DISCLAIMER:

Vetyga: Hey'ya! It is I, VETYGA! Ah ha ha haaa! How good it feels to finally be the one in charge! It's about time! To think I used to have to listen to Rath all the time, but not anymore! (Thinks for a moment as she places her hands behind her head) Hmmm... Speaking of Rath, she's the only one who can stand in my way. Therefore, I must find her before she can ruin my plans of domination. First Disclaimers... Then the UNIVERSE! I will rule them all! Ah ha ha haaaa! And now, I, Vetyga, will become the one who TRULY DOES NOT OWN DBZ... And, uh, anything else I don't own!

(Vetyga thinks to herself as she scratches her head) Hmmm, maybe there's more to doing disclaimers than I had originally thought...

[Chapter edited 5Jan2014]

WITHIN THE PRISONER HOLDING ROOM, IN THE PAST WORLD:

"I'm not going to let this continue on any longer," Trunks had told the younger version of Vegeta. "I'm going to take you far from this place. I promise you!"

A slight glimmer of hope passed through Vegeta's eyes. If this stranger was telling the truth then this could be his chance!

Goku noticed the false sense of hope that Vegeta had gotten from Trunks's bold statement. "Trunks," Goku said solemnly. "You can't promise him a thing like that..."

Trunks paid Goku no attention, however, as he shrugged, "Why not? Of course, I can! After all, I do intend to fulfill my promise."

Vegeta became suspicious as he looked from Goku and then back to Trunks. "Trunks, is it? What did he mean by that?" he demanded.

'Oh great,' Bulma thought as she closed her eyes and laid her head up against the wall. 'As if things hadn't already gotten messed up enough. Now, Vegeta knows Trunks's name... This timeline has definitely been ruined.'

When Trunks took too long trying to figure out the best possible way to prolong the answer to Vegeta's question, Vegeta kicked Trunks in the gut as hard as he could. Trunks to inhaled sharply.

"Well? Answer me!" Vegeta ordered.

"Vegeta!" Goku growled. "That was completely uncalled for!"

"Shut up!" Vegeta snapped. "I'm the Prince of all Saiyans, so I am in charge here. I can do what I want!"

To prove his point, Vegeta shot a ki blast into Goku's left arm. Although Goku was way above the child Vegeta in power (especially in his weakened state), Goku's arm became slightly numb as a result of both his ki and strength still being repressed by the chains.

"That kind of attitude will get you no where, Vegeta," Goku said softly.

"Look, Vegeta," Trunks tried to reason with his younger father. "If you help us escape, then we'll return the favor and help you, too."

"Who says I even trust you?" Vegeta retorted.

"Because if you want to get out of here, you have no choice," Trunks replied.

"Who says I even care?" Vegeta shot back.

"Who says you don't?" Trunks countered.

Vegeta turned his back momentarily towards Trunks as he replied, "Fine, I will play along with your 'little game' for now. What would you have me do?"

Now, it was Bulma's turn to speak up as she said, "I just need to get access to one of the computers. From there, I might be able to determine how we can return home."

"Done," Vegeta agreed. "That's it?"

"Well, we'll probably need space transportation," Bulma continued.

"Obviously," Vegeta rolled his eyes impatiently. "Now, that's all?"

Bulma smiled inwardly at Vegeta's clear show of annoyance. For a moment, he reminded her of the Vegeta she argued with day after day at home, only with a smaller voice. Then again, they were one and the same.

Goku was surprised at the child's sudden changes of mood. One moment he seemed vulnerable and unsure, while the next moment they could see where he was downright ruthless and uncaring. Now he was even agreeable and calm. The Vegeta they knew in their own time had long mastered the art of hiding and showing selected emotions. This Vegeta must not have perfected that art just yet.

"Vegeta, thank you for being willing to help us..." Goku started, but Vegeta interrupted him.

"Don't bother," Vegeta said. "I'm only helping you because I hate it here, not because I care what happens to you! If you don't do what you promised, then I will get Frieza to make you all suffer for a change and then I will kill the girl myself."

His words seemed so cruel for a child of only 8-years old, but for now, they agreed to go along with it.

Vegeta thought reluctantly to himself on the best way to get Frieza to come down to the Prisoner Room, so that the first part of their plan could be put into action. After a moment, he fired some of his energy directly into one of the shackles binding Goku to the wall. This caused the chains' automatic reflex to activate causing several shock waves to be sent through Goku's body.

Goku gasped from the sudden pain that shot through his body. He resisted the urge to curse at the child Vegeta. "What do you think you're doing?! I thought you were supposed to be helping us?"

Vegeta didn't respond. He was focusing his mind on more important things... How was he going to explain himself to Frieza about what he was doing in there in the first place? How was he going to get Frieza to allow the girl get onto the computers?

"Vegeta," Goku said more calmly. "Are you helping us or not?"

Vegeta paled visibly. He spoke softly, lest Frieza should overhear. " What do you think, fool? The chains send an alert to Frieza if they are tampered with by any use of ki. That means Frieza will be here shortly to check what's going on. I hate it, but... I have no choice."

WITHIN THE PRESENT WORLD:

As violent flashes of red lightning repeatedly struck across the sky and loud thunder rumbled continuously, the adult version of Vegeta became keenly aware that this was no ordinary storm. The way the wind ripped and tore through the trees... And the way it easily uprooted the trees with un-sturdy roots was in itself like a warning of imminent danger. Although he'd never admit it out loud, he was becoming concerned about why Bulma and Trunks were still not back yet.

"Surely it doesn't take that long to do a little shopping," Vegeta pondered as he looked to the skies. "And even then, I should be able to at least sense their whereabouts. In fact, I can't even sense where Kakarrot is... Something must be wrong. Perhaps Dende will know what is going on?"

He didn't even hesitate for a moment's notice as he took off into the air and flew towards Dende's Lookout. He ignored the ominous skies. He had to find out what was going on.

ELSEWHERE WITHIN THE PRESENT WORLD:

Dende had begun pacing back and forth as he tried to think of the best solution to bring back Goku and the others to the Present World.

'Maybe I could use my powers to make them return?' he reasoned in his head. 'But that'd be too risky, especially if they are not all together at one time. I only get one chance to contact them in any way without the possibility of disrupting the dimensional shift, which can be a very dangerous thing...'

Dende turned to Piccolo and asked, "Do you have any suggestions, Piccolo?"

"Yeah, for one thing, stop pacing back and forth," Piccolo stated in annoyance. "And second of all, you are the Guardian of the Earth... Can't you just contact them and then instruct them in what to do?"

"Yes, but there's a problem with that," Dende answered. "Because I can contact them no more than once and even then, only for a limited amount of time. If they are not all together, it would be all up to them to find their own way back."

Piccolo's face glowed as fierce lightning continually struck the tower as Dende finished speaking. "Looks like we have no other choice."

"I suppose not," Dende said as they immediately made their way out from the garden and into the twisted corridors of the Lookout. Once they reached the large brazen doors of the Chamber of Time that was responsible for sending the others to the Past, Piccolo paid notice to the intricate designs carved throughout the door's thick borderline. He traced his fingers along it.

"It's written in ancient Namekian scripture," Dende explained. "I can't read it, but since you and Kami are one and the same, I figured maybe you could."

"I'm afraid you're out of luck," Piccolo replied. "The Kami inside me seems every bit as confused as I am."

"Still," Dende continued. "I'd like to talk with him myself."

"Hn!" Piccolo grunted. He did not like the idea of giving up control of his body, even if it was only temporarily. The Nail inside of him, however, told him that this must be quite important to Dende, so Piccolo relented.

"Thanks, Piccolo!" Dende said before asking Kami, "So what do you make of this?"

As Kami felt across the detailed inscriptions, he said, " I really don't remember much about ancient Namekian, but I'll do what I can."

"That's all I can ask," Dende replied.

Kami stared at the carvings for several minutes before saying at last, "Dende, if you look near the doorway to the Room of Spirit and Time, you should find a small compartment. If I remember correctly it should contain several references to that which we seek..."

ALSO IN THE PRESENT WORLD:

Gohan and Videl had been monitoring the storm's progress from atop the roof of his house.

"How strange," Gohan murmured. "I just felt a rise in Vegeta's energy."

"Hmmm?" Videl asked as she lifted her head up from Gohan's shoulders. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Gohan replied as he continued to stare towards the heavens. "But things seem to be different somehow..."

As they continued to watch the skies, the clouds began to swirl in a counter-clockwise motion. Gohan stood up immediately. "A TORNADO!" he exclaimed as the swirling winds began to take the form of a funnel. "Let's go!"

They quickly jumped down from the rooftop and rushed into the house.

"You go find my brother and our daughter; I'll get my mom!" Gohan exclaimed as he and Videl split off in separate directions. "Mom?" he called frantically as he searched room-to-room. "Mom? ...MOM?!"

"I'm in the kitchen, Gohan," Chichi called. "What's wrong?"

"Mom, we have to get somewhere safe, now!" Gohan said quickly. "A tornado's heading in our direction. We have no time!"

Suddenly, the glass from the nearby windows shattered as the approaching winds increased their intensity.

"Gohan!" Videl shouted fearfully from the other side of the house.

"Into the closet!" Gohan exclaimed as he quickly shoved his mother into the living room closet and secured the door shut.

Gohan then rushed off to get his young 3-year-old daughter, Pan, and his wife, Videl. Unfortunately, he was too late as the walls trembled under the wind's unrelenting fury and began splintering apart. Gohan could barely recall hearing the frightened wails of his young daughter before seeing a bright flash before his eyes. He heard a loud crash as if something had just exploded before something hard impacted against the back of his head.

Then there was only darkness...

Rath: (Whispers because is still in hiding from Vetyga) Yes! Only a week and a half since my last update! I'm trying to get better about that. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! (Hears footsteps coming from behind her) Well, I've gotta' go! Someone's coming... Until then, I thank all of you who have reviewed and continue to do so. It means a lot!

Until next time! Sawatdee!