ADVENTURE

Everyone was still stunned with silence as they stared at the photo of the second time machine on the computer screen

"I'm sure this is the same time capsule we used to travel to the past with" Trunks finally spoke

Kairi frowned "This is so weird"

"Krillin ask her if she knows where this is" Rikun turned to him

"Hey Bulma, listen this capsule? Where did you say it was?"

"Umm, Well i'm not sure exactly but it looks like it's somewhere in the west 10-50 area. Are you going?"

"Yes" Trunks nodded "I've got to check this out"

"I'll come with you" Rikun got up from the chair he had been sitting on

"Alright then, i'm going too i'll meet you there!"

"Huh?!" Bulla's eyes widened

"Do you think that's safe?" Kairi asked

"Remember, mother always knows what's best"

"Are you absolutely positive your time machine is one of a kind?" Raditz asked them

"Yes, i'm sure of it"

"Why don't one of you wear one of these then" Bardock handed Rikun an updated version of a scouter

Rikun took it from him "Why? We can already sense power levels?"

"The updated version allows others too see what you see through a small camera" Vegeta explained to him

"Oh, cool" Bulla smiled helping Rikun put it around his ear "We'll be able to talk to them too right?"

"That's right"

"Make sure to be careful guys" Kairi reminded them

"Don't worry we'll be just fine" Trunks nodded to her before both he and Rikun took off to the nearest teleporters

"So then how are my two favorite love birds doing huh?" Bulma's mother asked two birds in a cage as she watered some plants in her garden

Bulma opened the door behind her "Hey mom i'm going to go out for a while, can you watch Trunks and Bulla for me?"

"Well i guess so where you going sweetie?"

"No where really i just got to go meet with Trunks and Rikun" She winked before closing the door

Bulma's mother's eyes widened in surprise

Trunks and Rikun had been teleported to a country area close by to the 10-50 area they wanted to go too, now that the teleporters had been upgraded too they could be moved to anywhere on the planet they wanted to go and not just to West City or the Ox-Kingdom

After a few minutes of flying Trunks checked his watch for their GPS coordinates "Ok we're coming over west section 10-50" he yelled to Rikun

"Let's check it out" He said before they both flew in different directions to cover more ground. Trunks took to the grounds going through a number of tree's only seeing a couple of animals as he flew, Rikun went higher into the air to see if he could see anything from above turning his head from side to side

"You guys scanning for anything strangle out here?"

"Yes, were scanning through your scouter, up to 50 miles around you" Bulla answered

"Ok"

"Go towards your left were picking up some radiation coming from that direction" Radtiz told him

"On it" He flew down to tree top level looking through the fields of trees then moved further in until he moved higher up and caught a glimpse of something yellow, he set his gaze on it and moved in it's direction until he saw he had found the time machine "That's it!"

"Alright, Call Trunks so you can both investigate it" Kairi told him

"Trunks!I found it" He yelled out

Trunks turned from the way he was flying when he heard Rikun calling him

"Come on it's down here!" He called once he saw Trunks coming and landed beside the machine with Trunks a few seconds later

"That's it alright" Trunks nodded to him

The both of them heard the sound of an aircraft so they turned to see a capsule plane coming in their direction

"I'll bet you that's Bulma" Rikun smirked to him "I'll go get her" He told him before flying off

Trunks then turned to the time machine looking it over as he waited for Rikun to come back with the past version of his mother

"Hello down there!" Trunks looked up to the sky from where he was sitting to see Bulma in her aircraft with Rikun next to her coming to land "Hi Trunks, i'm back did you miss me?" She asked jumping down from the plane

"I-I guess so"

"That's some way to greet your mom" Rikun whispered as he pasted him with a smirk

"I know right?" Bulla smiled

"So tell me what do you think of the younger version of your mother, pretty cute huh?" Bulma asked causing Trunks to blush

Rikun could hear most of the group laughing at his embarrassment through his scouter

"Well i'd say you really haven't changed that much"

She blinked with surprise "You mean then, i'll keep my girlish looks for at least another 10 years oh this is great!" She squealed

"GET ON WITH IT WOULD YOU!" Vegeta yelled causing Rikun to cringe

"Ok!" Rikun yelled "So anyway..." He motioned over to Trunks

Trunks fished into his jacket pocket again "Look at this" He got out their time capsule and threw it to the ground after pushing the button, after the smoke cleared up there was the four new passenger version of the time machine they used to bring Rikun and Kairi with them this time "As you can see this is the time capsule we used to travel back here in"

"Which means the other time capsule isn't yours after all" Bulma concluded

"They're both ours, remember we said we only managed to make one time machine in the future"Rikun reminded them after getting a better look at the old time capsule

"How are you guys so sure?" Yamcha asked

"The two capsules you see here, they're actually one in the same" Trunks walked over to the second time machine

"I don't get it" Bulma put her hand to her chin

"Here look at this" Trunks scrapped off some of the moss from one of the rockets on the time machine until he revealed something spelled right across it

"Hmmm, H-O-P-E? Hope?" Bulma asked

"Oh yeah, You wrote it just before Trunks and I left fromt he future the first time" Bulla's voice came over the scouter

"Yes, and you'll find the exact same thing written on that other capsule" Rikun nodded over to their capsule

"But then, What happened here?" Bardock asked "That other capsule looks to have been there for quite a while and you only arrived here in a four passenger capsule a few hours ago"

Trunks and Rikun flew up to the seats to get a better look at the burned glass ceiling

"It was melted" Rikun felt along the edge of it

"At the angle of the burns, it looks like the blast came from the inside" Vegeta thought

"I don't think that was done by energy though" Krillin narrowed his eyes at it

"What do you mean?"

"I think he means that if an energy blast had done that it would have sent the glass shattering not melting it" Raditz explained

"That looks like it was done by some kind of acid" Kairi said

"Why would someone want to do that? there's a button right here to raise the lid" Rikun frowned

"So what do you think made that big hole guys?" Bulma asked

"Honestly i wish i knew" Trunks muttered "Let me check something, get back Rikun" He pushed the button on the outside to raise the lid, you could hear the machine power up a bit but i seemed to struggle to bring the lid up

"I didn't think that would work" Bulla muttered

Trunks jumped in to the front seats only to see something lying on them, he blinked with confusion before picking it up, he then turned to see one was also in the back seats and picked that one up too "What are these?" he stood up with both in each hand, they looked like purple spiked bowls with a yellow edge

"What in the world are those?"Rikun frowned at them

"They're nothing i've ever seen before" Vegeta frowned at the sight of them

"Me either" Raditz turned to a computer to try to look up anything that could possibly look like that

"They look like turtle shells" Krillin blinked

"Hey let me have a look" Bulma called up to them, Rikun brought them both down to her, she looked at the both of them and put them together to form a sphere shape before taking them apart again and looking on the inside of one of them

"Well, What do you think?" Rikun asked

She put them back into a sphere shape "My guess is, maybe they're like egg shells or something"

"Egg shells?"He asked"

"They're not any kind of egg shells i've ever seen" Kairi said

"What would come out of a shell like that?" Yamcha asked

"There's nothing in any of our databases that looks like that" Raditz told them

"Wait a minute!" Rikun's eyes widened looking back up to the hole in the lid that Trunks was looking at too, getting a close look they saw what appeared to be claw marks on the edge

"Hey, maybe whatever hatched out of that egg made that hole int he capsule" Krillin concluded

Trunks sat down in the front seat and began typing away on the computer "It looks like there's not much energy left in here, i better work fast" he looked at three sets of numbers on the screen as it blinked to keep going

"What is he doing?" Yamcha asked

"I think he's checking to see the date when the capsule arrived" Bulla leaned forward in her chair

"That's right, and i think i just found out...it looks like it was 3 years ago"

"What?!" Rikun's eyes widened

"Huh?" Bulma asked

"No wait, it came here four years ago, that just might explain a few things"

"Wait, your saying that by the time we battled frieza 3 years ago, whoever used this other time machine had already been here for a year?!" Bulla got up from her chair in shock

"Is it possible that this person is the one that changed history?" Kairi looked to Bulla for answers

"There can't be any other explanation"

18 sat backwards in her passenger seat looking at 16 as he sat on the floor int he back "I don't understand how 16 can be so calm right now. It's been hours since he said anything let alone opened his eyes, you'd think he'd be excited that we're on our way to Kakarrot's palace right now but instead he just sits there like a rock"

17 glanced at her "Leave him alone 18, 16 is just focused on fighting Kakarrot, now relax we'll be in the next town soon. You'll finally be able to find some new clothes there"

"Oh. excellent i can't wait to get out of these old rags. You think you can drive a little faster?"

"Yeah" He pressed down harder against the gas petal

"Well, i guess that proves i'm a genius after all eh boys?" Bulma asked "Imagine me building a time machine in the future" she smiled at her excellence

"Actually most of the time traveling stuff you got from one of Uncle Kakarrot's old journals, Aunt Chi Chi had been going through his stuff when she found some of his research on grasping the 4th dimension and you just picked it up from where he had left off" Kairi burst her bubble smirking when her smile dropped

"I didn't even know he was researching into time travel" Raditz blinked

"I don't think he is in this time but in ours i guess he just got the idea too"

"Don't worry you still made the machine and the schematics" Trunks assured her

"I don't think it's such a good idea to leave the time machine out here in the open guys" Rikun walked up to it "We better put it back into it's capsule" He scrapped off some more of the moss and pushed a button to make it turn into it's capsule form

"I got our time machine" Trunks put their own time machine back into it's capsule then put both into the case in his jacket pocket

"I'll take the weird egg shell things with me if that's ok with you" Bulma asked

"Sure, go for it" Trunks nodded

"Um guys we're picking up some kind of weird shape on the radar close by you" Bulla called out

"What?" Rikun lifted an eyebrow

"Well the radar is picking up something. There was a strangle tunnel made just beneath the time capsule that looks to have been grown over and whatever made that tunnel seems to have come out a few feet the the right of you" Bardock explained

Trunks turned to his fight and got a glimpse of something that was a dark brownish color, "I think i see it" then began walking towards it with Rikun

"Wha-what do you see?" Bulma began hiding between the two hybrids

"Be careful"

The two came to a stop as they looked over the edge of a small cliff and saw a giant bug looking creature, they all gasped in shock when they saw it

"That thing is disgusting" Bulma shrieked

Rikun and Trunks stepped close to inspect it

"Yeah but what is it?" Trunks asked

"I've never seen anything like that" Yamcha eyes widened at the size of it

"Do you think it's dead?" Bulma asked from behind Trunks

Rikun tapped it with his finger "Look's like whatever this thing was crawled off after it shed it's skin"

"Shed it's skin?" Vegeta asked

"Do you think it might have been some kind of giant cicada?" Bulma looked up to the two of them

"I don't think so, not thing thing" Rikun got down on his knee to get a look at it's face "Right, Trunks"

He nodded "This might be what hatched out of the egg we found in the time capsule"

"I think you're right. it must have grown up and then molted out of it's skin" Bardock nodded in agreement

"What do you mean? That some kind of monster shed it's skin and now it's lurking around the countryside?" Bulma asked

"I'm not sure, i've never seen anything like that, even on all the planets i've been through and there's nothing in the database about that" Raditz turned from the computer coming up with no matches

"But what i want to know is how did i get here in the first place? Did someone send the egg back from the future or did someone come back in the time machine along with it?" Kairi asked

"Regardless of where it came from, it's completely revolting" Trunks got a look inside the skin and reached his hand into it when his hand reached something gooey and slimy "Ah! Ewww" He took his hand back out to see it was covered in pink slime "It's still wet, this thing must be somewhere close"

Bulma gasped looking to each side for it

"Be on guard!" Vegeta advised them

Trunks and Rikun looked around them and sensed for anything stronger than your average animal until they heard something russel in the bushes behind them causing Bulma to scream and then run off, The hybrids turned in the direction they heard the sound come from and got into their fighting stances "Do you see anything on your end guys?" Rikun asked

"Don't worry guys, it's only a couple of squirrels" Bulla assured them

"Huh?" Trunks lifted an eyebrow then turned back to the spot seeing some squirrels poke their head out of the bushes so relaxed

"There's nothing within a 50 mile radius around you so it must have moved on from that area" Vegeta told them

"But hey why don't you get a sample of that slime in the shredded skin and maybe the labs here can run an analysis on it and find out what that thing is" Bulla told them

"That's a good idea" Krillin nodded

"I gotta stick my hand back in there?" Trunks cringed

"Rikun can do it this time"

"What! No way!"

"Oh man up bro"

Rikun groaned before heading over to the skin, Trunks smirked behind him "I'll go make sure mom's ok"

Bulma sat down in her hovercraft with her hat back on, she looked warily up at Trunks and Rikun "Ok guys just to be sure something's out there isn't it?"

"Right" Trunks nodded

Bulma tried to keep a brave face but was failing miserably "The i guess i should go cause i don't want to get in the way, If anything happens call me at Capsule Corp. or ahh i'll call you at the command center"

"She's bugged out isn't she?" Rikun muttered

"Oh and Trunks don't be a stranger and visit sometime, your grandparents would love to meet you and Bulla" Bulma said before she flew off in her hovercraft

"We should be heading back too" Trunks looked to Rikun before they headed back to the nearest teleporter, probably in the 439 mountain area in Raditz's home

"I wish i knew what on earth was going on around here" He sighed

"Maybe you should put an alert out to the soldiers on earth, tell them to keep a look out for anything out of the ordinary" Bulla looked to Bardock

"That's a good idea" Bardock nodded before heading out of the room

"We should take that sample you got straight to the lab when you guys get back ok" Kairi told them

"We'll be there as fast as we can" Rikun told her before both of them powered up and few faster to the mountain area

Kami starred down at earth from his place on the edge of the lookout "These new developments are most unsettling Mr. Popo"

"Yes, Kami"

Piccolo continue to sit cross legged on the ground behind them "Haven't you gotten tired of standing there yet? You're just wasting your time you know, you can watch events unfold as long as you like it won't change anything we're still going to have to combine our powers to fight the androids"

"For the last 4 years i have felt a terrible disturbance taking place on the earth below. A great evil, but i'm afraid it wasn't the androids that i sensed"

"Huh?" Piccolo turned to him

"There is another threat, a vile creature that will prove to be 100 times for lethal and cunning than even the androids

Piccolo got up from the ground and walked over to him "What are you talking about you explain yourself right now do you hear me?" He grabbed kami's shoulder

"I'm sure the day will come when i give up being gaurdian of the earth, then and only then can we ever unite as one" Kami turned and shook Piccolo off of him "Piccolor we will wait for this new evil to surface and you will trust me i know what is best for the earth but until i know exactly what we're dealing with, i cannot make my decision"

Bulma was listening to the radio while she was piloting her hovercraft back to West City when the music was cut off by some breaking news

"And now Channel 8's continuing coverage of the disaster in Ginger Town, to recap the situation all activities in the town came to screeching halt this morning when the entire population mysteriously vanished into thin air, people are at a loss to explain the sudden disappearance of Ginger Town's inhabitants, and so far contacting anyone within the city has so far come unanswered"

She frowned as she listened "Ginger Town huh?"

"We'll bring you the latest reports live as we investigate the crisis in Ginger Town

She gasped once she finally realized something "Ginger Town isn't far from where we found that time machine" she narrowed her eyes "Hmm, i wonder?"

"Make sure to send us the results once you have them" Vegeta advised the scientists after Rikun has handed them two vials, one of the pink slime and the other of some of the skin he had scrapped off

"Yes sir" He nodded before heading off

"How long do you think that's gonna take?"Bulla asked

"And hour at the most" Raditz told her

"But for now we need to focus on finding that creature, whatever it is i don't think it's here to do any good" Trunks frowned at the picture of the creature on the computer screen in front of him

"How do you think it got to the time machine in the first place? Do you guys keep it in some kind of garage in your time or something?" Krillin asked

"No, one of us always has it in capsule form with us to protect it" Kairi frowned

"So either this thing stole it from you or..." Yamcha stopped before he said what else he thought might have happened to a future version of them

"Or killed us and took it" Rikun sighed

"Do you think this has anything to do with our current situation with the androids and drones?"Bardock asked coming back from giving orders to all of the soldiers on earth to be on the look out for a creature that didn't belong on earth or vegeta

"Who knows, things aren't playing out like they should have" Trunks shrugged

"Commander Bardock sir" a technician got their attention "You have a call coming in from your wife"

"What?" Bardock's eyes widened thinking Kakarrot's condition had worsened "Put her through!"

"Yes, Sir"

"Do you think something happened to Kakarrot?" Raditz asked

"That heart virus has never infected a saiyan, who knows what kind of things it could be doing to him"

"Gine, is everything alright?" Bardock asked once they connected to his house phone

"Have Trunks and Rikun gotten back yet?"

He turned his attention to the two seeing them both with confused faces "Yes they're right here, but are you alright you sound in distress"

"Listen you need to connect to Earth's television network and turn on the news! Bulma called the house and told me to contact you and tell you what was going on! We're watching it right now and you need to see this!"

"Ok hold on" Bardock turned to one of the technicians "Can you turn on Earth's news network on the front screen, my wife says we need to see this" They nodded and began typing away on the computers

"What's going on?" Krillin asked

"I thought they were just covering the drone situation on the news"

"Bulma apparently called he house and told them to contact us to see something" Bardock explained

The front screen was as large as the wall and everyone in the room turned to it to see a tv host in a green suit with some papers in his hand talking

"Well, it look's like we have more news on the crisis in Ginger Town, our latest reports say that there are no signs of life anywhere however it seems the clothing of the victims has been discovered throughout the city, wait our Channel 8 reporter has just arrived at the scene"

Everyone was watching with interest now finding it weird that an entire population just disappeared

"What is going on?" Raditz muttered

The scene on the screen changed to a man in a yellow jacket holding a microphone "I'm reporting live from downtown Ginger Town and the entire place is completely deserted, all of the 15,000 residents have suddenly disappeared

"15,000?" Hasky's eyes widened as they watched the news from Bardock and Gine's living room Tv

"Piles of garments lie scattered across the city, as though these people were sucked right out of their clothes" The picture changed to a park with clothes across the grass "It look's as though these people were trying to defend themselves against someone or something"

"Oh dear Kami" Chi Chi put a hand to her mouth

"Man, this is bad" Chidori glared at the screen

"It's the androids right? They must have done this!" Gohan yelled

"I don't think so Gohan" Trunks's voice came over the still connected phone line "And i have a feeling everyone here is going to agree with me right?"

"It must have been that creature" Rikun concluded

"Wait what creature?" Leslie asked

"We'll send Yamcha and Krillin over to explain"

"Good, you guys better not leave us out of the loop" Turlus growled

The group continued to watch the news coverage when they suddenly heard screaming coming from further into Ginger Town over the news, the reporter turned to the direction the screaming was coming in "Oh the humanity, as you can hear the city's not deserted after all" then another sound came over the speakers, it sounded a lot like gun shots "Now i can hear shot's, it sounds like machine gunfire coming from further into the city but i can't make out who's doing the shooting

Then all the screaming and shooting stopped all together "And the commotion seems to have calmed down once again" the reporter turned back to the camera and his eyes widened in shock

"Huh?" They all moved forward as if they were about to rush in the help

The cameraman must have dropped the camera because they only got a view of the everyone's feet and heard the reporter scream before the connection died

Kami turned from where he was standing and walked over to the edge of the lookout and began shuttering with either fear or anxiety

"What is it? Tell me what's happening down there" Piccolo demanded

"Yes please tell us" Mr. Popo encourage him

"It's awful, even worse than i feared"

Piccolo's eyes widened "What? What do you mean? You're not making any sense, explain yourself!"

Kami only starred down at earth in complete shock

Everyone in the command center looked at the now black and white screen after the news line went dead

"What happened" Rikun's eyes were still widened

"Quick turn it to another news network!" Vegeta ordered the technicians

After a minute they turned back to the screen, the camera for this channel was on it's side pointing to a park but they could hear the sounds of gunshots once again they also saw a green shoe, a microphone that the reporter had been holding, and a grey suit lying on the street. The gunshots stopped once again

"I-It sound's like it's over" Kairi sighed in defeat

Kami turned away from the earth with anguish

"You old fool you actually enjoy keeping me in suspense like this don't you!" Piccolo yelled "I want you to tell me exactly what's going on down there! Start talking!"

"No i won't" Kami turned to him

"Look old man i have no intention of asking you again, now i need to know what's happening on earth"

"Yes, but telling you is pointless now"

"What? Why"

"Because when you and I become one you will know for yourself everything that's happened"

Both Piccolo's and Mr. Popo's eyes widened

"No, Kami"

Piccolo smirked "So you finally come to your senses i was beginning to wonder how much longer i'd have to wait"

Kami walked up to him "You must hurry before there are anymore victims on earth"

"I'm ready but let's get one thing straight, when we combine we use my body understand?"

"Agreed it shall be so, you body is much stronger and more powerful, i understand. Our union will make you more powerful and you will obtain my vast knowledge, i hope you will use these new powers wisely" The both of them stood in silence across from one another for a long moment "For our merger to transpire place your hand upon my chest"

Piccolo placed his hand on the symbol on Kami's chest

"Uh no Kami no!" Mr. Popo begged

"There is nothing to worry about Mr. Popo, alone i can do little to help those on earth, the time is right, Piccolo has changed, the evil that once filled his entire being has greatly diminished and when we unite i trust he will use our combined strength in the power of good"

"No, please" Mr Popo began to shed tears

"I thank you for all that you have done Mr. Popo" Kami closed his eyes and after concentrating his power he let out a yell and began to glow i light blueish color causing the wind around them to surge, piccolo began to scream too and after a large burst of light everything stopped

Mr. Popo shielded his eyes from the large light and once he felt everything stopped he looked to see Piccolo absorbing some blue energy, Piccolo stood back upright feeling the power he now possessed, flexing his muscles before heading over to to the edge of the lookout

"Please be careful my friend Kami, I'll miss you" Mr. Popo muttered

"No longer am I Kami or Piccolo i am the namek who has long since forgotten his name" He got to the edge then flew off past Korin's tower, Korin watched as Piccolo flew off into the distance

"Goodbye old friend" Korin thought

"We are still attempting to reconnect live via our satellite with our correspondent in Ginger Town but at last word it seems he too may have become a victim"

"So it's some kind of creature that's causing all of this?" Turlus asked once Yamcha and Krillin arrived to update them on the situation

"Yeah Trunks, Rikun, and Bulma found it's shell near the time capsule" Krillin nodded as he sat backwards on one of the kitchen chairs

"What do you think it is?" Chidori asked

"Who knows right now, Rikun got a few samples from it and sent it to the lab, now we're just waiting on the results" Yamcha sat on the couch next to Hasky while she continued to watch the news coverage of everything going on on earth

"Has my uncle done anything to protect earth's population from this new threat?" Turlus asked

"Yeah he's sending a few soldiers there to investigate, Trunks, Bulla, Rikun, Kairi, Vegeta, and Raditz are going to check it out too"

"Are you sure that's safe?" Leslie asked

"The command center will be monitoring everything that's happening from some scouters they were wearing and some soldiers will be meeting them there so don't worry"

"We need to help them though" Gohan got up from where he was sitting on the floor

"What?!" Chi Chi yelled "Oh no you're not, aren't you forgetting about your father, he's more important than some dumb creature" She pointed to the stairs where Gine had gone up once a doctor had arrived to check Kakarrot's condition

"But mom, If there's some big fight they'll need all the help they can get"

"Enough, you're staying right here young man"

"No, I'm going"

"Relax kid, they have tones of soldiers and super saiyans coming they already have the best we've got out there" Turlus reminded him

"You can turn Super Saiyan too can't you?" Leslie asked

"I can but only for a short while why?"

"Well like you just said they're going to need all the help they can get back on earth don't waste time babysitting us go where you're needed"

"She's right, we'll stay here and protect them" Yamcha nodded

"Alright"