Year 783a
Broli had done it. He had reached the next level. What was once thought to be the limit had been surpassed. There truly was another level, and that was it. Seeing this, Vegita had stopped pounding on Broli?s chest. He had been ineffective before and would be even more now, if that was possible. Broli then charged up and released a gigantic red wave around him which spread outwards. Everyone was forced to block the wave but none succeeded. The wave penetrated their defenses and knocked them all down to the ground.
Broli: "No one can stop me now, fools!"
Vegita: "Bakana!"
Broli dashed toward Trunks, unleashed a flurry of unblockable hits and threw him to the ground, ending his attack with a Renzoku energy-dan. Trunks did not get up. Goten tried an attack from behind, but got countered by a spin kick, followed by an uppercut that sent him high in the air. Broli was already there, though, and pile-drived him back to the ground. Meanwhile, even if Piccolo was still pretty healthy, he didn?t move, knowing it would be futile to attack Broli in his new form. F.Trunks knew he was far too weak and didn?t attack either. Gohan struggled to get up and finally hopped away. Goten and Trunks were painfully trying to get back on their feet, and only Vegita seemed to have the power and the courage (or the nerve!) to get up and face Broli once more, but he too was in bad shape.
Vegita: "Ki...kisama!"
Broli: "Shut up, wimp! You did pretty good, and you?re actually quite like me, you know. Why don?t we join together!!"
Broli dashed toward Vegita, grabbed him by the head and lifted him up. He used his other hand to produce a strange aura around Vegita, draining him of all his strength.
Broli: "You don?t look very happy, buddy! Come on, smile! You?re going to become a part of me!" Hearing this, Piccolo dashed at Broli.
Piccolo: "NO!"
Broli: "Back off, twit! Besides, you?ll be next!"
Broli swung his arm, creating a wave of energy that pushed Piccolo back. Then he looked at Vegita.
Vegita: "S...sorry...Trunks... "
Vegita?s body started glowing and transformed into a ball of energy that Broli absorbed instantly. He powered up and became even more powerful!
F.Trunks: "TOUSAN!!!!"
Trunks: "Oh no...tousan... "
Piccolo(panicked): "Ba...bakana! It?s the end! There?s nothing we can do!"
F.Trunks: "Piccolo-san! I have an idea. Grab Goten and Trunks and bring them back to the time machine. I?ll take care of Gohan-san."
Piccolo: "What for?"
F.Trunks: "Do it!!!"
Piccolo frowned and quickly dashed to pick up Goten. As Broli tried an attack on him, Piccolo dodged to the side and went to pick up Trunks. He then shot a beam toward Broli with his mouth. The resulting explosion gave him enough time to escape to the time machine. F.Trunks was already there, giving instructions to the computer. Gohan was lying unconscious on one of the beds inside the machine. The main hatch closed behind Piccolo, the machine took off and a blinding light filtering through the windshield illuminated the interior of the cockpit.
They had now left Future Trunks? time.
Piccolo: "Where are we now?"
F.Trunks: "Nowhere."
Piccolo: "This is not the time for jokes, Trunks."
F.Trunks: "We are in an intermediate dimension. There is nothing here. We can take the time to rest and think. There is a regen tank incorporated in the machine at the back."
Piccolo: " ... "
Piccolo: "Right. Close call, Trunks."
Year XX
After a few hours, all had recuperated and were discussing a way to end this nightmare.
Goten: "He?s incredible."
F.Trunks: "I warned you all of his great strength, but you didn?t listen."
Gohan: "Vegita-san! How can we bring him back now?"
F.Trunks: "Unless we can beat Broli, I don?t think we can."
Trunks: " !? "
Piccolo: "Then it?s over. We won?t be able to help you, Trunks."
Trunks: "Tousan... " Trunks was about to cry, but forced himself not to. He was a man, now. A 21 year old man, stronger than most people in the whole universe! He couldn?t cry! He was strong!
All remained silent for a few minutes. None dared to speak. No one actually had anything intelligent to say. Outside, there was no sound. It was complete silence, perhaps in memory of one of the greatest warriors that ever lived...
F.Trunks: "There may be a way, though." Everyone jumped at his words.
Gohan: "What do you mean?"
Trunks(hopeful): "A way to bring him back?"
F.Trunks: "Perhaps. Root dimensions."
Goten: "What are those?"
F.Trunks: "All dimensions are created from a stable dimension my mother called a 'root dimension'. If you prefer, all dimensions that can?t be altered by a regular time travel have a root dimension that we can alter with this machine."
Trunks(smiling): "Yes!"
Goten(also smiling): "Great!"
Piccolo(dead serious): "Good, but where, or rather when, do you want to go?"
F.Trunks: "Before Broli?s birth. If we can prevent his birth, then we can prevent this whole mess from happening."
Gohan: "You mean we?d go back to Vegitasei before it was destroyed?"
F.Trunks: "Hai."
Gohan: "Let?s try."
Trunks: "Yeah."
Goten: "Why not?."
Piccolo: "So be it." Smiling, he snapped his fingers and his cape and turban reappeared.
F.Trunks: "Good. Let?s set the coordinates and go."
Year 736
Bardock and his team had just returned from their last mission.
Bardock: "Hmph! How boring!"
Touma: "You said it. They could?ve at least tried to fight back."
Celipaa: "What?s our next destination?"
Touma: "Some trash planet called Kanse."
Bardock: "Hey! What?s wrong over there?"
Touma: "Let?s go take a look."
Bardock?s team joined the crowd that had formed in the middle of the place. Some strange ship had landed without autorisation, it seemed, and some troops were about to " greet " the newcomers. Suddenly, the main hatch opened and five people stepped out.
Bardock: "What? My scouter!"
The visitors watched as about fifty little explosions and trails of smoke appeared throughout the crowd.
Piccolo: "Scouters... "
All the Saiyajin?s scouters had exploded upon reading the power levels of the five visitors.
Trooper(recovering): "Who are you? You had no autorisation to land... "
Piccolo: "We didn?t land, stupid Saiyajin, we appeared!"
In one swift move by Piccolo, the trooper collapsed. The other troopers didn?t move, shocked.
Piccolo: "Well, we?re on Vegitasei, alright. There are saiyajin insects everywhere. So, what do we do?"
F.Trunks: "The first thing we need to do is to find Paragas...and kill him, I guess."
Piccolo: "I can handle this."
F.Trunks: "Gohan and I will contact King Vegita. We don?t want to alarm the population." Already, whispers could be heard from the crowd.
Piccolo(angry): "Silence! All of you!! You?re getting on my nerves!" That wasn?t completely true, but he just loved saying it.
Saiyajin(taking a step forward): "Who gives you the right to come here and insult us, nameckjin?"
Piccolo: "You do! Got that?" While saying this, Piccolo pointed to his own left ear where a scouter would be if he had one. The Saiyajin, as well as every other, understood what he meant.
Trunks: "What are Goten and I to do?"
Gohan: "You can do as you want. You can walk around and visit the home planet of your fathers."
Goten(smiling): "Yeah! A free trip around Vegitasei! Pretty cool, huh, Trunks?"
Trunks: "Yeah, sure. Better than doing nothing, I suppose."
Gohan: "Alright, then! We meet back here in 24 hours. That way we can all visit."
Piccolo: "I don?t care about visiting."
Gohan: "Then do as you want, Piccolo-san. Just be there."
And so they went their separate ways.
Piccolo closed his eyes and concentrated. He searched for Paragas? ki on the planet. All ki signatures were too weak to allow him to get a positive lock. He frowned and tried even harder. After about an hour, he finally found him. He smiled and thought " Gotcha, Paragas! Prepare to meet your doom...again! " Slowly, without any haste, he took off and went in the direction the ki signature was coming from. He was still flying slowly, steadily, with full confidence, thinking that any Saiyajin that would pick him up on their scouter would have the unpleasent surprise of getting a singed face. He smiled and went on. Suddenly, Piccolo picked up a ki that he knew, a ki that he had felt somewhere before. He tried to remember who could emit a ki signature like this one. Unlike with the beings on Earth, this was a steady flow of ki, typical of the Saiyajin people since a Saiyajin?s power was constantly at the same level, at the level they thought was a warrior?s maximum, and it was logical to feel this kind of ki on their home planet, but this had to be a Saiyajin that he knew, probably one that he had fought once. It couldn?t be Goku and it wasn?t Vegita. It didn?t feel like Nappa so it had to be...Radditz! That son of a bastard was on Vegitasei right now, eh? Well, why not pay him a little visit. F.Trunks had told him he could visit if he wanted to... Piccolo flew closer to the ground, homing on to Radditz?s ki.
When he finally reached the Saiyajin?s location, he floated back to the ground. Radditz was in some kind of Pub or some similar place. Piccolo went inside and followed a long corridor. As he was walking further away from the main entrance, he could hear the voices of a few dozen warriors getting louder. He easily distinguished Radditz?s voice from the others. It was impossible to fully understand what he was saying, but he was there. He wouldn?t understand a thing, so Piccolo would have to forget about taking his " revenge ". What kind of revenge did he wanted, anyway? He could avenge Goku, but, long ago, he did like the way he had gotten rid of his two main enemies at the same time with a single Makankousappo. Both Son Goku and Radditz were the only ones who stood in his way when his goal in life was to conquer the world... Of course, Vegita and Nappa then came... And he had died fighting them. But he didn?t want to take revenge on Radditz for what Nappa had done. Besides, he hadn?t been killed by Nappa; he had sacrificed his life to protect Gohan, which happened to be his first good deed. So, why bother Radditz? For the fun of it. That was the only answer he could think of. Maybe it was kind of a revenge after all: Radditz had given him a hard time back then, so it was his turn.
Piccolo had reached the main room. Radditz was drinking and laughing with other Saiyajin. Seeing the Nameckjin enter, the warriors turned to face him and their scouters all blew up. " Fitting. ", Piccolo thought while smiling. Five drunk Saiyajin got on their feet and went toward the newcomer. Radditz was among them. Piccolo grabbed two of those warriors---wimps would be a more appropriate term---and tossed them accross the room. He punched another one in the stomach, knocking him down. A well placed kick blew the fourth one against the wall, knocking him unconscious.
Piccolo(smiling): " So fragile. "
Suddenly, Piccolo realized that the first time he had heard these words was while fighting Nappa and Vegita back on Earth. Nappa had started his attack and Tenshinhan was the first target. Nappa cut off his opponent?s arm with a single ki-powered punch. As Tenshinhan fell to the ground, yelling in pain, Piccolo had heard Vegita say those same words: " So fragile. " with a cruel grin. Now, Piccolo was the strongest one around and the Saiyajin was the one standing alone hoping to defeat the intruder all by himself. Reversed positions. The other Saiyajin in the room either watched the fight or still went on drinking and laughing, probably too drunk to notice the newcomer. Anyway, since Piccolo had other things to do, he decided to get on with it and be on his way. He dashed at Radditz, punched him three times on the chest---far too easy---and threw him to the other side of the room. Remarkably, the Saiyajin got up, though struggling. He was too much beaten up to charge a second time, so Piccolo powered down.
Radditz: " Ki...kisama, Nameckjin! I...hate you! I...I?ll never forget...or forgive...you...or any other Nameckjin!!! I?ll...get you all...for this!! "
Seeing that there was nothing more of interest in this room, Piccolo smiled at his opponent, turned around and went back outside. Happy with what he did and pleased with this little interlude, Piccolo resumed his flight toward the goal of his mission.
Goten and Trunks were wandering through the streets of the city, every Saiyajin staring at them. Some warriors even tried to beat them up, but since they were too weak, they usually ran away after a single hit.
Trunks: " Boring! I sure would like a little more action. "
Goten: " Onii-chan told us to visit and that?s what we?re doing! I find it fascinating! "
Trunks: " Yeah, sure! Seeing Saiyajin running for their lives isn?t my idea of " action ".
Goten: " Then, what do you suggest? "
Trunks: " I don?t know! How about finding a place where we can train. "
Trunks: " Better yet! Let?s find their strongest warrior and fight him! "
Goten: " That doesn?t seem very nice. "
Trunks: " C?mon! We?ll just go easy on him, that?s all. "
Trunks grabbed a passing Saiyajin technician by the collar.
Trunks: " Hey, you! How about telling me who?s the strongest guy around, huh? "
Tech(terrified...really!): " You...you mean " right now "? "
Trunks: " No, I want you to tell me in two weeks. OF COURSE RIGHT NOW!!!! "
Tech: " No...I mean...the strongest person around " right now "? "
Trunks: " What do you think? That I?ll stay here all my life, open a boutique and sell souvenir Vegita dolls??? I haven?t got all day, you know!!! " Actually, he did, but he prefered to look a little impatient to scare the guy even more.
Tech(down on his knees): " The strongest guy around is Freezer-sama, and he has two assistants called Zarbon and Dodoria. They?re all very strong! "
Trunks tried to pick up their ki but the power levels he felt were too weak.
Trunks: " Where are they? "
Tech: " They?re on Freezer-sama?s spaceship, orbiting the planet right now. "
Trunks: " Arigatou. See, that wasn?t so bad. "
He let go of the technician, turned to Goten and then both of them blasted up in the sky and zipped away.
Minion: " Freezer-sama! "
Freezer: " What is it? "
Minion: " Our sensors detected five very powerful warriors who appeared instantly on the planet, sir. Two of them are flying this way! "
Freezer: " Didn?t it occur to you that this information had already come to me? Why do you think Zarbon is working on my scouter at this exact moment? " The minion looked to the left and saw Zarbon trying to fix the device.
Minion: " I?m completely sorry, Freezer-sama. "
Freezer: " ... "
Freezer: " Since I told you to report anything suspicious, I believe you are only doing your job and trying to please your ruler. Go back to your post, now. "
Minion: " Hai, Freezer-sama! Arigatou! " And he left, feeling lucky he was able to.
Freezer: " Zarbon, forget about my scouter and go " greet " our two guests. Dodoria, you shall go with him. "
Both: " Hai, sama! " And they both left.
Trunks: " Two of them are coming our way! "
Goten: " Let?s talk with them first. "
Trunks: " Yeah, of course. "
The four warriors met.
Zarbon: " Identify yourselves! You are violating Freezer-sama?s territory! "
Goten: " I?m Son Goten! "
Trunks: " And I?m Trunks. You?re Zarbon and Dodoria, right? We?re here to fight you. "
Dodoria(laughing): " Fight us? You must be joking! "
Zarbon: " Leave now and we may forget about you, worms! "
Trunks: " We didn?t come all this way for nothing. "
Zarbon: " Of course not! You came here to DIE!!!! "
The two monsters launched their attack. Goten and Trunks easily dodged them and countered. Zarbon and Dodoria stabilized.
Zarbon: " I?m going to kill you both! "
They dashed at the boys again and were countered once more. Having a lot more difficulty to stabilize now, they took a few seconds to recover and observe their enemies.
Dodoria: " What do we do?
Zarbon: " I?m not even sure. "
Zarbon shot a beam at Trunks, who dodged it easily.
Trunks: " Is that it? I?ll show you how!!! "
Trunks shot a beam from each hand, targetting the two monsters. None of them could avoid the blasts aimed at them and tried to block, but the blasts were too strong and they started falling toward the planet. The boys catched them before they hit the ground and landed.
Trunks: " Dead already? Maybe I should?ve gone a little easier on them. " He started taking off Dodoria?s scouter.
Goten: " Hey! What are you doing? "
Trunks: " I?m just picking up a...what?s it called again? "
Goten: " A scouter? "
Trunks: " Right! It looks way too cool! " As he was trying it on, Goten spoke.
Goten: " Isn?t this a little too childish for us now? "
Trunks: " You don?t have to stop looking cool just because you grow up, you know! Let?s see, how does this thing work? "
Trunks pushed a little button on the device and looked at Goten. It suddenly blew up!
Trunks: " Kuso! You?re too strong for that thing, Goten. "
Goten (ironic): " Gee. I?m really sorry. "
Trunks took off the scouter and tried Zarbon?s instead.
Trunks: " See! If I don?t push this button it won?t blow up! How do I look? "
Goten: " Baka! "
Trunks: " No, seriously! I look cool, don?t I? "
Goten: " Yeah, yeah. Sure. "
Trunks: " O.K. Now, where?s that Freezer guy? "
Freezer was out flying over the planet. Having seen his two best warriors die so easily, he decided he wouldn?t give up so quickly.
Freezer (to himself): " Ha! They may destroy me but they shall not stop me from getting rid of the Saiyajin infestation. Ha! Ha! Ha! Sayounara, Vegitasei! "
Meanwhile, on the surface.
Bardock: " Hey, troops. Isn?t that Freezer-sama up there? "
Celipaa: " Un! "
Touma (panicked): " He?s about to fire at the planet! "
Bardock: " What? "
Bardock: " We can?t allow him to destroy our planet! C?mon, troops! "
Bardock?s team lifted off the ground and flew toward their former master.
Freezer: " Who are you? Out of my way, insignificant pests! "
Bardock: " Freezer-sama! What are you doing? You?re not trying to destroy the planet, are you? "
Freezer: " Of course not, my friend! I simply want to play with you! Now, perish! "
Bardock couldn?t avoid the beam coming his way. The blast blew him toward the planet where he crashed with a big explosion. Touma then attacked, landing a punch. Freezer just grabbed his arm and threw him at Toteppo.
Toteppo: " Kuso! "
Gohan and F.Trunks came out of Vegita?s palace.
Gohan: " What a weird guy. Not too friendly is he? "
F.Trunks: " I never expected much more. A planet of barbarians lead by a barbarian. Fitting. "
Suddenly, they felt a high level of ki coming from the east. They both recognized it instantly.
Gohan and F.Trunks: " Freezer! "
They immediately flew in that direction. As they arrived, they saw Freezer fighting with two Saiyajin warriors, a man and a woman. It was a miracle those two were still flying.
Celipaa: " Touma! Look! The visitors! "
Touma: " What? "
Freezer saw them too. Since he didn?t have a scouter, he couldn?t determine the strength of the two newcomers. He dashed at F.Trunks, but stopped dead in his tracks, speechless and looking like he was in great pain. He looked behind him and a second blast hit him. His body fell to the planet, broken. Gohan and F.Trunks then looked at the one who had fired, but they knew who it was even before seeing him, having felt his ki...
Trunks: " Gohan-san! Trunks-san! What are you doing here? "
Gohan: " What did you just do, Trunks-kun? "
Trunks: " I saw that guy fighting those Saiyajin and I came to their rescue. "
Gohan: " What?s that on your ear? "
Trunks (laughing): " A little souvenir. "
F.Trunks (to the other Saiyajin): " Are you okay? "
Celipaa: " We?ll be okay, but the others aren?t. "
Gohan: " What others? "
Gohan looked at the planet below them and saw three craters. They flew down to look at possible survivors, avoiding Freezer?s carcass. The body in the first crater was obviously dead.
Celipaa: " That was Pan. Too bad. " Gohan, Goten and Trunks started upon hearing the name, but quickly settled down.
They then went to the second crater. The body inside was struggling to get up.
Touma: " Toteppo. Go to a regen tank or you won?t stand up much longer. "
Toteppo: " I know what I have to do! " And he left, flying with difficulty.
They finally went to the third crater. There was not much left. A dead body and a few broken metallic pieces.
Celipaa: " Poor Bardock. Never was much of a leader anyway. " Gohan and F.Trunks jumped.
Gohan: " Are you saying this is Bardock? "
Touma: " Yeah. What?s left of him. He was the first to try to stop Freezer and he got wacked real good. "
F.Trunks: " Wasn?t Bardock Goku-san?s father, Gohan-san? Wasn?t he your grandfather? "
Gohan: " Yeah, but I never knew him. He was probably just like any other Saiyajin: heartless. I don?t mind much. "
Goten: " He was my grandfather? Really? "
Gohan: " Forget about him, Goten. He was just another of those barbarians. I don?t consider him to be our true grandfather. "
Goten: " From what I?ve seen, you?re probably right. "
Gohan looked back at F.Trunks and frowned. His face got very pale as he looked at Bardock?s body.
Gohan: " What?s wrong, Trunks-san? " F.Trunks bent down and picked up a piece of junk in the crater.
F.Trunks(terrified): " I know this keypad all too well. "
F.Trunks(to Gohan): " IT?S PART OF THE TIME MACHINE!!!!!!!!! "
Gohan: " What!? Are you saying Freezer destroyed the time machine??? "
F.Trunks: " It...it appears like so... "
Gohan: " Can you repair it? "
F.Trunks: " There?s nothing left! "
Gohan: " Can you build another? "
F.Trunks: " Are you nuts!? My mother finished it just two days ago! I had no time to study it!! "
Goten: " That means... "
F.Trunks: " ...we have no way to get back... "
To be continued in chapter 5: Despair! A Hero Is Lost!
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