Toronipsu gazed down at the unconscious boy's face, his arms folded across his chest, his expression contemplative.  <He looks so familiar...  Where could I have seen him before?>

He and his chosen team had only just landed on their designated planet when their scouters had picked up some power readings that were unusually high for the inhabitants of this particular world.  A fact which was perfectly understandable in that they had not been natives, but rather offworld mercenaries who had fled at the first sign of the Saiyajins' presence.

<Who employed them?  What were they after?>  These questions were foremost in Toro's mind as he watched over the stranger they had found abandoned by the mercenaries.  He was the only possible source for answers, now.  <Who exactly is he?  Was he one of them?  If so, then why did they leave him behind?>  Toro frowned.  <And why does he look so familiar to me?>

He crouched down to push straying strands of the long pale hair away from the boy's face, his eyes flicking over the rest of the youth's frail body.  <Whoever he is, he doesn't look well.  Perhaps they abandoned him for that reason.>

The presence of the mercenaries was somewhat annoying.  It wasn't a real hindrance, as even the weakest of the Saiyajin he had brought with him would be capable of taking out the entire band if they became troublesome.  It did however make him pause to consider their purpose here.  There was nothing for them to gain on this planet, short of taking hold of the entire planet as Toro himself intended to do.  <Somehow I don't think that that possibility is very likely.>  He snorted at the thought.  <But what were they doing here?>

"Toronipsu-sama!"  One of the warriors who had pursued the mercenaries knelt before him, head bowed.  <Looks like they got away.  Idiots!>  Toro rose from his crouch to look down upon the warrior.  "Report!"  he ordered crisply.

"They had a spaceship waiting not far from here.  They were prepared to make a fast escape."

"And you let them do just that."

The warrior's head snapped up, and Toro could see the black eyes all but spitting sparks from the anger and hatred they contained.  "We tried our best - !"

"You did indeed, didn't you?  But on whose behalf I wonder?"  Toro prodded unmercifully.

The warrior's face twisted with rage and fury - but beneath those two overlying emotions Toro could detect just the faintest evidence of shock.  Shock that he had been found out.  <Damn it!  I knew one would slip past!>

The Saiyan warrior surged up from his kneeling position, preparing to strike out at his young commander.  <Pity for him he doesn't know me well,> Toro smirked as he watched the incoming blow.

"DIE!"  The warrior yelled as his blow -

- didn't land.  Toro was gone.

<Face it, fool - I'm too fast for you!>  Toro reappeared behind and slightly above his attacker, knocking him out with a casually delivered kick.  <And I bet that you won't even know what hit you!>  The unconscious warrior's body hit the ground with a thump, Toro landing noiselessly beside it.  Around them  the other Saiyajin looked on in interest.

"Confine this traitor in a holding cell for the moment,"  Toro ordered.  "I believe that Prince Vegeta will be most interested in what he has to say."

Two of his warriors grinned at the remark as they moved to comply with the orders.  Toro flicked his gaze around the rest of his men.  A new respect could be seen in their eyes for their commander.  <Hmph.  I may be young, but Nappa was right.  I'm better than they are - and now I've proven it to them.  That lunkheaded traitor was one of the best fighters among this lot, and I defeated him easily!>

"Shall we proceed with the plans for acquisition of this planet, Toronipsu-sama?"  One of the warriors inquired.

"No,"  Toro informed them, after a moment's consideration.  "I want you to examine the entire planet for any other signs of alien presence.  If you find any, report to me here at once.  Leave the natives alone for the moment.  We'll have plenty of time to deal with them once we have ascertained that this is not some attempt at a trap.  Now go; and don't come back until you have confirmed that there are no other aliens on this planet besides us."

The warriors saluted briskly, before dispersing obediently.  <As well they might show obedience!  I didn't kill that traitor - but saving him for the Prince is a much worse fate, and they all know it!  Vegeta does not like it when his warriors turn out to be supporting his father instead of him, although that's not so much of a problem these days.  Most of the infiltrators have been discovered over the years, and the only new warriors we get are those bred from our own tanks.  Most of them are still too young to be proper warriors, though, but the eldest are only a couple of years younger than me!.>

"Toronipsu-sama?"  The voice interrupted his thoughts.  The two Saiyajin who had been incarcerating the traitor were back.

"Nani?"

"Do you want us to guard him?"  The Saiyajin gestured to where they had placed one of the pods they had arrived in.  A few quick modifications had turned the travel pod into a holding cell, capable of withstanding almost any attempt by its occupant to escape.  Such readily transportable cells had been developed from necessity during the early years after the Prince had broken away from his father...

<I doubt it would be able to hold Vegeta or Nappa, but it'll take care of that traitor without any problems.>

"No.  Join the others."

Within seconds they were gone, and Toro was standing in the middle of the small clearing, alone save for the captive traitor and the pale-haired boy.

<Now let's see what he has to say for himself...>  He walked over to the boy, nudging him with his foot.

No response.

A swift kick gained the same lack of results.

<Hmm, he's really out of it.>  Toro pried the boy's eyelids open, revealing a pair of unfocused blue eyes.  It didn't look like he would be coming around anytime soon.  <Shit.  I guess I'll have to wait.>  Toro glanced up at the distant specks that were all that could be seen of his warriors, then back down at the strange boy.  <Just not too long...>

His head was pounding when he awoke.  He lifted one hand to his temple without opening his eyes, wincing as he encountered a slight lump.  <I've had worse before.>  He sighed, rolling slightly onto his side, slowly opening his eyes.

Not far away, Goten was intently practicing a kata.  He followed Goten's movements with his eyes for several moments while his mind sorted through the cotton wool that seemed to be filling his brain, impeding his attempts to think clearly.

<That's strange.  I don't remember ever seeing that kata before...>  He frowned a little in concentration, then blinked in surprise.  <Why is he wearing Saiyajin armor?  And a bodysuit...?  And since when did Goten have a tail!?!>  He sat up wide-eyed in alarm, drawing the attention of the other boy, who finished his kata and began to move towards him.

<He looks just like him!  But he isn't - he can't be!>  Trunks glanced around the clearing as he got to his feet, looking desperately for some clue as to what had happened.  <I remember there was some kind of gas... Did someone attack us?  Was it him?  But where's Goten?>

His eye lighted on a Saiyajin space pod lying only a short distance away.  <Well, that answers that question, if it was ever in any doubt - he's definitely Saiyajin, and newly arrived here from the look of it.  A version of Goten?  Or of Goku, perhaps?  But what's he doing here now?>

Trunks blinked, as the Saiyajin boy approached.  The resemblance to Goten was more than simply startling - it was almost exact, saving only the tail, which was now dangling freely out behind him.  <I don't care who he looks like!  I want to know what he's done with Goten!  I can't sense him anywhere!>

The Saiyajin boy came to a halt barely a meter away from him, one hand resting on his hip, gazing down at him steadily with Goten's dark eyes out of Goten's face...  <Damnit!>

"Who are you?"  The question was spoken by both boys at the same time.  They blinked in surprise, then scowled at each other.

"Answer the question!"  The young Saiyajin snapped.

"Why should I?  Where's Goten?"

"Where's what?"

"Goten!  He was here with me before!  He looks just like you except without the tail!  Now where is he?"

The Saiyajin paused, thinking.  "Someone who looks just like me?" He queried.

Trunks eyed him with suspicion.  "That's right.  You haven't seen him?"

"No," came the reply.  "But I know someone who might have."  He turned and walked purposefully over to the space pod.  A swiftly tapped code opened the pod up, releasing a somewhat irate Saiyajin.

"You little brat!  You'll pay for that!"  He lunged after the boy, while Trunks looked on in interest.

Within seconds the boy had the older warrior down on his knees, gasping in pain, his arms twisted uncomfortably behind him and held in place by the boy's solid grip.

"They were after me, weren't they?"  The boy inquired casually.

"What are you talking about?"  The captive managed to gasp out his reply.  The boy flexed his wrists, twisting his prisoner's arms even more.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!  Your friends whom you helped to escape from my men!  They took a boy with them, didn't they?  A boy who looks like me!"

The older Saiyan's tail flicked out, but the boy wrapped his own around it, squeezing it tightly, before it could do any harm.

"AAARGH!  YES!"

The boy relaxed his grip minutely.  "Now we're getting somewhere!  If you tell me the truth now, I might even kill you - and save you from having to face my Prince!"

"Promise me that you'll kill me first!"

The boy considered this for a moment.  "All right.  Now talk!"

"Somebody high up in King Vegeta's army wanted you captured.  They were hired to bring you in.  I was supposed to make sure you went off by yourself with only a bare minimum of warriors.  They must have thought the other kid was you."

"Where did they take him?"

The Saiyajin grinned.  "Don't know anything else.  But you'll find out when they come back for you!"

"You don't know anything else, eh?"  The boy looked up, catching Trunks' eye.  "I don't suppose you have a knife handy?"

"Knife?"

"I was thinking that flaying him alive would be a nice way of killing him.  I did promise to kill him after all - and I always keep my promises.  Eventually."

Trunks blinked.  "Flaying's rather messy," he commented evenly.  "What about boiling?"

The boy's lips twitched suspiciously.  "Don't have a big enough pot."

Trunks shrugged.  "Don't really need one.  Just shove his hand or foot in, wait until it's cooked through, hack it off and continue with the rest of the limb..."

"Now there's a thought."  The boy's eyes were gleaming.  "We could get a half-decent meal out of him as we go along..."

"Exactly."  Trunks eyed the now green-looking prisoner.  "He looks pretty well-fleshed..."

"IT WAS BARDOCK!!!"  Their contemplative meal screamed out in desperation.

<Bardock?  Wasn't he Goku's father?>

"My father?!  What does he want with me?"

<I guess that explains the resemblance...>

"I don't know!  I just know that he wanted you unharmed!  That's all I know!  Honestly!"

The boy released the Saiyajin's arms and hit him over the head, letting him drop to the ground.

Trunks eyed the unconscious warrior.  "He's still alive."

The boy shrugged.  "I'll kill him later. If what he said is true.  Otherwise he can just wait for my Prince."

Trunks smiled.  <I like his attitude!>  "I'm Trunks."

"Toro.  Care to tell me why your friend looks so much like me?"

"If you tell me what's going on around here."

"It's a deal."

"Where's Trunks?!"  Bardock blinked in surprise as Goten surged up off the pallet, grasping him by the shoulders and pinning him against the wall.

"What are you talking about?"  he demanded.

"Trunks!"  Goten shouted.  "He was right next to me when I fell asleep, and now I can't even -" He halted in mid-sentence, frowning a little in concentration.  "We're not even on Earth anymore, are we?"  The half-question half-statement was voiced more quietly, but the toned was clearly strained.

"No, we're on a spaceship bound for that rock that Prince Vegeta currently calls 'home'," Bardock informed him, also frowning.  "You didn't think we were going to hang around and wait for all the Saiyajin you brought with you, did you?  Those mercenaries I hired wouldn't be able to withstand an attack by all of them..."

"Then why did you hire them?!"

"To get a chance to talk to you alone!  I knew I could convince you to do what is right for our people!"  Bardock clenched his fists in anticipation.  "Your friend, whoever he is, is probably still sleeping off the effects of the gas..."

<Gas?!  I hope that Trunks is all right...  But what am I going to do now?!  I need to get back to Earth!>

He narrowed his gaze, watching his grandfather cautiously.

"I'm not going anywhere without Trunks," he stated.  <First day in a new dimension, and already we're separated, and possibly in big trouble.  Not what I had in mind.>

Bardock scowled at him.  "He's unimportant.  What matters now is eliminating the Prince."

Goten glared at him for a moment before pushing past him and out the door, into a short corridor.  Light and the sound of rough conversations drifted towards him from the partially open door at one end of the passageway.  He pushed the door open to find himself amidst a rather motley crew who were apparently in control of the ship.

They glared at him through the sudden silence.

"Turn the ship around," he ordered.

They glared some more.

"Turn the ship around," he repeated, "or I'll make you wish you had, then do it myself!"

A couple of them started to grin at that, eyeing him up and down, circling like vultures around a dying animal.

Goten clenched his teeth and fists, and slowly began to raise his ki.

One or two of his would-be assailants could apparently sense the change in his power level, and started backing off almost immediately.  It wasn't until the slightly more tangible effects of his power-up became evident that the remainder of the crew were persuaded to his point of view.

"We'll - uh - we'll just turn the ship around..."

"You do that."  Goten glowered at them, watching carefully as they busied themselves with various dials and buttons, arms folded in front of his chest.

One of the crew sneaked a quick glance at him from the corner of his eye, his hand creeping furtively across the panel of buttons.  Goten's own hand whipped out, catching the offending limb in a crushing grip.

"I - I was j-just -"

"Taking the ship back to Earth, ne?"

"R-right!"

<I'll be back there soon enough, and I'll find Trunks, kill Vegeta, and we'll get out of this dimension...>  Goten released the crew member's wrist, and unconsciously felt his pocket for the device which had transported them out of their own dimension and into this one - and froze.

It wasn't there.  The transporter was gone.

Frantically he searched his other pockets with an ever increasing sense of dread.  <Oh shit!  I can't have lost it!  But there aren't exactly many places I could have put it - >

"Looking for something?"  Bardock drawled from the doorway.

Goten snapped his head around, just in time to see him toss a small, dark, cylindrical shape into the air...  He lunged for it desperately, but the delicate instrument was held tightly in Bardock's grasp before he could reach it.

<Oh shit.>

<What's taking them so long?!>  Toronipsu eyed the indigo-black horizon impatiently.  Most of his warriors had returned, but there were still a few missing.  <Not that I'm worried about them, but if they've been delayed because of Bardock's or King Vegeta's men...>  His gaze flicked over to where the pale haired boy, Trunks, was curled up, fast asleep despite the raucous noise the Saiyajins were making just a short distance away.  <And he wanted to go after his friend in the pod.>  Toro snorted.  <He's far too weak to oppose Bardock's men, and to want to do it when he's that exhausted...>  He shook his head.  <Stupid.  Brave, but stupid.  Only my Prince deserves such loyalty.>

He returned to staring out at the stars.  <Somewhere not too far away is his friend, Goten.  I guess he's sort of my nephew.>  His lips twisted at the thought.  <Now that's weird - a 'nephew' from another dimension who's my age and looks exactly like me.  I think I'll have to see that one to believe it!  But in the meantime, there's no harm in keeping Trunks here with me.  I kind of like him; he has a good attitude, even if he is weak - and he knows how the people here think.  He could be very useful in the assimilation of this world.  If it ever gets underway.>

He scowled.  Stumbling across Bardock's mercenaries had been a hindrance he could well have done without, especially since Vegeta apparently had great interest in how Toro was progressing.  Discovering that one of his warriors was a traitor had necessitated a call to inform the Prince.  Vegeta had responded by announcing his imminent arrival, just a few hours away.  <For him to get here so quickly, he must have already been on his way!>  Toro chewed his lip, frowning.  <Which most likely means that he wanted to keep an eye on me!  Does he suspect that I am disloyal?  Despite what Nappa said, despite what my brother did, I am my father's son - as much as I would wish it otherwise.>

He turned his head slowly, scanning the night sky for any sign of an approaching vessel.  <Why did he send me here, to this world?  Because the weakness of the natives would make it easy to subdue?  Or because he knew in advance of the trap that awaited me?  Was this to be a test of my abilities?  Or of my loyalty to my Prince?>

The stars glittered on, heedless of his questions.

"Toronipsu-sama!"  He snapped his gaze in the direction of the shout.  "We found one!"

On the other side of the makeshift camp, two of his men were flying in, a green-skinned creature hanging between them.  They landed before Toro, dropping the unfortunate creature in a pile at his feet.

"We found him at the top of some kind of tower," one of the warriors reported.  "It doesn't look like he had anything to do with the others, but he was the only alien we could find on the planet.  We thought you might like a look at him anyway."

Toro nodded as he eyed the green alien, prodding him with one toe.

A low groan was the only response.

Toro signaled the two warriors, and they grabbed the being by the folds of his clothing, hauling him to his feet.  He wasn't in the best of shape, and  the flickering firelight did little to hide the marks of the beating he had received, bruises and rusty bloodstains darkening his wrinkled skin and clothing.  His head hung low, and he was breathing heavily.

"Your name,"  Toro demanded briskly.

The figure raised it's head slowly, opening one eye.  The other was swollen shut.

"Kami,"  he answered.

The Saiyajin laughed and jeered.  "You don't seem to be having a good day for a god!"

"Silence!"  Toro snapped, glaring at them until they quieted, then turning back to the unfortunate Kami.  "Do you know anything about the other aliens that were here earlier today?"

The green god shook his head.  "I know nothing of any other aliens."

Toro leaned forward until his own eyes were just inches from Kami's.  "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."  The god returned his gaze steadily with his single open eye.

The young Saiyajin turned away, sighing.  "Then I guess we have no further use for you."

The prisoner's Saiyajin escorts grinned as their commander walked away, leaving them to play with their new toy.

"My lord Bardock!"  One of the crew members groveled his way into the room, bowing obsequiously.  Goten turned to glare at him.  Watching him flinch away and try to hide behind his Saiyajin master was far more entertaining than staring at the wall.  He was back in the room where he had awoken, sitting on the pallet, doing his best to ignore Bardock who alternately paced the room muttering about Vegeta and sat scowling at the transporter device, demanding that Goten tell him what it was - and why it was so important to him.

<Like I'm going to tell him!  It's a wonder he hasn't accidentally set it off already!  I may agree with him about Vegeta, but there's no way I'm going to tell him how to travel between dimensions!  Better that he destroy it - as he's threatened to do...>  Bardock had not put down the instrument, believing that it was the only means of ensuring that his 'son' would kill Vegeta as promised.  <Nice combination of argument and blackmail...  I wonder what he would have done with his real son?  Would it have worked with him, too?>

"What is it?" Bardock scowled at his hireling.

"We, uh, just received a report from one of our operatives amongst Prince Vegeta's forces..."

Bardock grabbed the unlucky messenger by the shoulders, pulling him in closer.  "Talk!"  he ordered.

"Vegeta's headed to that planet we picked him up from."  His eyes slid across to where Goten was sitting.  Bardock followed his gaze, meeting Goten's eyes for a long moment.

"Turn the ship around."

Trunks awoke at the sound of a sickening  crack.  <Nani?  What was that?>  The orange light of a fire danced before his eyes.  <The fire?  No - it sounded too wet...>  He rolled over, catching sight of Toro standing a few metres away, staring up at a sky filled with luminescent stars.  <So beautiful...But Tousan will be arriving here tomorrow morning.  At least, this world's version of him...>

Another crack, followed by rough and unpleasant laughter caused him to look to his left -

<A Nameckian?  But who - Kami?!>

"NO!"  He flew across the small clearing, grabbing the arm of the Saiyajin who had been about to hit the Namekian, lying broken and bleeding on the ground, in a diamond-hard grip.

"AAAAHHH!"  The Saiyajin yelled in pain and surprise as the bones in his wrist were shattered.

"What the hell!?!"

"You brat!"

"STOP!"  They all turned to stare at Toro.

"How could you let them torture him like that!" Trunks burst out.  "Is this something you can be proud of?!"  <I thought better of him than this!  I thought - >

Toro gave one look at the severely wounded Namekian, and fired a single ki-blast.  "Happy?" he asked in a bored tone - then walked away.

Trunks stared helplessly at the remains of this world's god.

<I'm sorry - I'm so sorry... This is all my fault!>
 

End Part 2    Go to Part 3