coughed and Vegeta turned away once more, scowling even deeper to cover the faintest hints of red in his cheeks.

Spying this, Trunks withheld a relieved grin. If the chemistry between them grew as it had in his timeline then he would at least be born…again. But not in the religious sense. Actually, maybe this could be considered a spiritual discovery.

"Regardless, thanks for the heads up," Krillin spoke up, breaking Trunks from his accidental introspection like a popping balloon. "Can you give us any other specifics?"

"Yeah," Trunks withdrew the piece of paper that his mother had written for him as reference. "Here is the exact date and the location where they'll appear."

Everyone huddled together to read the small index card, memorizing the information inscribed upon it to the letter. Bulma took note that it was written in her handwriting.

"What is that city's name, exactly?" Tien inquired to the group at large, receiving only shrugs in response.

"I guess we'll have to start training right away if we want to stand a chance of facing those androids," Gohan surmised. The expected retort from Vegeta about their uselessness never came.

"I wish all of you the best of luck in your training." Trunks took a few steps backward to create a safe area with which he could fly away. "I need to return to my own time now and make sure my mother remains safe. I'll see you again in three years to help out the best I can. Good-bye!"

And with that, he departed, blasting off into the bright blue sky with a clear aura trail marking his passage. They watched him shrink until completely vanishing from sight.

"Man, what a secretive guy," Yamcha remarked.

"Not to mention mysterious," Gohan concurred. "To think, he was a Super Saiyan and he didn't even want to fight you Dad, or you Vegeta."

There was a pause, filled by the sound of gentle wind and birds of the craggy land.

"WHAT!?"

"WHAT!?"

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