~*****~

Goku floated out of the crater as we gathered closer. "How did you guys know I was gonna be here?" Goku asked curiously.

I jut my thumb at the man with snowy locks. "This guy. I think he's a fan of yours."

"Yeah, he knows all about you, Daddy!" Gohan exclaims.

Goku hummed in confusion. "But how?"

"He knew the exact time and place of your arrival, Goku." I explain.

"That's impossible!" Goku yelps. "We've never even met!"

"Well, he said that, too. He must've been tracking your ship in outer space, then." I hum.

"Really? I don't know... Frieza tried to do that. But I could sense his energy level as he passed me. But my gosh! What in the world happened here, you guys? Who defeated Frieza? You, Piccolo? Or was it you, Vegeta?"

"Neither of them," I shake my head. "It was this guy. And he did it with ease. He's a Super Saiyan, too!"

"What? A Super Saiyan? I can't believe it! That's outstanding!" Goku exclaims. "Can you imagine? A Super Saiyan at his age! Fantastic!"

"Hey! Aren't you forgetting something?!" Vegeta barked. "You, your son, and I are the only Saiyan's still alive!"

Goku hummed again. "Well, if he says he's a Super Saiyan, then that's good enough for me!"

I hum affectionately and reach up to pat Goku's head. "I missed that carefree attitude of yours!"

"Aw shucks, thanks, Mara!" Goku chirped.

Vegeta growled irritably as I pulled away from Goku. "Goku!" The Mystery Fighter exclaimed. "Could I have a word with you?"

"With me?" Goku asks.

"Yes. Just the two of us." Mystery Fighter nods.

"All right, then." Goku nodded.

"Hey! What exactly is this guy trying to say?!" Yamcha barked.

"It's okay, guys! I'll be right back!" Goku laughed.

"What do you think they're gonna talk about?" I ask Vegeta as I return to his side. He doesn't answer me. Vegeta keeps his gaze on the duo on the other side of the crater. "Hey, Piccolo, what are they saying?" I ask eagerly.

Piccolo smirks and doesn't respond. I whine irritably and cross my arms over my chest.

"What's going on, guys?! Goku has blond hair!" Bulma exclaimed as Goku powers up. His hair stands on end again like I'd seen on Namek. "How wild!"

"He just transformed into a Super Saiyan!" Gohan states.

"How can he generate that much power?!" Tien asked.

"I know, it's mind boggling! Goku's on fire!" Yamcha agreed.

I shudder happily. "God, that kind of energy never gets old." I hum as I rub at my arms. "It's always felt so warm!"

The Mystery Fighter transforms into Super Saiyan as well, and I think they're going to battle. "Man, look at those two! Hard core!" Yamcha barked again.

"What's that guy up to?" Tien asked.

I could hear Vegeta growling under his breath as he gazes at the taller Saiyan. The Mystery Fighter began his attack, swinging his sword faster than the eye could see. Goku stopped each strike with just one finger. After he had proved his point, the two had reverted back to their original forms.

"Blast you, Kakarot..." Vegeta growls angrily.

"Man, for two guys who don't know each other, they sure do talk a lot." Bulma mentions.

"Talking is better than fighting." I retort.

"At least he doesn't have his sword out anymore." Gohan mentioned.

"Yeah," I laugh. "And Goku put his finger away, too."

"Now what's the deal? They look like somebody died over there!" Yamcha stated.

"That guy just pointed that finger and Kakarot fell down!" Vegeta growled.

"He's laughing, though." I mention. Piccolo's expression catches my eye, and he's gazing at me skeptically. I hum irritably and furrow my eyebrows.

"I coulda sworn I heard him say Mara's name." Bulma mentioned.

I hum again. "Maybe it's because the mystery guy is a fan of me?" I remind her.

The Mystery Man leaves quickly. "Man! He didn't even say goodbye!" Yamcha barked.

We all rushed over to him. "Daddy!" Gohan cheered.

"What did he say?" I ask curiously as I grasp onto his sleeve. "C'mon, don't be secretive!"

"Oh, uh, well, nothing important, really." Goku stammers.

"That's funny. It all sounded pretty important to me." Piccolo retorted.

Goku whipped his gaze over to the Namekian. "Really? You heard it all?"

"My ears do more than frame my face, you know, Goku." Piccolo snaps.

"Why are you being so secretive!" I whine. "We're all dying to know!"

"Well, I can't really say." Goku explains.

"All right, that's fine. But if you won't, I will." Piccolo bites.

"But gosh, you heard him!" Goku quickly interjected.

"Don't worry, Goku. I won't say anything to endanger your friend. But we deserve a chance to change destinies!" Piccolo explains. "All of us! Not just him!" Piccolo went into full detail of conversation-- although, there were parts of it that were cut out. "And that's the story. In three years, all of us except Gohan are supposed to die in battle with the androids. But now that we know, maybe we can change that."

Yamcha shrugged. "What a kook! He's cracked! Don't you think?" Yamcha asked.

"I'm not so sure." Bulma responds.

"Look, believe what you want to believe. As for me, I want to live. So I'm going to train. You can risk it, but I'm going to be prepared." Piccolo explains.

"Look! There he is!" Yamcha barked.

We all gazed up at the machine he sat in. He waved swiftly before disappearing from sight.

"He's gone!" Krillen exclaimed.

"Yeah, back to the future." Piccolo nodded.

"It's still so strange that he looks so familiar..." I hum thoughtfully.

"Man, I'm going to train, you guys." Tien states.

"Me, too!" Yamcha agreed.

"Yeah, I am, too." Krillen adds.

I glance over at Vegeta, and he's deep in thought.

~*****~

"Sorry, guys. I guess all this trouble must have followed me home from Namek." Goku apologized.

"Tell me, Kakarot," Vegeta starts. "Exactly how did you escape from Namek anyway?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right!" Yamcha hummed. "Frieza's ship was wrecked, wasn't it? King Kai told us there was no way you could have survived when Namek exploded! We thought you were a goner! How did you get away?"

"Where there's a will, there's a way!" Goku chirped.

"There may have been a will, but we wanna know the way." I explain irritably.

Goku giggled. "Well, let's just say, it was a good thing that I was able to keep a clear head through it all!" Goku answered.

"Enough with the suspense already!" Vegeta barked. "Get on with the blasted story!"

"All right! Where was I?" Goku trailed off. "Planet Namek was just about to blow..." Goku went into detail about how he had escaped. "I had almost given up home... But at the last minute, I caught a glimpse of another ship!" Goku exclaimed.

"It was probably from one of the Ginyu Force." I hum thoughtfully.

"Whoever it belonged to, I knew it was my only chance, so I went for it! There was no time for me to plot a course, so I just fired up the engines and punched it! I made it off of Namek with only a couple of seconds to spare! The only problem was, I had no idea where I was going! The next thing I remember is crash landing on some strange planet light years away from Namek! It turns out, I'd landed on the Planet Yardrat, and the inhabitants were really friendly! They were kind enough to nurse me back to health, and they even repaired my spaceship! So, once I was strong enough to make the journey, I packed up and headed home!"

"That may explain where you've been for all this time, but there's still a few things I'd like to know. For starters... Where in the world did you get that absurd looking outfit?" Vegeta asked.

"I think it's cute!" I hum as I move around Goku to look at the whole outfit.

"Thanks, Mara!" Goku laughs. "But at least it isn't pink..."

"NEVER MIND!" Vegeta shouted. "Who cares about your stupid clothes, anyway! Now it's pretty obvious that you've been training! I want to see what you've learned!"

Goku hummed thoughtfully. "Now, where to begin..."

"Oh, yeah!" Krillen exclaimed. "I knew that Goku wouldn't come back empty handed!"

"Come on! Show us some new tricks, Goku!" Bulma exclaimed.

"All right, let's see if I can remember it now... How did it go again?" Goku trailed off. "It's not an easy trick to do. I like to call it, The Instant Transmission!"

"Ooh~" I coo.

"Hey! Come on! Let's see it!" Tien exclaimed.

"Okay, watch this!" Goku hummed. "All right, to begin with, I need to imagine a person. A person far away... Now, who should it be? Someone with a lot of life energy would be good. Now... Who's it gonna be? I got it-- Ready 3-2-1!" Goku's image flickered wildly before disappearing from sight.

"He's gone!" We all gasped.

And just as fast as he disappeared, he reappeared with a familiar pair of sunglasses on his face. Vegeta just scoffed. "So, what's so great about that? It's just super speed!" Vegeta claimed.

"Ta-Dah! Check it out!" Goku cheered as he adjusted the sunglasses.

"Those are Roshi's!" I exclaim.

"Yeah, they are!" Bulma agreed.

"But... that's impossible!" Yamcha stated. "Kame house is miles away from here, Goku! What's up?!"

"It's a secret." Goku chimed before holding the sunglasses out to Krillen. "Krillen, can I trust you with these?"

"Sure, no problem-o!" Krillen hummed as he put them on.

"Oh, man, now he's gonna get an attitude!" Bulma teased.

Goku laughed happily. "I'll say!"

"You look so handsome, Krillen," I add.

"Great... Now don't you think we ought to talk about some other things... Like androids?" Tien asked.

"Androids!? Gosh! I guess I almost forget about them!" Goku admitted bashfully.

I sigh happily. "It's a breath of fresh air~ You haven't changed a bit."

Goku giggled. "On May 12th, three years from now, on an island, nine miles southwest of South City at Ten O' Clock in the morning, two killer androids will arrive--" Piccolo started to explain.

"Okay, okay! Enough! Just joking!" Goku stammered. "We all remember!"

"So, what you're saying is, we should keep that day open, huh?" Krillen asked.

"This one could get a little rough. So you'll have to decide if you're in or out! When the time comes, you won't be able to hide behind those sunglasses!" Piccolo stated.

"Yeah, that's for sure." Yamcha laughed.

"Piccolo, I can get you a pair if you want. You're acting real jealous right now." I mention impishly.

"I'M NOT JEALOUS!" Piccolo roared at me

"Now hold on, I don't remember putting you in charge of this operation." Vegeta snapped at Piccolo.

"Are you challenging me, Vegeta?" Piccolo snarled.

"Oh, stop it," I reach up and tug at Vegeta's hair. "You're riling him up unnecessarily."

"Don't cross me, Vegeta." Piccolo growled.

"Or what?" Vegeta retorted angrily, his grasp catching my hand and pulling it away.

"Hey, hold on. I just had a great idea... I know of a way we can save Earth and not fight! Get rid of Dr. Gero!" Bulma states. "Here's what I think we should do: Use the Dragon Balls to summon the Dragon, and he'll tell us where the doctor is. We take out the doctor and all of our problems are solved! Ya get it?"

"That's great! In fact, Bulma, I'm surprised I didn't think of that before you did! I mean, who wants to wait around for three years, anyway?" Krillen stammers.

"By the time we found the Dragon Balls, it would be too late, you dope!" Vegeta shouted. "Leave the great ideas to the great minds like my own!"

I slap at his arm. "Don't be rude." I snap at him. "Most of the ideas you've had lately have been kind of awful."

"Goku, you're with me, aren't you?" Bulma asked.

"Wow, I can't believe it, but I guess I have to side with Vegeta." Goku hummed. "Besides, Dr. Gero hasn't made the androids yet, so he hasn't done anything wrong. Well, we'll just have to wait."

"But that boy said those androids were strong enough to wipe us all out." I remind him. "Why do you want to rush off and meet them head on?! Think about it! You don't want to fight them!"

"No, we don't. But it looks like we have to." Tien sighs. "So, what about you two? Are you with us?"

Yamcha nodded sullenly. "We're... done for..." Bulma sighed.

"Yeah, that's it. I know what we have to do! I'm in!" Krillen exclaimed. "Even though the odds are against us and will seriously cut into my social life!" He hums in a weird tone. "Y'know what I'm sayin', Goku?" Goku laughs at his friend. "Think about it! We're a lot stronger together than we are apart! And together, we'll have no problem beating those androids, right? Yeah, Bulma, your idea was good in theory, but maybe you ought to rethink your position on this one."

"What are you saying?!" Bulma growled. Krillen gestured her over and began whispering furiously to her.

"I get it! You're saying you don't want to get beaten up!" Gohan exclaimed.

"Gohan, cool it! You're crampin' my style!" Krillen scolded him.

"What a dweeb! As for the rest of us, don't come crying to me when those androids take over the Earth and enslave everybody because I'll just say I told you so!" Bulma barked.

"Then it's settled! We'll all fight in this together!" Goku chimed.

"Well, aren't you the great general rallying his troops." I hum irritably. "Not likely. You're basically the cheerleader."

"Boys will always be boys." Bulma snapped.

"Great!" Goku disregrads us. "We'll meet here... In three years at 9 A.M. on May 12th! And if you don't think you can handle it, then don't bother showing up! Got it?"

"Kakarot!" Vegeta snapped. "I want you to know just because we've agreed to fight together this time, I don't want you to start thinking anything has changed between us! Listen, when this is over, we'll meet to settle the score!"

"Sure!" Goku nodded eagerly.

Vegeta shot an irritated glare at Tien before looping his arm around my waist and tugging me to his side. I hum in appreciation before he takes off.