Chapter 2- The Quests Begin

The human woman and the Saiyajin prince stared each other down from opposite sides of the room. They had come to this standoff after having the worst fight the two had ever had since they had first laid eyes on each other.

"Did you hear what I said Vegeta" Bulma said finally breaking the silence "Get your things, get out of this house and never come back!"

"The only way that I'm leaving this place is if I'm forcibly removed" Vegeta said with a laugh "and you and I both know that there's no one here on this miserable planet who could perform the task. I'd rather destroy this house before I'd let anyone make me leave."

Bulma knew what he said was true. She didn't doubt that he meant exactly what he said but she didn't want to admit defeat. He had insulted her and eavesdropped on a private conversation and the smug expression on his face made it worse. He knew he had her up against the wall. She couldn't admit defeat now but she didn't know what to do. She was exhausted from physical, emotional and mental strain and she wanted to break down and weep but she wasn't going to give him the pleasure of seeing her cry.

Vegeta watched Bulma fight back her tears. He had already given vent to his anger and knew that nothing more needed to be said. Although he'd won this fight he couldn't help but admire her strength of will. She had a fiery temper and a stubborn desire not to accept defeat to rival any Saiyajins.

Suddenly an alarm went off breaking the silence.

"Thank Kami" thought Bulma "here's my chance to get out of this." "Out of my way" Bulma said as she ran past Vegeta and headed toward the lab.

Quickly she forgot about her tears and frustration as she looked at the monitor of the console in front of her.

"What does it mean?" she heard Vegeta's voice say from behind as she sat down.

After a brief sigh at not having actually lost him she explained. "My dad built this device to detect the entrance of any foreign body into the earth's atmosphere and this" she said pointing to the blip on the radar screen in front of her "entered the atmosphere 40 seconds ago."

"What is it?" Vegeta said leaning on the back of her chair.

"I can't be sure" Bulma said beginning her explanation " but I can say that its composition is metallic and judging by its trajectory and speed it's going to crash somewhere near here and it's going to be quite an impact."

Since Vegeta could care less about the calculations going on in the screen ahead of him he turned his attention to Bulma as she continued her explanation. "She looks attractive with the sparkle of excitement in her eyes," he thought, " Even though they are a little puffy from her hysterics from earlier they still look beautiful." His thoughts then drifted to a less agreeable subject, what he had heard Yamcha said earlier. "Damn, that Yamcha. Why did he notice me watching her? I don't watch her that often. Even so, I must be more careful not to admire her beauty when others are around. No one must be given any reason to believe I am growing soft enough to care for a weak Earth woman. She means absolutely nothing to me. "

Bulma got up startling Vegeta from his thoughts. "Well, she said, "I'm off." After seeing the bemused look on Vegeta's face she laughed. He didn't understand human figures of speech or customs very well. "It means I'm leaving," she explained.

"Leaving?" he said in surprise.

"Yes," Bulma began to answer now realizing his confusion was also due to the fact that he apparently hadn't been listening to her "to find out what that thing is."

"By yourself?" Vegeta questioned.

"Of course," Bulma answered defensively "you are not invited."

"I do not wish to come" Vegeta snapped, "I merely was surprised that you would be so reckless."

"Reckless!" she exclaimed feeling her anger begin to swell once more.

"Yes," said the Saiyajin Prince nonchalantly "I don't suppose it had occurred to you that the this object might be a spaceship of some kind with unfriendly occupants."

"Of course it has!" Bulma yelled although nothing could be farther from the truth.

"And yet you still wish to go alone?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes," she snapped back "how many times do I have to say it you stupid monkey!"

"Very well woman go," he yelled in answer as he stormed out of the room "you can rot in hell for all I care!"

Just as he left the room Bulma could hear the sound of the impact and a few seconds later the house was hit with the seismic disturbance created by it. Bulma stumbled to the machine to verify where exactly it had landed, grabbed the box containing her instruments and left on her quest to find the object.

 

Kami scratched his head thoughtfully as the young time traveler finished his explanation.

"I'm afraid I know of no way to find out what you ask," he said apologetically.

Trunks sighed, "Then my visit here was for nothing."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," said Kami with a small smile "I know of someone who probably can help you. However, I'm not making any promises."

"I understand," said Trunks. He watched in fascination as Kami began to talk out loud to the air. He seemed to expect someone named Kaio-sama to answer him.

"This is just great," thought Trunks "I just wasted my time talking to this nut."

"Hello Kami," a voice said out of nowhere startling Trunks.

"Yes, Kaio-sama" said Kami "there is a young man here who I think would benefit from your advice."

"Oh really," said the voice "Would that be you, sitting across the table from Kami?"

"Y-yes," Trunks finally began as the surprise began to ware off "My name is Trunks and I've come from the future."

"The future!" Kaio's disembodied voice said excitedly "can you tell me if Tokyo's baseball team ever comes out of its slump?"

"Huh?" exclaimed Trunks looking at Kami in confusion. Kami merely shrugged his shoulders.

"You don't know then?" Kaio-sama exclaimed disappointedly "I guess I'll have to wait and see for myself how the wager I made with Yehma came out. Now what can I do for you?"

"If you can't look into the future to see the track record of a baseball team I doubt you can help me" Trunks said obviously crestfallen.

"You never know until you ask, so ask away," Kaio-sama chirped happily.

"I came back here about a month ago and did something we, that is my mother and I, thought would change the future for the better" Trunks began "however, when I returned to my own time everything was the same as it was before."

"I see," said Kaio-sama "so you want to know why your future hasn't changed even though Goku will be here for the coming battle."

"Yes," Trunks said more than a little surprised that the owner of the voice seemed to know all about his activities.

"The reason is simple," Kaio-sama began "it is impossible to change the future. Once a path is taken it remains. What you have done has only created an alternate timeline. This timeline has branched off from the first and it now exists side by side with the original one. You could say it's something of a parallel universe."

"What?" Trunks cried in despair "There is no way to change the future? Everything we've done is in vain!"

Kami looked on with concern as the young man fought a tide of emotions.

"You may not be able to change your future" Kaio-sama said "but you now have an alternate future to choose from."

"What do you mean?" Trunks asked hopefully.

"I mean" Kaio-sama said, "You now can decide which future you wish to exist and erase the other."

"How can I do that?" Trunks said in a pleading tone.

"Before I answer that you must know this" Kaio-sama said "choosing your destiny is one thing but choosing the destiny of the entire universe is quite another. Anything that you may do to better your own situation may adversely affect someone else. You have no way of knowing if what you have done has had the desired effect or harmed those you intended to help or harmed others. No one can see the future and once one timeline has been erased you can never bring it back. You will only have one chance to erase a future so you must be certain your decision is for the best of the many and not the few."

"I know what you are saying to be true," Trunks answered "but any future is better than mine."

"Can you be sure?" Kaio-sama asked, "How do you know that the other future you created hasn't turned out to be worse than yours?"

"If the earth's forces defeat the androids then it can be nothing else but better," Trunks replied.

"What if they didn't?" Kaio-sama asked.

"Then there would be no use in choosing one future over another." Trunks answered, "I will do as planned, I will watch key events to be sure they remain the same and then I will see what the outcome of the battle is. If the earth's forces are victorious I will erase my future, if they are not I will not erase either."

"Very well," said Kaio-sama obviously pleased with his answer "to erase a future you must request a wish from the Eternal Dragon."

"What" Kami exclaimed, "If I have no control over time how can the Dragon have the ability to

grant such a wish?"

"The Dragon can only do for earth what is within the Dragon Ball's creator's power to do," Kaio-sama began "but it does not exist in your dimensional plane. When he is called he leaves his plane and travels to yours. The dimensional plane he is from can touch time itself and there he has no limitations to his power."

"Then," Trunks stated, "all I have to do is collect the Dragon Balls here and after I know the results of the battle I can make my wish."

"Yes" Kaio-sama stated, " I wish you luck on your quest."

"Thank you." Trunks said.

"I too wish you luck," said Kami "if there is anything I can do to assist you."

"There is one thing," Trunks said "when I gather the Dragon Balls can I leave them here?"

"Of course," Kami said.

"Thank you," Trunks said as he began to leave. As he climbed into the time machine once more he resolved to do whatever it took to give these people in the past victory so that he could erase his morbid future.

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Goku happily got another chopstick full of rice ready to scoop into his mouth when he was distracted by a loud bang.

"What was that?" Krillan, who was a guest in his home that afternoon, asked.

Goku, Chi Chi and Gohan looked questioningly at each other. Suddenly the room began to shake and Goku watched in despair as his shaking hand sent the rice flying everywhere, Chi Chi dropped the tea cup she was holding, Gohan dropped his bowl and Krillan ducked down to cover his head. Then the shaking stopped.

"Oh no, the lunch is ruined Chi Chi" Goku said in despair looking around at the food plates that had landed on the floor.

"I'm just glad that no one got hurt" Chi Chi replied "I can always go out and pick some food up."

"I wonder what it was," Krillan ventured as he sat up straight and looked around himself surveying the pictures and knick-knacks that the tremor had sent crashing to the floor as well.

"I'm going outside to see if I can find out what it was," said Gohan starting to run out.

"Oh Gohan be careful!" Chi Chi called after him. She then turned her attention to her husband "Goku you go out there and bring him back in! Who knows what's going on out there!"

"Sure Chi Chi" Goku said with one of his goofy smiles.

" Look at this mess," Chi Chi said looking from it to Krillan "it's a good thing I have help to clean it up."

"Uh," Krillan stammered backing his way to the door "I'm going out to look. See ya Chi Chi." With that he turned and ran out on Goku's heels.

Goku came out to see his son staring at a large cloud of dust and debris rising into the sky.

"What do you think it is Dad" Gohan asked "an explosion?"

"Maybe," he said "at least whatever it was happened in the wilderness. Chances are good that no one was hurt."

"Wow" Krillan said as he came up from behind "You don't suppose it's a spaceship do you?"

"You don't think the androids are here already do you?" Gohan asked worriedly.

"No" Goku assured him "they aren't due for quite a while yet."

"I don't feel any new Ki" Krillan added "so I don't suppose it's a fighter."

"Do you think we should check it out Dad?" Gohan asked.

"I'm not sure," he said scratching his head "I don't suppose that it would hurt though."

Suddenly, in the sky above them, was a flash of light accompanied by a loud crack. The three of them looked up and watched as the strange craft that had just appeared descended towards the earth and they felt the familiar Ki within.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 3