"We have to get to Goku before they do!" Krillin shouted. He flew over to Vegeta, who was pulling himself from the ground and tossed him a senzu. Vegeta took it with a glare, feeling his broken arm heal as he swallowed it.
Krillin shrugged, then flew over to Chibi who was still trying to revive Trunks. She had a few bruises herself. She shook his shoulder and tapped his face lightly, finally waking him up.
"Here miss, It's a senzu seed, it'll heal you." he said, breaking one of the seeds in half and giving both to her. She put one in Trunks' mouth, then swallowed the other half herself. She was shocked to find that it worked! She felt so much better! She had no bruises and she was full of energy!
Trunks stood up, sheathing his broken sword and sighing heavily. Vegeta glared in the direction of the androids, "Cowards! They left because they were afraid of me!" He turned Super Saiyan once more. Trunks saw what his father was about to do and bolted from Chibi's side, flying in front of his father, blocking his way.
"No! Stop! Stay here! Don't go after them!" Trunks tried to stop him.
"You expect me to wait for Kakkarott?" Vegeta sneered.
"Kakkarott? Oh you mean Goku! That's right, we need him for this battle! We're only strong enough if we all stay together!" Trunks pleaded.
Vegeta snickered, "Sure, let's wait for Kakkarott! I mean, wouldn't it be easier if we just joined up with the androids instead? He's history!"
Trunks clenched his jaw. Vegeta smiled, "now get out of my way before you get hurt!" He paused, "and let me finish them off, by myself, WITHOUT KAKKAROTT!!"
Trunks was getting stressed out, "You can't! If you face the androids alone you'll be killed for sure! You must listen to me! Stay here..." Trunks was cut off as Vegeta punched him hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He grinned cruelly, "Now stay out of my way!" he yelled as he flew off after the artificial humans.
Trunks held his stomach tightly, trying to force air back into his lungs. The other Z fighters, as well as Chibi flew over to see if he was okay.
"Trunks! Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" Chibi asked.
He looked up at her, clenching his teeth against the pain, "please, stop him! We have to wait until Goku gets better or we're all doomed! We must wait!" Chibi shook her head, "I'm sorry Trunks, he's already too far off, we wouldn't be able to catch up to him."
Piccolo spoke, "He may not be able to find them anyway. They have no
ki energy that he can sense. Just hope he doesn't run into them I guess."
*****************************************************************
Piccolo, Krillin, Trunks, and Chibi walked through the remains of Dr. Gero's lab. It was a mess after what the androids had done, but it was still worth a quick investigation before going back to get Goku.
"Hey guys, come here!" Krillin shouted to Trunks, Piccolo, and Chibi. He pointed to a large tube, filled with some kind of liquid. Floating in it was some kind of small life form that resembled a bug.
Trunks and Chibi were preoccupied. They had found the blueprints for androids #17 and #18. Hopefully if they took them to someone like Bulma, they could find a weakness or something helpful.
Piccolo interrupted Krillin with a ki blast, annihilating the tube and just about everything near it.
Krillin coughed and swatted the dust away. "Thanks a lot Piccolo, now we'll never know what it was! It said something about a cell on it. Maybe it was something that could have been used to help mankind!"
Piccolo snorted, "or destroy mankind." He pointed to the lab, "destroy it all. Trunks and that girl found the android's blueprints, that's all we need." He continued to throw small ki blasts, disintegrating everything in his way.
The others joined in, and soon there wasn't much left of the lab but ashes.
They bolted off into the sky and toward Son Goku's home.
****************************************************************
Trunks, Chibi, Piccolo, and Krillin arrived a short while later at the Son household. Bulma was already there, talking to Chi Chi about her most recent brush with death.
"By the way, how's Goku?" Bulma asked as they walked into the Son home.
Chi Chi looked worried. "I'm not sure. His fever finally broke and he's stabilized. It took us a while to find the medicine, but I gave some to both Goku and Yamcha." Chi Chi looked past Bulma, "You didn't tell me we were having guests! We haven't even been introduced!"
Chi Chi pushed Bulma aside. "Hi! I'm Chi Chi Son! You must be friends of Goku!"
Trunks and Chibi stood nervously. "I'm..." Chibi started to go into her speech, but Trunks shot her a ‘don't you dare' look. "I'm Shannon Tsukino, but please, just call me Chibi."
Trunks looked up to Mrs. Son, "Bulma probably told you about me. I'm Trunks. Listen Mrs. Son, we have to get Goku out of here. The androids are on the loose. Their prime directive is to kill Goku. If we don't move him, they're sure to come here."
Chi Chi nodded, "I understand. Be careful."
The group walked into Goku's room. Yamcha stood by the bed, making sure Goku remained in a stable condition. He looked up to see them all come in. His face was puzzled as he looked at Trunks and Chibi.
"It's you!" Yamcha pointed.
Trunks quickly shook his head, "No time! We have to move Goku now! Bulma, do you have a capsule big enough for us?"
"I think I might..." Bulma began, then ran out the door.
They carefully lifted Goku on a makeshift stretcher, then placed him on a large mat in the aircar Bulma had scrounged up. It was fairly spacious, meant for hauling cargo, and had two seats in the front. Bulma decided to go to Capsule Corp. and study the blueprints with Chi Chi, while the others kept Goku safe.
As most of the Z-fighters, excluding Vegeta, made themselves comfortable in the aircar, they were informed of the new situation. They sat in silence for a few moments.
Chibi sat near Trunks, who seemed to be having to hardest time dealing with it all. Krillin spoke up, "So, Trunks, how on earth did your mother, er, Bulma figure out how to build a time machine?"
"My mother?" Trunks seemed to get more distant as he remembered her, "You see, it was my mother's idea to send me back to the past. She didn't think there was anything more we could do to help the people in our world."
He paused, "but she knew there were others we could help. She wanted to make a better world, a peaceful world, free of the androids. I agreed with her that I should go back in time, but I had my own reasons for wanting to go. I hoped that in the past, with Goku's help I would find that the androids had some weakness. That way I could go back to the future, and even though I still wouldn't be able to bring back all of those already gone, I might be able to save the people who are left." Trunks seemed to slip into his memory. Chibi and the others saw a pained look on his face.
"Trunks? Trunks?!" Krillin called.
He brought his head up quickly, surprised, "Huh?!"
"Are you okay?" Krillin asked.
"You had us worried!" Chibi frowned.
Trunks shook his head and smiled once again, "oh, sorry about that..."
Chibi smiled back at him warmly and took one of his hands.
"Hello? Hey guys, we're back at Capsule Corp.! This is Bulma!" came a voice over the intercom. "Is Trunks there? I need to talk to him!"
"Yeah Bulma, I'm here!" Trunks called from the back of the van.
"Trunks, someone sent us a picture of your time machine. They said it was on their property and they wanted to know what it was. Did you leave it there?" Bulma sounded rather puzzled.
Trunks put a hand on his pocket and pulled out his box of capsules. He opened
it, each capsule in it's place, "no, I've got it right here with me..."
"I'm sending you guys a picture of it. Tell me what you think Trunks."
Bulma said cheerfully.
Trunks grabbed the faxed photo as soon as it came in. Chibi peered over his shoulder. "That's the time machine alright!" Chibi commented.
"Yes," Trunks agreed, "but look closely. It's so old looking. It's growing moss everywhere! That can't be the same time machine."
"Trunks, why don't you and that girl meet me over there. I'm sending the coordinates right now." Bulma's voice crackled over the radio.
"Sure thing, we'll be right there." Trunks replied.
"I'll come too!" Gohan interrupted.
Trunks nodded, "very well. I'm sure Goku will recover soon." he nodded to Piccolo and Krillin, who were sitting near the slumbering Goku.
**********************************************************
"Finally, you guys are here!" Bulma waved up at them from ground.
Trunks, Chibi, and Gohan landed softly on the ground. "So where is it?" Trunks inquired.
"Over here. See?" she lead them over to the rusting heap of metal that resembled the time machine.
Trunks walked cautiously over. He pressed his hand against the ragged, dusty metal. It was definitely the time machine. Old and battered yes, but there was no mistake. Trunks swallowed hard, a look of confusion on his face. Chibi's boots clacked softly as she took a look at the machine. She ran her gloved hand across the metal hull, revealing the same word as was written on the other time machine, "Hope!!" She blinked a few times, looking just as confused as Trunks.
"This is your time machine, isn't it Trunks? No one made another, did they?" Chibi kicked the ground nervously.
Trunks frowned, "no, only one."
Gohan's voice rang out from several yards away, "hey guys, check this out!"
Gohan was crouched next to what looked like a large dead bug. He pointed, "This isn't the only one either. Look, it's empty, like a shell."
Trunks reached his hand toward the shell, peering inside. "There's more?"
Gohan nodded, leading them a few feet further, "over here, and it's bigger!"
Bulma scratched her head, "it's almost like it's shed it's skin, whatever it is..."
Chibi hid behind Trunks, clinging onto his sleeve, "I HATE bugs..."
Bulma put a hand on her hip, "Well, whatever it is, it must have used the time machine to get here, and now it's getting bigger. I don't know how it got a hold of your time machine Trunks, but I would guess it's less than friendly... Let's head back..." she started.
Trunks nodded, "Maybe Krillin and Piccolo will know more about this. Let's see if we can at least meet up and let everyone know about this..."