Chapter 6
Capsule Corp Building - Past Timeline
Future Trunks and Bulma had explained the entire situation, well - most of the situation, to Bulma´s younger self, Vegeta and the child version of Trunks of this timeline.
They had left out the part about the God Zeno and the future versions of Goku and Vegeta they had talked to and Demigra, at least for now. The entire story was already complicated enough as it was.
"So you say an unknown Super Saiyan, a brother of Freeza I never heard of, who had been turned into a robot... and an alternate Doctor Gero," Vegeta stated. "And they are too strong for you?"
"The Super Saiyan has a new transformation, similar to the one Gohan had turned to against Cell," Trunks explained. "It had a similar level of power, but it was somehow different. And Cooler, he himself is at least as strong as my own Ascended Super Saiyan, possibly more and he has a number of weaker copies of himself."
"I see," Vegeta replied.
He was already used to the adult Trunks, but it was somehow strange seeing the older version of Bulma sitting right next to him. Vegeta had to admit however, even in that age Bulma was still beautiful.
There was also the mysterious teenage double beside them, who they had said came from a different timeline. And who was clearly not Bulma, but someone else. While her ki was similar, it was far stronger and clearly mixed with something alien.
It was similar for the younger Present Time Bulma, who was starring at both her older counterpart and her... daughter, double, clone? Who was that girl?
She was also noticing the looks her older self was sending at Vegeta from time to time. When she had first seen him here, she had looked as if she wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms, but held herself back.
There was no reason to get jealous of herself, Present Bulma thought.
"So you are really from the future?" the younger Trunks said,
"Yes - but a future that has already changed," Future Trunks explained. "When I first travelled to the past, I arrived three years before you were born. I gave Goku medicine against a virus he had died from in my time and warned him about Doctor Gero creating the Androids."
"The Androids? You mean, like Eighteen?" Present Trunks asked.
"Yes - she and her brother would have been terrible enemies, if we had not changed your past."
"And you say when someone changes the past, the old futures still exist as some kind of alternate universe? And this two here came from such different worlds."
He pointed at Marron and Kiviya.
"All in all - yes," Future Trunks replied.
How many of this parallel worlds did exist? The younger Bulma asked herself as she had heard their story. They had already known of two future and two present timelines that were caused by their time-machine - one future where Trunks had been killed by Cell and one where Trunks had defeated him, one past where Cell had been present and one where he had not.
But as it looked these were not the only timelines out there. And they were not the only ones who used time-travel, she thought as she looked at the two young girls, one who looked nearly exactly like herself and...
"And you are Marron? Krillin´s and Eighteen´s little daughter?" the younger Present Bulma said looking at her. "You really look a lot like your mother. You are really pretty."
"Thank you," Marron replied.
Even if Future Trunks and Future Bulma admitted that Eighteen was beautiful, looking like Android 18 was in their minds not exactly a compliment.
But they knew that things in this timeline were much different. Here Eighteen had been a trusted friend and ally for years, if what both Marron and Kiviya told them about their own branch-timeline was true here as well. Future Trunks knew this out of first hand experience from his first two trips to the past, where he had met the Androids of the past timeline. (Or rather past timelines, since their arrival here alone had caused another one to split-up.)
But, given that for Future Trunks and his mother their Eighteen had been a deadly enemy for decades, it still felt strange.
When they heard the name Android Eighteen, they thought first about the cyborg who had, along with her brother, destroyed most of the planet, killed their friends and family and most of humanity... and not about the woman who had become Marron´s mother.
But that was nothing compared to the question that came next.
"And you - are you... my daughter?" Present Bulma asked Kiviya.
This caused all of their visitors from the future to freeze, especially, Kiviya herself. How should they even beginn to explain this? Eighteen was one thing. But at least everyone here already knew about the Androids. Beby however was another matter.
"I-... Yes and no," Kiviya replied hesitantly. "Actually, I am a clone, created from you and the cells of the Tsufuru race," she admitted.
Vegeta had to keep himself from jumping straight up from his seat as he heard this. But he did not manage to hide his surprise to hear that name.
"The Tsufuru," he said. "That race is long gone."
Another old story from the past, Vegeta thought. Another story he had rather never mentioned again.
"The Tsufuru were the original inhabitants of the Planet Vegeta, back then it was still named Planet Plant, before the Saiyans arrived on it and later took it over," he explained at the younger Bulma´s and Trunks questioning looks.
"The last of them had been destroyed under my father, long before I was born," Vegeta admitted.
Future Trunks and Bulma had already heard this from Kiviya.
But not their current selves. They already knew much about the murderous history of the saiyans. But not about this chapter. And this one happened before they even met Cold or Freeza. So this time his ancestors alone had been responsible for their actions.
Vegeta saw the sober looks on Bulma´s and Trunks faces. On both the ones from the present and from the future. He realized that he had just told his son that his grandfather was responsible for the destruction of an entire species. But he knew Trunks had to hear this sooner or later. He had no intention to lie to his son about who their people had been.
"The Tsufuru had been destroyed, but not entirely," Kiviya stated. "There is one one their creations left. A being created from the cells of the last Tsufuru King himself," she explained. "And he was the one who had created me from his own cells... his and Bulma´s."
"To act as some kind of agent for him?" Present Bulma guessed. "To pretend to be me or my daughter from the future and win our trust?"
"Yes," Kiviya answered.
She halfway expected Vegeta to simply blast her right there. But he just said nothing and starred at her with an obvious mixture of disgust and anger. Anger that this creature would use Bulma of all people for something like this.
And another question, what exactly happened to the version of Bulma this creature had taken her cells from, in whatever future she came from? Had she been killed afterwards or kept as a prisoner or slave?
"Don´t expect me to trust you or to like you" he said to Kiviya in a stern tone.
Present Bulma turned around to him, looking all but happy, but not because of Kiviya.
"You are hardly in the position to judge anyone here Vegeta, aren´t you?" she told him. "I don´t have to remind you what happened last year?" she stated.
Future Bulma and Trunks were a bit surprised at the younger Bulma´s harsh tone. What exactly happened the year before?
"I know," Vegeta simply replied. "I did not meant it like that. I know I am the last who has the right to judge someone. I just meant that, given what you are, I can not bring myself to trust you. At least not until you have done something to proof yourself."
They were even more surprised by Vegeta´s reaction. What in the world had happened to him?
"Last year the Wizard Babidi came to Earth to awaken the Demon Buu. It was the same day Kakarot was meant to return to the living for one day and we took part in the last Budokai," Vegeta explained.
"I was so obsessed with fighting Goku that I let Babidi take over part of my mind to have an excuse to force him into a duel. And under his influence I fired into the spectator ranks of the Budokai and blew them up... along with part of the town," he admitted.
"That led to the awakening of Buu. When Kakarot finally gave in and fought me, it fed the Demon the energy he needed. I had told myself that I could stop Buu even if he awoke, but I just ended up sacrificing myself and dieing for nothing.
In the end Buu could be stopped, but only after destroying Earth and killing everyone. We had to use the Dragon Balls to bring everyone back.
This was the second time I caused your death Trunks, after I had let Cell absorb Eighteen and allowed him to become perfect. But this time it was not only you, but also your mother, your grandparents, Kakarot´s family and everyone else.
You see, I myself are the perfect example that you should not trust someone blindly just because he is `on your team´."
None of the others said anything. Future Bulma looked at Vegeta horrified. She knew she should not have been too surprised. But at least it seemed that he had finally learned his lesson.
Future Trunks saw the downridden look his father had for a moment. It was so unlike him.
"You have also helped to stop Buu," Present Bulma argued. "You nearly died fighting him to give Goku time for the Genkidama."
"Yes - I did," Vegeta simply replied.
They all could imagine from his tone what he not said. That this didn´t change that it was because of him that it came that far in the first place.
"So you see, I am willing to give you a chance," he said to Kiviya. "No matter how much I hate the way you were created. But don´t do anything to betray us, or you will be the one to regret it."
Vegeta looked back to Future Trunks and Bulma.
"Let us come back to this enemies you have mentioned. Have you reached the second level of the Super Saiyan?"
"You mean the form Gohan had discovered against Cell?" Trunks said. "Not yet. I am still mastering the Super Saiyan Form," he admitted.
"How long ago were the Cell Games for you?" Vegeta questioned.
"Three years," Trunks admitted.
"That should have been more than enough to at least master the first Super Saiyan form," Vegeta stated.
"Our entire Earth was devastated. Trunks needed to help with the rebuilding and countless people had no homes or food. He could not train all the time," Future Bulma argued.
"That should be one reason more to be prepared and make sure something like this never happens again," Vegeta responded.
"Vegeta..." the younger Bulma said.
"Father is right in that part," Future Trunks stated. "I concentrated too much on helping out and too little on defending what we have achieved. I also got overconfident. After the Androids and Cell were gone, I somehow believed there would nothing appear that were an actual threat for at least a long time."
"You should always be prepared for a new threat to arrive son. That is a lesson that Son Gohan had needed to learn as well," Vegeta commented.
You should first finish mastering the first Super Saiyan form and then train to reach for the second level," Vegeta told him. "We could use the Room of Spirit and Time."
"Have you not already used up your time there?" Future Trunks questioned. "And I have also less than half of mine left."
A light smile formed on Vegeta´s face.
"When Dende and Piccolo had restored it after Buu had blown it up, they had removed the time-limit," he said. "We can now train in the room as long as we want."
"That is great," Future Trunks said. "Given how much we achieved in just a single day."
"We will not be able to repeat the successes from our first time in the chamber," Vegeta stated soberly.
"What?"
"Our bodies got used to the environment. If you train in the chamber again, you will now not make greater progress than any regular training," Vegeta explained. "That was actually one of the reasons why Kakarot didn´t train there a second time."
"I see," Future Trunks said. "But it is still one year of training put in a single day, right? Even if the training is not longer as effective as it was before, the time advantage is still there."
"I see, you understand," Vegeta replied with a smile. "We can train together again. I will bring you to Super Saiyan Two in no time. One day should be more than enough. Maybe we will even bring it to Level Three."
"It is still good that you can use this chamber to spare time," Future Bulma pointed out. "Since our timeline is locked with this one, for every day we spend here, one will pass in our time. And for so long this villains have free reign over our Earth."
"Don´t worry about it too much," Present Bulma told her. "As long as they not simply blow up the planet and if they wanted they would have probably already done that, how much can they achieve in just one day?"
But how many innocent people could they kill in just one day? Future Trunks thought. And in the future they did not have Dragon Balls to bring anyone back.
Trunks considered temporally bringing Dende and the Dragon Balls with them to their timeline. Could that work?
xxxxxxx
Future timeline - West City
The three of them were standing in the middle a kilometer-wide field of wreckage and destruction. More than an entire district of West City had been completely razed to the ground. The inhabitants had either fled or be died together with their homes.
For Meta Cooler, Doctor Gero and Broly however this was not much more than the next step in their work.
"And you tell me about causing needless destruction?" Broly commented sarcastically.
"This destruction here is all but senseless," Doctor Gero replied. "All this will serve as raw materials for new warriors and factories."
In the first step they had simply blasted the larger buildings with low powered shots and caused them to collapse. Then Cooler had released several of the nano-chips he had inherited from the Great Ghetty Star on the metalls in the remains and they had started to use it as materials to replicate themselves again and again into the billions.
And they were automatically slowly assembling themselves into the form more Meta Cooler drones, dozens of them... and other devices and weapons that Cooler found useful.
The Ghetty Star as an object did not longer existed, at least not the one Cooler had been connected with. But it´s AI had been downloaded into Coolers Prime body and the chips it had been made of existed in it, in every of his drones and everything else he built.
Cooler had already send out a call into space to the Great Ghetty Star of this timeline and he was lucky. Not only was this reality´s Ghetty Star in this galaxy, it had also not connected itself with another individual yet, like his did with him. So there was no rival he needed to dispose of.
Of course this Ghetty Star had not been upgraded by Lord Demigra and it´s technology was still centuries behind his own.
Cooler had send it a few samples of his technology, together with instructions how to build a teleportation-drive with that the Ghetty Star would be able to transfer itself into this star system. With it´s nature to constantly replicate and integrate all technology into itself, it had of course followed his command to come here.
When it arrived, he would simply merge himself with it and take it over. And then he would have the resources to create not only dozens new Meta Coolers, but thousands.
xxx
Several hundreds kilometers away, the same was happening with the old Red Ribbon Base, that was once overseen by Android 21, they had destroyed earlier.
Two Meta Cooler Drones were watching as the metal of the destroyed base was slowly forming itself into a large device that was based on Bulma´s time-travel technology.
xxx
"It is all going as planned," Cooler said to Doctor Gero and Broly.
"Yes," Gero replied.
"Broly - are you ready?" Cooler asked him.
"Do you really think that is necessary... just to beat Kakarot?" Broly questioned. "He is inferior to me in every way."
He scowled. It was clear that he considered what Cooler was proposing nearly as an insult.
But on the other hand, declining an offer for more power? That was against a saiyans very nature.
"Do not underestimate him. The Son Goku of that time had grown incredible powerful. And he reached a level that is even above the Second," Cooler stated. "See it in that way, the control-device your father put on you had been holding you back for years. You were never able to really train or even use your powers to their full extent. We are just evening the odds," Cooler said smiling.
"Let me release your potential."
"And let you absorb some of my energy in return - that was the deal, wasn´t it?" Broly replied.
"Yes."
"Alright." Broly made up his mind. "But no tricks. If I sense that you try something funny, I will blast all of us and this entire planet right to hell."
"Of course not, a deal is a deal," Cooler replied.
He injected Broly a few of his nano-drones.
And then Broly begann to power up. And Cooler received some of his energy in return.
But he not simply absorbed it, he analyzed it. Just like his scanners had been analyzing every bit of Broly´s physis and powers since they had first met.
xxxxxxx
New Present timeline
Future Trunks and Bulma, along with Vegeta, Marron and Kiviya just landed in front of the Son Family´s house.
It took only a few moments for Goku, Gohan and Goten, who could sense their ki, to notice their arrival.
Vegeta and Bulma had by now given them a detailed explanation what exactly happened in this timeline the last year, including the Demon Buu´s release, the fusion technique and Gotenks, Goku´s return to life, Buu splitting into a good and evil version of himself similar to Piccolo and Goku finally defeating Buu with a Genki Dama.
Future Trunks and the others admitted the story was nearly as incredible as their own.
Goku was currently outside training, so he was the first they met.
"Trunks - you are back," he greeted him. "And... Bulma and...?" He looked to Future Bulma and Kiviya.
"This is my mother," Trunks introduced her. "She came with me from the future. And this is..." He pointed at Kiviya.
"Please - can you call me Bra from now on?" she asked.
"Well - if that is your wish," Future Bulma said.
Bra had been the name she had always wanted to give to her daughter. But since it was pretty obvious that she would never have one of her own, why shouldn´t she use it?
Gohan, Chichi and Goten were the next to come out of the house.
They were of course as well quite flabbergasted by the newcomers.
So they explained the entire story once more.
Goku reacted more or less like you would have expected.
"Another Super Saiyan and Freezer´s brother who had been turned into a machine? That sounds interesting," he said. "And you are Krillin´s daughter?"
"Yes," Marron replied. "It is great to see you again Goku."
"And a parasitic lifeform that has a grudge against the saiyan race," Gohan mentioned with a side-glance at Kiviya/Bra.
He looked now very much like the Gohan Future Trunks and Bulma had known in their own timeline. It was nearly as if they were seeing him again.
"Me and Trunks will train together in the Room of Spirit and Time," Vegeta said.
"I think I will train there as well when you are finished," Marron stated. "But first I want to see my family."
"Okay - I can bring you with Instant Transmission if you want," Goku offered.
Chichi meanwhile offered Future Bulma and Kiviya/Bra to come inside.
xxxxxxx
Kami´s Palace
Dende, Piccolo and Mister Popo watched Goku, Vegeta Future Trunks and Marron suddenly appearing in front of them.
"Trunks?" Dende said, recognizing the time-traveller.
"I see you are back," Piccolo stated.
"Vegeta and Trunks want to train in the Room of Spirit and Time," Goku told them.
Side Note: This chapter Trunks and his mother are firmly refered to as "Future Trunks" and "Future Bulma", to separate them from their present counterparts.
xxc
Powerlevels:
Future Timeline:
Future Trunks: 22.000.000 - SSJ: 1,1 Billion - ASSJ: 1,55 Billion - USSJ: 2,9 Billion
Marron: (Human:) 140.000 - (Android mode:) 290.000.000
Bra/Kiviya: 6.000.000
Meta Cooler Prime (upgraded): ?
Meta Coolers: 230.000.000 - ...
Broly (powered up): ?
Doctor Gero: 310.000.000
xxcc
Present Timeline:
Son Goku: 50.200.000 - SSj:2,51 Billion - SSj2: 5,02 Billion - SSj3: 20,08 Billion
Vegeta: 50.200.000 - SSj: 2,51 Billion - SSj2: 5,02 Billion
Piccolo: 1,5 Billion
Young Trunks: 8.000.000 - SSj: 400.000.000
