Dragon Ball Z Dynasty

by Feraligreater328

When travelling along Snake Way, Son Goku suddenly finds himself plummeting down to Hell. There, he meets a surprisingly familiar ghost from his past that promises to change everything about his life going forward. How will the Saiyan react to this sudden, positive change in his life? Find out in Dragon Ball Z Dynasty.

54. Chapter 53: Premonitions of the Future

Dragon Ball Z: Dynasty

Written by: Feraligreater328 and StevenBodner

A/N: Following the reveal in the Moro Arc that Instant Transmission is a basic Spirit Control technique, we decided to expand on it. ~ Steven

Chapter 53: Premonitions of the Future

In the Northern Wastelands…

With a mighty shout, the mysterious young man with the sword unleashed his power. The Z-Fighters all shielded themselves as the boy kicked up dust. He was quite strong. Yamcha chuckled. "Well, isn't this nice! We have someone strong coming to help us for once!"

Yamcha's joke went over everyone's heads as they were all distracted. Tien, Chiaotzu, and Krillin all stared on as the boy's power surged. Chi-Chi braced herself, as she ran up to Gohan, laying over him to protect him from debris. Piccolo and Gine, meanwhile, both attuned their senses to feel out this stranger's power. Something about this all felt strange... and yet so familiar. And then, the boy shouted even louder and let his full power explode out. The brightness of the energy surge forced all of the Z-Fighters to shield their eyes and the force knocked the confused and furious Akah onto his back. After this, all fell silent.

The Z-Fighters slowly opened their eyes and Akah leapt back to his feet. And what the Z-Fighters saw threw them all for a loop. Gine gasped. "Wh-What the heck?!"

The humans all gasped. Piccolo braced himself. "Well... this is certainly unexpected..."

Standing before them, glowing with golden light, was the mysterious youth. His hair flickered above his head like shining fire, his aura surging around him. Whoever this boy was, one thing was apparent: Somehow, he was a Super Saiyan.

Akah snarled, hot breath hissing from his mouth. He glowered over the boy; the boy didn't falter. He held up his hand and gave a 'come hither' gesture. "Bring it on, big guy."

And bring it on he did. Akah furiously roared and charged at the mysterious boy like an unrelenting freight train. He crashed his spiky forearms into the youth, but was stopped dead in his tracks. The youth smirked at Akah and the monster snarled back at him. The massive brute reared back and threw a punch, wildly missing and collapsing to his knees. The boy responded with a heavy kick to the back of the neck that sent the beast tumbling across the desert.

Akah stood back up, frustrated and angry, and charged again. He threw punch after punch after punch, each missing and leaving him open to another strike from the unknown Saiyan in front of him. The boy leapt back with a chuckle and smirked. "Come on, big guy! I heard that you were supposed to be a real nightmare! Show me something scary!"

Akah screeched at the boy and raised his hands into the air, charging a blast made out of that noxious black energy that had been billowing from his body. With a hideous shriek, he threw the energy ball at his opponent, but the boy simply chuckled in response. He reached out, touching the palm of his hand to Akah's blast, and then grabbed a hold of it and tossed it behind him, allowing it to crash harmlessly into a mountain in the distance. The boy nodded. "So, we're throwing blasts now? Fine."

He extended his hand, holding his palm flat. "Take this! God Breaker!"

A massive beam of energy went shooting from the boy's hand, directly towards Akah. The monster snarled, rearing his fist back, and tried to punch the attack. But then, to his and the Z-Fighter's surprise, the attack shot straight through his appendage and exploded. Akah screamed as his destroyed arm melted in purple goo, stomping backwards and recoiling from the pain. The monster glared at the boy and the boy glared right back at him. As the beast regenerated his arm again, it was clear that exhaustion was catching up with him fast. But then, Akah began to laugh. "Wa...Ha...Ha..."

The boy cocked his head. "Something funny over there?"

Akah got louder. "WA! HA! HA!"

The Z-Fighters all became tense. That monster was up to something. The boy, however, seemed perfectly calm. Akah shouted at the top of his lungs. "WA! HAHA! WAHAHA NO HAHHHHH!"

The massive monster opened his mouth wide and fired a supremely powerful beam of black energy directly at the boy. He was unfazed. "I see..."

And then, quick as a flash, the boy reached behind and grabbed his sword, pulling the weapon from its sheath, and then used the blade to cleave Akah's beam in two. The two sides of the blast went flying in two different directions and exploded. Akah flinched in shock at how easily his opponent had managed to combat his maximum power output. The boy responded by heaving his arm up and tossing his sword high into the air. He smirked again and began to swipe his hands in front, gathering energy. "Try this on for size!"

He held up both hands, and following a series of rapid gestures, formed his thumbs and pointer fingers into the shape of a diamond. "Burning Attack!"

The boy launched a compressed energy blast from his hands directly at Akah. The beast snarled. He tried to fire a blast of his own at the oncoming attack, but all of his own blasts were ineffective. At the last moment, with little else to do, Akah leapt into the air to evade the oncoming blast. As it exploded under him, the beast scanned the ground for any signs of his foe, but found nothing. It growled in confusion.

A growl which was immediately answered by an almighty shout. Akah flinched and looked around for the source of the noise, eventually looking up to find that his youthful foe was barreling down upon him, sword in hand. Akah roared and fired another energy beam from his mouth, but with a swing of his sword, the boy cleaved the attack in two.

And Akah was sliced right along with it.

The hideous amalgamate split in twain, a hideous screech still echoing from both sides of its unstable frame. The boy, visibly disgusted, sliced at the monster again. And again. And several more times after that, rendering the lumbering purple beast as little more than a floating cloud of fleshy blobs. He thrust his hand at the somehow still screaming monstrosity and, with one last burst of power, incinerated the creature into ash.

Watching as the ashes of his former foe drifted away in the wind, the boy landed on the sandy, desert floor. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief. And then his golden hair reverted back to its normal, purple shade.

The mysterious youth turned to the others, all of them staring back at him with confusion and awe, and he chuckled. "Well... I can't say I was expecting to meet all of you. Not quite like this anyway..."

The Z-Fighters all stood up, facing their mysterious new ally with looks of confusion and consternation on their faces. The boy held out his hand towards them, perhaps expecting one of them to shake it in return. "It's an honor to meet you all."

Gine returned the gesture, slowly reaching out to shake the boy's hand. "N-Nice to meet you too..."

After a long, awkward silence, Gine spoke again. "Wh-Who are you exactly?"

The boy flinched. He began to stammer, suddenly seeming quite nervous. "Um. I... I um... can't say..."

This instantly raised a red flag for a lot of people. Tien and Piccolo were both on the heavy defensive while the others all seemed to put on an air of caution. Piccolo growled. "Can't say? What do you mean 'can't say'?"

Tien followed up, narrowing his eyes. "That monster was ready to destroy the planet, and then you show up and kill it that quickly? And yet you can't tell us who you are?! That's rather suspicious, if you were to ask me."

As tension quickly began to rise, however, a sudden voice spoke up and tried to bring things back down. Gohan spoke. "H-Hey, guys! Come on. Let's not be too hard on him..."

Chi-Chi, in spite of her own reservations, slowly nodded in agreement. "G-Gohan is right. This boy... he saved Gohan's life from that monster. He... I mean... he can't be all that bad if he went out of his way to do that, right?"

Gine and Piccolo both turned to look at one another, and then back to the boy. Gine let out a sigh, her face softening just a bit. Piccolo, meanwhile, was still unconvinced. The Namekian stepped forward, his larger frame allowing him to tower over the youth. He and the boy stared into the other's eyes for a moment. Piccolo's glare was harsh, but not malicious. The boy's glare was steely, but non-aggressive. As they stared, Piccolo's ears twitched. He looked away from the boy and into the distance. A bead of sweat ran down the side of the mysterious youth's face. But then, Piccolo relented. "Fine. You saved Gohan's life. You've earned a pass. For now."

Piccolo turned, a flash of energy erupting from his body and producing a new cape and turban. The boy breathed a sigh of relief. "Th-Thank you..."

Regathering himself, he cleared his throat and spoke to the Z-Fighters. "I can understand why you wouldn't trust me straight out. Me not wanting to reveal my identity must seem bizarre to all of you, but I assure you that I have my reasons for keeping it mum. What I can let you all in on, however, is the reason I am here. And it is something that you are all going to want to stick around for."

Piccolo stopped in his tracks, turning to glare at the boy once more. The youth smiled. "I have good news for all of you. Goku and the others will all be returning to Earth within the next 3 hours. And they will land not too far from here. If you'd be up to following me, I could lead you to where they would all be and we could wait for them together."

Once again, the Z-Fighters were all caught off guard by this. Still skeptical of this stranger, Tien spoke up again. "And just how in the hell could you possibly know that?"

Once again, the mood had shifted. Disgruntled murmuring started amongst the Z-Fighters. The boy's face sunk, he clearly realized that he could have been more subtle in how he phrased that. Gine looked to her paranoia-stricken friends and then to the boy. She didn't exactly trust him either, but there was a look of earnestness and honesty on his face. After a moment, Gine spoke up. "Hey!"

Her calling out gathered everyone's attention. Gine spoke gently, trying to hide her own qualms in all of this. "Guys. Let's all just calm down, okay? It doesn't really matter whether we know he's telling the truth or not... all we have to do is wait 3 hours to see for ourselves, right?"

Everyone went quiet. Eventually, Krillin spoke up. "B-But, Miss Gine... what if this is a trap or something?"

Gine shrugged. "Personally, I don't think it is. Call it a gut feeling or whatever, but I don't feel like this young man is the type to lead people into traps. But if that does happen to be the case somehow... Piccolo and I could probably handle him. Right, Piccolo?"

Off to the side, Piccolo was still staring out into the distance. He didn't respond to Gine, seemingly focused on something else entirely. Gine turned to the others. "It'll be fine guys. We..."

She paused. As she searched for the words to say, Yamcha spoke up. "Look, guys. Miss Gine just wants her husband and the others to be home already. I don't necessarily believe that this stranger dude is telling the truth... but it would be worth it to wait just to make Miss Gine feel better, right?"

Chiaotzu scratched the back of his head. "Y-Yeah, I guess so..."

The others all nodded along, if rather reluctantly. Gine smiled. "Thank you, Yamcha! Now then, everyone, let's all play nice and follow our mysterious friend here!"

She turned and nodded to the boy. "Lead the way."

Once again, the boy breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't expecting things to go this way. He turned in the opposite direction and waved his hand. "Okay, everyone. Follow m-"

"GUYS!"

The youth flinched, hearing a brash voice that caused a look of recognition to spread across his face. Slowly, he turned his head and saw Bulma running up to the rest of the group. Immediately, he turned just the slightest shade of blue. Bulma cried out as she came to a stop. "What happened?! What's going on?! Where is that monster?!"

Gently, Chi-Chi placed a hand on Bulma's shoulder to calm the frantic scientist. Gine sighed. "For such a short amount of time... that is still quite a lot to explain, Bulma. I'll fill you in on the way, okay?"

Bulma nodded. "O-Okay."

She looked over and saw the mysterious youth standing in the distance. "Ooh, hey~! Who's the hunk?"

A shiver ran down the boy's spine. His face went from blue to bright red. His voice high-pitched, he spoke up. "Everyone follow me to the l-landing site, please!"

A few kilometers away, near the proposed landing site…

Hugging his knee close, the mysterious youth sat silently on a rock. About 30 minutes had passed since he and his accompaniment had arrived at the proper coordinates. As he sat there, contemplating to himself, the others around him found ways to entertain themselves. Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu played cards. Gine, Bulma, and Chi-Chi discussed throwing a party for the returning men while Gohan sat on a nearby rock and did homework that Chi-Chi had brought along in a Capsule. Piccolo, meanwhile, stood off to the side and stared into the distance, his focus seeming to be on something else entirely.

After a bit more waiting, Gohan's mind began to wander from his schoolwork. He looked up from his book and towards the young man that had saved his life. Gohan thought about it for a moment and he came to a decision: Schoolwork could wait, he wanted to learn more about this guy.

The young boy stood, catching the attention of his mother and grandmother, and walked over to where the mysterious youth was. Gohan and the stranger soon locked eyes, staring at one another for a moment, before Gohan finally spoke. "Th-Thank you for saving my life."

The young man chuckled. "You don't... you don't have to thank me. Why would I hesitate to save someone's life?"

Gohan smiled. "That's what my dad always used to say back when we'd go for walks together. He always used to say that he wasn't a superhero, but he wouldn't just walk away if someone needed his help."

The young man smiled wistfully. "Yeah. I've...heard a lot about Goku growing up. Everyone I've always talked to said he was a great guy. And an awesome warrior."

Gohan chuckled. "That's exactly what I tell everyone who asks me about him~"

The young man nodded. Gohan sat on a rock near him and coughed. The young man flinched. "Are you doing okay?"

Gohan nodded. "Y-Yeah. It's just really, really dry out here. I could use a drink..."

The youth quickly reached into his jacket. "How rude of me! I forgot..."

He pulled out a case of Capsules and clicked one, tossing it to the ground and producing a miniature refrigerator. He called over to the others. "H-Hey! Everyone! I know it's hot out so, uh, feel free to come and get a drink if you'd like!"

Gohan was ecstatic, opening the fridge and grabbing a grape soda for himself. He also grabbed a can of sparkling water and ran over to Piccolo. As Gohan delivered the beverage to his mentor, the others slowly came forth and grabbed drinks of their own, expressing uneasy gratitude toward the mysterious young man. The boy mumbled some form of reply to each of them, and then went back to his silent contemplation. As Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu walked back over to the cards, Krillin paused. He looked at the young man and gave a small, pity-filled sigh. "Hey guys...I think I'm going to bow out for a couple rounds."

Yamcha threw his hand up. "Up to you, man."

Slowly, Krillin made his way back over to the mysterious youth, sitting down next to Gohan right as the young boy returned. The boy looked up, a bit confused, and Krillin and Gohan responded with welcoming smiles. After that, a light conversation began. It didn't take long for Gine, Chi-Chi, and Bulma to notice this. The three of them looked to one another and nodded, and then they got up and walked over to Gohan, Krillin, and the mysterious youth. The purple-haired young man watched as the three women sat on the ground around him, eventually managing to stammer a greeting. "H-Hello..."

An awkward silence.

Eventually, Bulma responded in a way. "So... I see you have a Capsule Fridge..."

She examined the fridge, noticing that it was one of their more recent models. She ran her hands over the dents and scratches. "It's nice to see that these things are so durable. My dad and I spent hours trying to make a travel fridge that would be able to survive all sorts of damage."

She looked at him. "Did you drop it down a mountain or something? This model only just came out a week ago."

The young man shook his head. "Y-Yeah. Something like that."

She looked him over a bit more, finally noticing the patch on his shoulder. "Oh! That's a Capsule Corp employee jacket. We... We normally only had those out to employees with tenure. Do you, uh, work for one of our branches? Or maybe... one of your parents?"

The youth swallowed a lump in his throat. "My mother. She worked for Capsule Corp a while ago. She gave me this jacket before I came here..."

Bulma nodded. "Okay. So...what's her name? I might have met her..."

The youth went silent. Clearly, they had hit a roadblock on what he was willing to divulge. Chi-Chi cocked her head. "So, is your mother or father a Saiyan?"

The youth flinched. "P-Pardon me?"

Chi-Chi took another sip of her drink. "You're a Super Saiyan. Like Gine and my husband. So which one of your parents is the Saiyan? Mother or father?"

He was flustered. "M-My parents are both Saiyans. So, you know, they both-"

Gine interrupted. "No they aren't."

The boy flinched. He looked over at Gine, who was staring at him with a questioning look on her face. "Pure-blooded Saiyans have black eyes and black hair. All of them do. Fasha had purple eyes, but that's only because she was…"

Gine paused, taking a moment to consider her words. "...forced to get ocular implants to fix her damaged eyes."

She placed her face into her open palms. "So unless you dye your hair and wear blue contacts, I'm going to say that you definitely are not a pure-blooded Saiyan."

The boy swallowed a lump in his throat. "M-My father came to Earth just a couple of years before I was born. But... he died when I was fairly young, so I never got a chance to meet him."

Gine pursed her lips. But she nodded. "Oh, I see. I'm sorry to hear that."

The youth sighed. "It's alright. I might never have met him, but my mother told me all about him while I was growing up..."

After that, the conversation went elsewhere. As everyone else talked on, however, Gine thought to herself. This young man was clearly younger than Kakarot. That would mean that his father would have had to come to the Earth after Kakarot had arrived. But there were problems with this story. Most of the Saiyans would have been dead by that point. And, more importantly, the only Saiyans who really knew about Earth were herself, Bardock, and Raditz. So no Saiyan old enough to breed would have been able to locate this place, given what Gine knew.

The Saiyan mother remained quiet and placid, not raising too much of a fuss. But in the back of her mind, she knew that something about that young man's story didn't pass the smell test.

Three hours pass…

Piccolo growled to himself, tapping his index finger impatiently against his bicep. He was not prepared to go along with this charade for much longer. Off to the side, the mysterious youth could see this. On the outside, he remained cool. But on the inside, he was panicking. Piccolo kept staring in that direction. That specific direction. And it made the youth very nervous. Finally, after a few more minutes of waiting, someone spoke up. "Hey man! Just what are we playing here?!"

The mysterious youth looked over to see that Yamcha and Tien had both stood, the cards they were playing with being gathered by Chiaotzu. Yamcha cocked his head. "It's been a few minutes since your promised time of arrival. You told us Goku and the others would be here by now."

Tien stared sternly. "And yet they aren't here. So, you'll forgive us for thinking that you might be trying to deceive us in some way."

The youth shook his head. "N-No, I'm not. They should be arriving any second now!"

Yamcha rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh..."

Chiaotzu joined up with Tien, looking just as incredulous as his best friend did. Tien gripped his fists. "Piccolo! What do you think?"

Piccolo remained silent, his gaze having moved from the direction it had been glued to and up towards the sky. Yamcha shook his head. "This is ridiculous. I'm leaving."

Tien, meanwhile, marched towards the youth. "I'm not. This guy is hiding something, I can feel it. Super Saiyan or not, I'd rather work this out now than wait for it to bite us all later."

The youth flinched back. Krillin, seeing this, stood up and got between the two. "Come on, Tien! No reason to start getting violent! Sure, the kid has his secrets, but I don't think he wants to hurt us. He did save Gohan after all!"

Tien narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. And I'm sure Garlic Jr. would have done the same. After all, he had a use for poor Gohan..."

Krillin flinched. "I..."

The aggression between the two sides was about to reach a breaking point when, to everyone's surprise, Bulma's watch began to let loose a loud, shrieking ping noise. Everyone turned to her, Piccolo plugging his ears in frustration, and tried to figure out just what the noise was. Bulma looked at her watch and gasped. "Something just passed the SpaceGRID! And it's coming towards Earth really fast! It'll be here any second!"

Piccolo spoke up. "It's already here!"

Krillin turned his attention to the sky. "What is it...?"

Everyone else looked to the sky as well. And then, a split second later, a sonic burst made a massive, circular hole in the cloud. Nothing appeared at first, but then the light seemed to catch up with the craft and it all came into view. It was a massive ship, similar to Frieza's but far more ornate. It had that same symbol on it that Bardock, Raditz, and Vegeta were so scared of on Namek: the symbol of King Cold. The Z-Fighters watched as the ship deployed its legs, making a slow descent to the ground below. Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu all took fighting stances, ready to face whatever foe might pop out of this alien vessel. Krillin, meanwhile, stood wide-eyed. "Th-The power levels on that ship are massive? C-Could it be...?"

Gohan smiled, instantly feeling four very familiar energy signatures aboard the ship. Chi-Chi smiled as well, feeling out one signature in particular and blushing. Gine chuckled, small tears welling up in her eyes. "It took you idiots long enough..."

And finally, Piccolo dropped his tight guard. "Everyone stand down. It looks like our mysterious friend was telling the truth. It looks like..."

The hatch on the front of the ship lifted up, a ramp lowering to the ground below. And, from within, four familiar faces emerged. Goku, Raditz, Bardock, and Vegeta all stared down from their stolen ship, dressed in a strange-looking alien garb, looking rather confused to see a welcoming party. Piccolo smirked. "... they're home."

Goku leapt down from their higher vantage, landing amidst the welcoming party. Immediately, Goku was set upon by his wife and son. They were thrilled, hugging him tight. Goku was all too happy to accept this. "Hey, guys! It's been a while! How have you all been?!"

Gohan cried out. "Daddy! I missed you!"

Chi-Chi wrapped her arms around her husband's neck. "Goku! My Goku~!"

Goku chuckled. "How did you guys know that we would land here any-"

His eyes landed upon his son and he was caught off guard. He stared down at Gohan for a minute, just looking his son over as if he saw something that no one else could see. Gohan cocked his head. "D-Daddy? Is everything okay?"

Goku chuckled, hugging his son close. "Everything's fine, Gohan. You've grown quite a bit since I last saw you."

Gine chuckled to her youngest son, walking up and giving him a firm hug. "We've been training together every day after his lessons. He's been wanting to get stronger and stronger to surprise you the day when you returned."

Goku looked at his mother and, again, was thrown for a loop. "W-Wow, Mom... what happened to you?!"

Gine flinched. "What do you mean? Is... Is something..."

The Saiyan mother began to check herself out, seeing if something was wrong. But Chi-Chi quickly interrupted that. "Don't worry about that right now, Gine!"

Gine nodded and returned to being absorbed into the big, family hug. During which, the three other Saiyan warriors jumped down to greet their allies. Raditz rolled his eyes. "This is all so-"

Chi-Chi didn't even wait for him to finish, reaching out and pulling him in as well. Raditz was caught off guard, not exactly knowing how to react. But he didn't try to escape it. Chi-Chi glared over at Bardock. "You! You get over here too!"

Bardock shook his head. "Nah. Not into that sort of lovey-dovey crap. Sorry."

Gine pulled herself from her family, walking up to her estranged husband and forcing an awkward smile. "H-Hey, Bardock..."

Bardock's face turned red, he glanced away from his wife. "Hey..."

Silence. A harsh wind blew, Gine turned to the final and newest member of their group. "H-Hey, Vegeta! Nice to see that you're still around!"

Vegeta, while the others all regrouped, wandered off to the side. In his distraction, the Saiyan Prince had discovered something halfway buried in the sand. Gine quickly joined him to get away from the awkward situation with her husband. Meanwhile, Goku and Piccolo regrouped with one another. The two rivals gripped each other's hands tight in a respectful handshake. Goku chuckled. "Nice to see that the Earth was in good hands all this time~"

Piccolo chuckled. "Don't get too sappy. Like I said back on Namek, everyone is looking to take that title of Strongest from you. You'd better watch your back, monkey boy."

Goku and Piccolo squeezed each other's hands tighter. Goku winced and chuckled at the sight of Piccolo doing the same. "Man, between you and Vegeta I don't think I'm gonna ever have a chance to sleep again. Sounds exciting!"

Tien smirked, smashing his fists together. "Don't you all count me out of this contest just yet."

Krillin seemed a bit nervous. "Come on, guys! Goku just got back. Can we not get into a brawl with each other for at least a day?"

Raditz chuckled, scanning around the area as Goku and Piccolo tried to out muscle one another. "I mean, the planet is in one piece. But what the hell happened around here? This place looks like a bomb went off..."

Vegeta chimed in. "Maybe it did."

Everyone turned in the direction of Vegeta's voice, finding the Saiyan Prince to have dug up a blown-up piece of scrap from Abo and Kado's former ship. Vegeta turned. "This is a piece of a hull from a Stealth Invader. Where did this come from?"

Yamcha spoke up, puffing up his chest at Vegeta. "Yeah! Some of your old space invader pals came here and tried to act like they could hang! So, we sent 'em packing. You should take notes, bud."

Vegeta snort-laughed and shook his head. "Yeah. Okay. Sure. And who were these 'space invader pals' of mine?"

He turned to Gine. "Hmm? Did you happen to recognize them?"

Gine nodded. "Y-Yeah. It was Abo and Kado of the Avocado Special Squad."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Oh yes. My best pals, Abo and Kado. Two of the strongest soldiers you'll ever face!"

He mumbled to himself. "If you're my washout of a brother..."

Yamcha gripped his fist at Vegeta. "Yeah, play coy all you want! When those two fused they were as strong as Frieza and we still kicked their asses!"

Vegeta cocked his head. "Fused? What the hell are you on about?"

Goku nodded. "Oh! So they, like, became one strong guy and started wrecking the place up? That's neat. So you defeated them, Piccolo?"

Piccolo shook his head. "No. Probably could have with enough effort, but it wasn't me. That honor would go to the nameless person standing off to the side."

Goku and his fellow Saiyan warriors all turned their attention over to the mysterious youth. He stood there, his hands in his pockets, politely waiting for the reunion to finish. Vegeta stared intently. Bardock stared indifferently. Raditz stared confusedly. And Goku gave the exact same reaction he had given to Gohan and Gine. Finally, Goku broke the silence. "Wh-Whoa! What the heck has been happening here while I've been gone?"

Chi-Chi looked to Goku with concern. "Why do you keep reacting to people like that?"

Goku cocked his head. "I... I dunno. It's just weird, ya know? It's like... they're all putting off something unique in their Ki that no one else here is. I don't know how to really describe it..."

Bardock and Vegeta both stepped up on either side of Goku. He looked at both of them and thoughtfully stroked his chin. "Huh...?"

Raditz, standing in the background next to Chichi, posed the question. "As nice as it is to hear that someone stepped in to help stop an invasion or Earth...who are you exactly?"

The young man spoke. "I'm sorry to keep you all in suspense. I will explain everything, including the reason I'm here, in a minute. I just have one more thing to do first. And... I need you all to step back..."

Chiaotzu reacted in confusion. "Wh-What? What do you mean...?"

The young man focused his steely-eyed stare on Bardock, then Vegeta, and then Goku. And then, in a rush of Super Saiyan might, the boy's hair exploded into a raging golden fire, he drew his sword, and he charged. This sudden aggression caught everyone by surprise. Everyone except Bardock, Vegeta, and Goku.

As quickly as the boy had transformed, the three of them transformed in turn. He roared at the top of his lungs and swung his sword wildly at the three. But each and every sword strike was deflected away with minimal effort by the three clearly more experienced warriors. The rest of the Z-Fighters stared in awe at this display. Gine stared wide-eyed at her Super Saiyan husband. Silently, she whispered to herself. "Y-You too?"

Eventually, the display of Super Saiyan power came to a close. Bardock, annoyed, simply faded back from the reach of the blade. Goku, with a serious look in his eye, deflected the blade away with his index finger. And Vegeta, returning the aggression, gave the boy a solid punch to the mouth, sending him sliding back across the ground. Everyone who witnessed the display reacted in awe. Yamcha was stunned. "D-Damn..."

Chiaotzu gasped. "Too fast to even follow along..."

Tien gripped his fists tight. "So the gap has become that large, has it?"

Chi-Chi, on the other hand, began to scold the mysterious youth. "Hey! Who do you think you are trying to cheap shot my husband and father-in-law like that?"

Piccolo held out his hand. "Stop."

Chi-Chi glared at him. "Didn't you see what he just did?"

Piccolo nodded. "I did. But I have more than just my eyes to work with. Next time you should try to feel for the intent, Chi-Chi. The only person in that entire exchange who meant to cause any harm was Vegeta."

Vegeta smirked. The boy stood up, wiping blood from the side of his mouth. "I suppose I deserve that for attacking with so little warning. Forgive me."

He stood, stowing his sword away. "I just had to see for myself if all of the stories I had been told about the Super Saiyans were true."

Vegeta cocked his head. "So, a half-breed like Kakarot's brat? Who spawned you? I thought that all of the other Saiyans died."

Trunks flinched back, a small shudder running up his back. Bardock cocked his head, interrupting Vegeta's thought with one of his own. "That's a pretty strange thing to say. Coming from a fellow Super Saiyan, at least..."

The boy chuckled, visibly relieved at the change of subject. "I'm still sorta new to it. There aren't any people experienced enough to train me in its power where I come from. Not anymore, at least…"

His smile faded. "But now, I can finally do what I set out to do. I can finally reveal the reason I came here."

The mysterious youth turned to Goku and put his hands in his pockets. "Goku, may I please speak to you in private for a moment? Forgive me, but-"

Yamcha cried out. "Are you kidding me?! What the hell is your problem, kid?!"

Vegeta sneered, glaring at the young Saiyan. "What game are you trying to play here, boy?"

The young man sighed, clearly flustered with all of this. "P-Please forgive me. I just...I..."

Goku smiled. "That's fine. We can talk for a minute."

The young man flinched back; everyone else's eyes fell on Goku. The Saiyan from Earth chuckled. "It's just a small talk, guys. If he says anything important or interesting, I'll let y'all know. Okay?"

Krillin sounded nervous. "You sure about this, Goku?"

Goku nodded. "Yeah. This guy doesn't seem like a bad person. It'll be fine to hear what he has to say."

And with that, Goku and the mysterious youth flew across the desert until their conversation was well out of earshot. With Goku and their new guest gone, the rest of the Z-Fighters started to talk among themselves. Gine, swallowing the dry lump in her throat, tried to initiate a conversation again. "S-So Bardock. I see that you, uh... you're a Super... Saiyan now..."

Gine glanced up at her husband, but it was clear that he wasn't listening. Bardock was staring off towards Goku and the boy, his intense gaze focused on the mysterious youth. Gine glanced away, sighing. "Oh... okay. We can try this again later, I guess..."

Vegeta growled under his breath. He was clearly furious about being left out of whatever this conversation was. "Damned brat. How dare he ignore me?!"

Tien rolled his eyes. "Who knows, Vegeta. You're such an approachable, friendly face. I just can't see why he wouldn't want to talk to you…"

Yamcha snorted. "Maybe he just doesn't have a Capsule stepladder. Can't have a conversation with someone if they're too short to look you in the eye..."

Vegeta chuckled. "Oh, I see... you both are trying to be biting. That's fine. Perhaps you could show me around this planet later? The sights, the cities, the ditch your corpses were laying in while the rest of us fought Frieza?"

Raditz rolled his eyes as Vegeta, Tien, and Yamcha exchanged pleasantries. "Nice to see he's getting along with people..."

The older brother turned to Krillin, Gohan, and Chi-Chi and smiled. "It's nice to see that you're all in one piece too! And so much stronger to boot."

Krillin smirked and scratched the back of his head. "I mean...we're trying at least. I don't think you'd be able to knock me as far away if you slapped me with your tail this time~"

Raditz chuckled. Gohan stepped up to him. "I've gotten a lot stronger, Uncle Raditz! We should have a spar later!"

As Raditz happily tussled the child's hair, Chi-Chi smiled warmly. "You can both do that after dinner tonight. I'm sure that Uncle Raditz misses my cooking. Right, Raditz?"

Raditz sighed. "Well, after 2 months of MRE's and Yardratian cuisine, I must admit that I'm certainly ready to eat something palatable again. Maybe we could have a... family... meal..."

The elder brother looked over towards his parents to see Gine standing there, looking downcast, and Bardock standing next to her, totally distracted. Briefly, the eldest son flashed back to just a few days ago, when he accidentally walked in on his father nervously mumbling to himself, practicing what to say to Gine after all this time. Raditz groaned and shook his head. "Dammit, Dad..."

Not wanting to step into that minefield, Raditz instead turned his attention to Piccolo. He walked up to the Namekian with a smirk and a cheery tone. "Well hello there, my big green friend. How have you been?"

Piccolo responded with a grunt, catching Raditz off guard. The elder brother stood there for a moment, observing Piccolo. It was clear that the Namekian was concentrating on something. Raditz then caught on upon the sight of Piccolo's pointy, green ear twitching.

Meanwhile, over with Goku and the mysterious Saiyan…

Goku chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Okay. Before we start, lemme just say thank you. I just started sensing whatever that monster was when you showed up. So I appreciate you stepping in to save my friends from it."

The youth nodded, keeping his tone casual. "Of course. I would step in anytime to save lives like that. That Akah beast would have killed Gohan if I didn't step in and do something..."

Goku nodded. "Yeah, from what I felt, he probably would have hurt Gohan pretty bad..."

The youth shook his head. "No, you don't understand. When I say that Akah would have killed Gohan, I mean it. If I hadn't stepped in, then Gohan would have met his end at the hands of that beast."

Goku cocked his head. "H-How can you be sure of that?"

He sighed. "Because, Goku... I come from the future. 17 years in the future to be precise. And I have been told the story, many times, of the shocking death of Son Gohan."

Goku flinched. "F-Future?! You're from the future?!"

The Saiyan from Earth cocked his head, a bit skeptical. "C-Can you prove that? Not saying that I think you're dishonest or anything, this is just a bit hard to believe, ya know?"

The youth nodded. "I understand. Allow me to provide you some proof."

He reached into his jacket, producing what appeared to be an old photograph. Goku looked at the picture and gasped. He didn't recognize many people in the photo, but a few faces were ones he couldn't forget. Bulma was dead center, her arms around the mysterious youth's shoulder. And standing behind them was a face that Goku would know, no matter what age. That was his son, Gohan. Except he was much older than he was now. Goku gasped. "Wh-Whoa..."

The youth smiled. "Yes, sir. That's a picture of me with my mother and my mentor, Bulma and Gohan."

Goku nodded. "S-So that monster that was here. He really..."

The youth nodded. "Yes. If I hadn't stepped in when I did, that monster would have killed Gohan right then and there. He wouldn't have lasted much longer than that, as in my timeline, Piccolo and Gine both go berserk and tear Akah apart in overwhelming rage and sorrow. And then you show up with a Yardratian technique you learned and finish the job."

The youth gripped his fists. "But after everything your son has done for me, I couldn't just sit back and allow that to happen. Proper timeline be damned..."

The boy's voice cracked. Goku took a deep breath, and then he sighed. The Saiyan from Earth clapped his hands in front of himself and bowed to the mysterious stranger. "Seriously. Thank you so much for saving my son. I'll be forever grateful to you for that."

Goku smiled at the boy and the boy smiled back. Goku chuckled. "So, uh, what's your name anyway? You never told me."

The boy flinched. "O-Oh! Forgive me for being so rude. My name is Trunks."

Goku chuckled. "Hehehe. Trunks, huh? Yeah... you're definitely Bulma's kid."

He folded his arms behind his head. "So, you just hopped back in time to save Gohan from being killed by a monster?"

And with that, Future Trunks' tone went from jovial to grim. "No. Unfortunately not."

Goku's arms dropped. "That was... a pretty big tone shift. What's up?"

Future Trunks took a deep breath. "I will be blunt, Goku. I came to warn you of a far greater threat than Akah, or even King Cold. 2 years from now on May 12th, on Amenbo Island, which is 9 miles southwest of South City, at precisely 10:00 am, a pair of wicked Androids will show up and start a campaign of terror that will begin the slow extinction of every living being on Earth."

Goku flinched. "Wh-What?! Androids?! Where the heck did these Androids come from?!"

Future Trunks frowned. "Do you remember the Red Ribbon Army, Goku?"

Goku thought for a minute. "Oh yeah, I remember those guys. I kicked their butts back when I was searching for the Dragon Balls after the 21st World Tournament."

Future Trunks shook his head. "They weren't kicked well-enough, unfortunately. One member of that heinous group survived. His name was Dr. Gero. He was a founding member of the Red Ribbon Army, as well as a genius and their head scientist. As for reasons, we aren't quite sure. Revenge was my mother's assumption. He spent years following the army's demise creating those Androids."

Goku cocked his head. "You think he was just mad at me for destroying the Red Ribbon Army?"

Future Trunks nodded. "That's what we always assumed. And for that obsession, the Earth paid the price. On that day, 2 years from now, Dr. Gero's wicked Androids showed up and their reign of terror began. It all started with Piccolo... and then Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Krillin... then Bardock and Gine both fell... then they slaughtered my father... then Raditz went... and then, eventually, even Gohan met his end at their hands..."

Future Trunks gripped his fists tightly. "Everyone. Everyone that my mother ever knew died one after the other and the Earth was left totally defenseless as a result. And once that was the case, those Androids stopped killing on such a wide scale and turned what was left of the Earth into their own twisted playground..."

He lowered his head. "By the time my mother found out where Dr. Gero was, it was too late. His monsters had already slaughtered him just as they had anyone else they'd come across, taking away any chance of learning any weaknesses in the Androids' design. And now... the future is overrun with fear as we can't stop them..."

Goku rubbed the back of his neck. "Jeez. That's just wrong. If only-hey! What about me? Where was I in all of this? Did the Androids get me too?"

Future Trunks shook his head. "No. Prior to the Androids arriving, Goku, you die in a different way..."

Goku cocked his head. "Which is...?"

Future Trunks began to dig in his jacket pocket. "A heart virus. One that the Earth had never seen before. Alien in origin. Too advanced even for a Saiyan's immune system to resist. My mother theorized that you caught it during your travels in space..."

Future Trunks smiled. "But, that's the benefit of coming from the future. My mother has had over a decade to study the virus that took your life. And so..."

He produced a medium-sized bottle of pills. "An antidote has been discovered. One that will let you live through the virus and join your friends in facing the Androids head-on!"

Future Trunks offered the bottle and Goku took it, looking it over. "Huh, so Bulma made this...?"

Future Trunks nodded. "Yes. She made it and sent me back here with it. She told me to save her best friend and to save the world as a result."

Goku smiled and quickly glanced back, catching sight of Bulma trying to stop Yamcha and Vegeta from getting into a fistfight. He chuckled. "That Bulma. She's always looking out for me."

But then, something caught Goku's attention. He looked back again, seeing Bulma still standing between Vegeta and Yamcha. Future Trunks, noticing the look on Goku's face, nervously spoke. "G-Goku... is something-"

Goku spoke to himself. "You said that Bulma is your mother. And you're a half-Saiyan. You mentioned me, Dad, and Raditz by name, so clearly none of us are your dad, not that I see any real resemblance from any of us in you. So who's the full-blooded Saiyan tha..."

He looked back again, seeing Bulma and Vegeta shouting in each other's faces. And then, the realization hit him like a truck. "HOLY CRAP! VEGETA IS-"

Future Trunks panicked, rushing forward and clamping his hand over Goku's mouth. The two of them looked at each other and Future Trunks made the shushing motion with his finger. They both looked back towards the others and saw Vegeta staring right at them, an annoyed and confused look on his face. Slowly, they both looked away and resumed their conversation. Future Trunks was flustered. "P-Please! Please don't tell him or Mom about me! Not even my name, okay?! I... I might not be born if they don't... well, you know..."

Goku scratched the back of his head. "That's... gonna be hard. Vegeta and Bulma are two of the nosiest, sharpest people I know..."

Future Trunks was practically begging. "Please..."

Goku nodded and chuckled. "It's fine. I won't let 'em know. Your secret is safe with me."

He looked at Future Trunks once again, this time noticing something a bit off. "Wait..."

Future Trunks flinched. "Wh-What is it?"

Goku's tail unraveled from around his waist, flicking back and forth in the air. "Where's your tail? If you're Vegeta's son, I don't think he would have it removed."

Future Trunks' face was immediately flushed with pain as he seemed to flash back to something in his mind. Goku cocked his head. "Are you okay?"

Future Trunks sighed. "I... I just don't wanna talk about it. Sorry."

Goku saw that the boy from the future was concerned, perhaps even a bit frightened. But the Saiyan from Earth smiled. "Hey, it's okay. Sorry to bring up a sore subject.

Gently, but firmly, he placed his hand on Future Trunks' shoulder and smiled. "I promise it'll all be alright. You don't have to be scared or get worried. We'll put a stop to those Androids and make everything okay."

Future Trunks' pained expression faded. He looked into Goku's eyes and smiled, feeling relieved. "I hope so. Truthfully, I shouldn't be doing this. This is going to change the future, but some futures should be changed. The world we are living in is one that no one should ever have to experience. But you can change it."

Goku smiled. "Count on it!"

Future Trunks nodded. "I'll come back in 2 years to check-up on things and make sure that everything is square at least on your end."

That brought a look of concern onto Goku's face. Trunks frowned. "Problem?"

The Saiyan from Earth pressed his finger to his forehead. "Well…I ain't the most science-y guy in the world, but should you have blinked out of existence when you handed me the medicine? And then the medicine…? And then I would have died anyway and you would still exist…and…"

A cloud of steam billowed off of Goku's head, the thought he was trying to put across was more than a bit complicated. He groaned. Future Trunks waved his hands. "Don't think about it too hard! My mother told me that a stable time loop is genuinely impossible to achieve! We aren't trying to fix our future, just yours!"

Goku gasped, flinching back. "R-Really?! But, what good does that do you?!"

Future Trunks smiled. "It does us the good of knowing that everyone got to be happy in some reality out there."

Goku chuckled. "Wow. You're a really good guy. So selfless."

He smiled wide. "Just to say it one more time, thank you for saving my son's life~"

Future Trunks chuckled. "You don't have to thank me, Goku. I owe Gohan more than he might ever know."

The boy from the future turned, his business concluded. "Take care, Goku. I'll be back in 2 years to check in. Who knows, maybe we'll find a way to beat our Androids and I'll deliver some good news~"

As he walked away though, a sudden question popped into Future Trunks' mind. He turned back around. "Hey, Goku."

Goku nodded. "Sup?"

Future Trunks cleared his throat. "Just, uh, one other thing that I'm curious about. In my timeline, when you came back and saw that Gohan had died, in addition to being furious over what had happened, you were also upset about not being able to wish for something that you wanted on the Dragon Balls according to my mother. So, um, she was curious and wanted me to ask... what exactly were you planning on using that wish for anyway?"

Goku seemed stumped for a second. But then, it dawned on him. "Oh! That! W-Well... I felt really guilty about how our fight with King Cold got so many innocent people killed. So, I was planning on gathering up the Dragon Balls in my spare time and wishing everyone who died back."

Future Trunks, in response to this, smiled. "You really are as good of a man as I've always been told you were, Goku."

He took to the air, flying off into the distance. "I look forward to talking to you more later!"

Watching Future Trunks leave, Goku chuckled. "What a good kid."

But then, Goku turned and stared back over at his group of friends. "Now... how do I tell them that without spoiling too much?"

Goku walked back over to his friends, deep in thought, trying his best to sum up everything that he had been told. He was so lost in thought that, as he got closer, he didn't notice someone standing in his path and ran into them by accident. Goku was startled and looked down to see the sour face of Vegeta. Vegeta glared at Goku, his eyes demanding. "Vegeta is what?"

The Saiyan from Earth gasped, flinching back as if he had just seen a ghost. Near instantly, Vegeta was joined by Bulma. "Okay, Goku. Explanation time! Who the heck was that, why was he here, and what's going on?!"

Goku frantically shifted his focus from Bulma to Vegeta and back and forth between the two. He didn't know what to say to either one of these demanding friends of his. Goku struggled to formulate the words. "I... uh... well... ya see... um..."

"Both of you calm the hell down."

Bulma and Vegeta both turned to face Bardock, who was standing there with his arms crossed. Piccolo glanced over at Bardock. "So you heard too?"

The older Saiyan shook his head. "Didn't hear. I don't have Namekian super hearing. But reading lips was something I learned to do fairly quickly back when I was growing up in the gutter."

Piccolo nodded. "So I guess it's up to us to explain everything?"

Bardock nodded back. "Looks like it."

Goku held up his hands. "N-Now, guys! Wait just a second..."

Piccolo held up his hand. "Don't worry about it. We aren't going to say anything that will endanger our new friend. I've actually had a pretty good idea of what was going on for a while now, so I've been thinking of how to say it."

Bardock cracked his neck. "Let's just start by laying out the basic shit: The brat's from the future. The future is shit because of evil Androids that kill all of us in 2 years. He came back to warn us and stop it all from happening."

Tien stared for a second, having an honest-to-goodness doubletake. "Time-Travel. You're telling us that... Time-Travel is real?"

Goku nodded. "Y-Yeah. He had some pretty compelling proof too."

Piccolo continued. "Apparently the Red Ribbon Army is at fault here. A man named Dr. Gero is currently constructing the means to continue the army's old goal of world domination. Also, the kid chose this point in time as it was the best chance to save Goku who died of a heart virus before the Android even emerged. So with the loss of one of our main man-powers, we all paid the price."

Krillin flinched. "The Red Ribbon Army?!"

Bulma flinched as well. "Dr. Gero?!"

Chi-Chi, meanwhile, was horrified. "My Goku dies of a heart virus?!"

Piccolo nodded. "Yes to all three."

Raditz sighed. "Mom and Dad must have sent Kakarot off to Earth before he was vaccinated."

He turned to Vegeta and Bardock. "I told you we should have just held him down and given him the shot as a precaution."

Goku freaked and took several steps back. "No way! You are not touching me with a needle!"

Vegeta growled. "I still want to know what was said about me. Tell me right now, dammit!"

Bulma cut in. "Forget that for a second! We need to worry about the killer Androids! Why don't we go and find out where Dr. Gero is and then put a stop to this before it becomes a problem?"

Gine frowned. "You seem flustered, Bulma."

She nodded. "No shit! Killer Androids, Gine! And built by Doctor Gero, no less! That guy was swimming in doctorates at half my age! Genuinely, the only people on the planet that are known to have ever rivaled his intelligence are me and my father! If he's involved, we need to handle this right away!"

No response. Nervously, Yamcha stepped up. "I-I agree with Bulma. Better to stop a threat before it becomes one, right guys?"

Krillin looked at Goku and sighed. Chiaotzu looked at Tien and shook his head. They both could already see where this was going. Raditz spoke up. "I think that it would be smart to-"

"Absolutely not."

Raditz flinched and looked over to Vegeta. "What?!"

Vegeta smirked. "These Androids killed me in the future, and you just expect me to sit back and not face that challenge head-on? To take the coward's way out rather than prove who is truly the greater warrior?"

Piccolo smiled wide, baring his fangs. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Vegeta. The prospect of the challenge is thrilling, no? We have a benchmark to chase after now..."

Tien chuckled. "A new height to reach. Can we train and grow to fight against what fate has already set out?"

Goku was pumped, slamming his fist into his chest. "The thought of it gets my blood pumping!"

Bardock, dour as he had been so far, smirked as well. "And here I thought retirement would be boring."

The energy within the group changed. Krillin and Chiaotzu were resigned to this being the way things were going to go. Yamcha stood there, mouth agape. Chi-Chi shrugged and sighed, Gine shook her head, burying her face into her palm, and Gohan chuckled. Bulma, however, quickly made her opinion known. "ARE THE FIVE OF YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMNED MINDS?!"

Piccolo shrugged. "Possibly. But possibly not. We know they're coming. And we even know the time. So now we know that we have to compile fresh, new strength."

Goku smirked. "2 years from now on May 12th, on Amenbo Island, which is 9 miles southwest of South City, at precisely 10:00 am~"

Seeing the gleam in the warrior's eyes, Bulma sighed. "Dammit. Why can't I find normal people to be my friends?"

With the heated argument concluded, Krillin quickly got over all of it, mentally aspiring to become stronger as well. And with that mental affirmation, he decided to try and catch up with his best friend. "So Goku, why the heck were the four of you gone so long anyway? Was that King Cold guy that tough?"

Goku chuckled. "I mean... he was pretty strong, but we still managed to beat him down pretty quickly~"

Chi-Chi puffed out her cheeks, angry. "Then why were you gone so long? We've been worried sick!"

Goku chuckled, a nervous bead of sweat rolling down his face. "Now come on, Chi-Chi! Don't get angry! You know I-"

Vegeta cut in. "We would have been here 2 months sooner if Kakarot didn't want to stick around and mingle with the Yardratians."

Krillin nodded. "Oh, I see..."

He narrowed his eyes. "So, I take it you've learned new techniques, huh Goku?"

Goku gasped. "How did you know?!"

Krillin shook his head. "Because 'I disappeared for a long time to go learn new fighting techniques' is the most Goku sentence I can think of."

Goku scratched his head in embarrassment. "Okay! You got me. The Yadratians had some really cool techniques, and I just couldn't leave until I learned as many as they were willing to teach. Vegeta and Dad were only willing to stick around for 2 months, but with me and Raditz training together, we picked up some new tricks."

Tien chuckled. "Always learning new techniques. It's admirable."

Gohan smiled, looking excited. "What kind of techniques, Dad? I wanna see!"

Goku chuckled. "Okay, Son! We'll both show you, me and your Uncle Raditz, our new techniques that we learned on Planet Yardrat!"

Gohan turned to his uncle, staring with stars in his eyes. "You too, Uncle Raditz?"

Raditz smirked, chuckling. "Indeed. Because unlike some people, I'm not too stubborn to learn new things from other people!"

Vegeta snorted. "No Saiyan with any sense of pride would go about learning techniques from inferior species like the Yardratians."

Raditz rolled his eyes. And then, with a quick pop, he immediately disappeared from everyone's sight. Gohan was confused. "Where did-"

Everyone gasped and turned to see Raditz standing behind Vegeta, poking the Saiyan Prince's cheek. Vegeta snarled and tried to punch Raditz, but the elder brother popped out of reality again, this time appearing on top of the ship that they had all arrived home in. Gohan cried out. "Whoa! So cool!"

Raditz chuckled. "This technique is called Instant Warp. Any place that is within my line of sight, I can immediately teleport to with no delay~!"

Chiaotzu gasped. "W-Wow!"

Krillin, meanwhile, turned to Goku. "So, you both learned that move?"

Goku chuckled. "Actually, I learned a similar but very-much different technique."

He smirked and pressed his fingers to his forehead, disappearing from sight in a small flash of light. After a moment, Goku returned to the group, except now he was wearing a very familiar pair of sunglasses. "This technique is called Instant Transmission! It's not as fast as Instant Warp, but it allows me to travel much farther distances. All I have to do is be able to sense the energy signature I wanna go to and I can be there super quick!"

Yamcha was impressed. "Whoa! That's amazing Goku!"

Tien cocked his head. "On what basis do these powers even work?"

Raditz cleared his throat. "It all functions on Spirit Control! Rather than utilizing the ki that sustains one's life-force, Spirit Control is a manipulation of lifeforce itself. It allows those who master it to more efficiently utilize the life energies that keep them going, boosting one's strength, one's senses, and one's energy manipulation capabilities!"

Goku smirked. "And once you have that down, you can start learning actual techniques like Instant Transmission and Instant Warp. We wanted to stay and learn more, but…"

The two brother's both grumbled in their father's direction. Standing off in the distance, Bardock rolled his eyes. "Meaningless parlor tricks."

As everyone else marveled over Goku and Raditz's new tricks, however, Bulma was focused on something else. With a thoughtful hand, she examined the exterior of King Cold's flagship. "So, uh, what exactly were you guys planning on doing with this thing, anyway? Cuz, if you didn't have any plans for it..."

Bardock looked over to Bulma. "Oh, that's right. I nearly forgot..."

He dug into his chest piece and produced a strange-looking, alien key. "That's not just any ship. It was King Cold's personal ship. It's probably the single most technologically advanced vessel in all of the Cold Empire. Feel free to scrap it for parts and tech."

Bulma's eyes lit up when Bardock tossed her the key. All of the fear and thoughts of Dr. Gero was gone, now replaced with genuine wonder and amazement. She leaped onto Bardock, squeezing him into a tight hug. "I love you!"

Bardock scoffed. "G-Get the hell offa me!"

Bulma was practically drooling as she pulled out her phone. "Oh, I have to get a team out here right away to come and collect this thing! Oh~! I can't wait~!"

As Bulma celebrated to herself, everyone else lightened up as well. Oncoming threats or not, they were all just happy to be back together again. The Z-Fighters were fully reunited, back on Earth where they belonged. Even Vegeta, as alien as he was to all of this, seemed happy to have a planet to firmly set his feet on. They all started to walk away, ready to head out of the northern wasteland and back to Capsule Corp and Chi-Chi was already announcing a big party and feast for all of them. Bardock watched on as everyone mingled. His eyes fell on Gine and he took a deep breath. Now was his chance.

Bardock stepped forward. "Gi-"

And then, with a shudder, a vision of the future exploded into Bardock's mind.

Within Bardock's subconscious…

Screaming. So much screaming. Men, women, children. All of them screaming in fear and terror and pain. And Bardock heard it all set to the loudest volume possible. All of those screams of fear and agony. And alongside them, heavy, thudding footsteps. With a metallic ring to them no less. The sound of a needle piercing flesh, the sound of something... drinking something?

And then everything was silent.

Bardock mumbled to himself. "What the hell...?"

Suddenly, laughter started. A deep, beastly laughter of a predator holding a prey in its grasp. Bardock looked around, trying to find the threat. He looked to the ground, only to realize that it was no ground he was standing on. It was soft, but rough. It was... skin?!

Bardock looked up and what he saw chilled him to the bone. He couldn't make out exactly what it was staring down at him. But it was huge, its bloodshot eyes were locked onto him, and its slit pupils were radiating pure malice. It then opened its mouth, a sort of deformed beak, and lunged down at him with a ghastly roar.

Back in reality…

"BARDOCK!"

Bardock gasped as Gine lightly patted his cheek a few times. He stumbled back, sweat flying off of his brow. The older Saiyan breathed heavily as he stood there, breaths heaving in and out of his chest with enough force to nearly capsize him. "G-Gine..."

The older Saiyan looked around and saw everyone staring at him, their eyes wide with concern and confusion. Still wheezing, Bardock snapped at them. "What?! What are you all looking at?!"

With a bit of hesitation, Raditz reached up and wiped his hand under his nose. Bardock, getting the message, did the same. He looked down at his hand after and, to his shock, saw that his entire palm had been stained crimson.

Everyone stared at Bardock, blood pouring from his flushed face like a faucet. None of them knew what to say. Finally, however, Bulma stepped up and spoke. "Yeah, that reminds me... there's something we need to discuss, Bardock."

Meanwhile, on the far side of the northern wasteland…

Future Trunks spoke bluntly as he inserted a fuel cell into the side of his massive, bright yellow Time Machine. "I know it wasn't the best option for me to just rush in like that, but it's not like I had a choice. I couldn't just stand by and let him die. N-Not again..."

A female voice spoke back. "Look, I don't disagree. I'm just saying that it was risky, Trunks. That's all..."

The voice belonged to a young woman. She was barely average in height with a lean but toned frame and a pretty face about her. Her hair was bluish-black and reached her middle-back, pulled into a ponytail by a red ribbon that bobbed in the wind. She wore a yellow tank top, tucked into her camouflage pants, and a pair of black and brown Saiyan armored boots. She had what appeared to be a Kalashnikov AK-107 hanging across her back. And even more noticeable was her furry tail that was lazily wrapped around her waist like a loose shawl. Future Trunks nodded. "At least be happy that the two of you didn't have to face all of them all at once. Mom wasn't lying when she said that they were good people, but some of them were so... intense..."

A male voice spoke up. "At least you didn't have Piccolo staring directly at you for three hours. I swear, those eyes are exactly like Gohan used to describe them."

The voice belonged to a young man with his shaggy black hair. He was quite a fit and well-built man almost as tall as Future Trunks. He wore blue denim jeans, black boots, a white muscle shirt and brown bomber jacket combo, and a red pole strapped to his back that looked surprisingly like the Power Pole of Korin. Also, like the young woman, he too had what was clearly a Saiyan tail that was secured firmly around his waist. The girl approached the black-haired boy. "He was only looking this way because you kept whispering to me. Seriously, why didn't Miss Bulma tell us about Namekian ears being so damn sensitive?"

The girl turned to Future Trunks. "So how did it feel meeting your dad for the first time? Is your face okay?"

Future Trunks shrugged. "Mom always warned me he was the type to lash out at the unknown. But for what it's worth... she wasn't lying when she talked about how overwhelming his presence was..."

The black-haired boy spoke again. "Man... I wish I could've gotten to meet them..."

Future Trunks sighed. "We'll see them again. And hopefully...hopefully all of our problems will somehow finally be fixed..."

The other two nodded, following behind Future Trunks as he leapt into the Time Machine. With all three of them packed into the vessel, it lifted off. The three of them all wistfully stared out over the vast horizon at a world not yet ruined by the tyranny of the Androids. And then the Time Machine vanished, taking them back to their own, dark timeline.