A Reality More Terrifying Than the Future!? Trunks' Suspicions

A nice view of the area is shown before finally stopping on Gohan. Gohan searches from his little perch, then it shows Tenshinhan, also looking around. Piccolo and Kuririn continue looking, as well. Artificial Human 20 brings up Gohan's stats. He looks down and checks out Tenshinhan. Then Piccolo and Kuririn. Gohan hears some rocks slide down a hill and jumps around, expecting to see the Artificial Human. Instead, it's just a few small animals. "They scared me."

Ten scouts around nearby, still finding no trace of 20. Kuririn jumps from one ledge down to a lower one. "Damn... not being able to sense your enemy is really unnerving." He walks out to the edge and part of it collapses. Kuririn cries out and grabs the edge. As he hangs there by one arm, he covers his mouth and looks around to see if anyone heard him. When he sees that a certain Artificial Human didn't hear him, he breathes out a sigh of relief. "Damn! Where the hell is he hiding? Maybe I'd better go home and get some of that milk from mother like Vegeta was saying."

Piccolo hovers over stone mountain, searching for the enemy. Number 20 hasn't moved around very much, but can still see most everyone from where he is. "Well, who's gonna be the first one to have their energy sucked out of them?" He looks over to Piccolo, hovering nearby, back turned. "Piccolo is weaker than Vegeta. I'd better pick him off first." He lifts off toward the Namekseijin. "Piccolo will be easy pickings for me. The next one to go out will be you, Vegeta." Piccolo, apparently unaware of his imminent energy-loss, continues searching. "Damn it! I think he's already run away." The Artificial Human slowly moves up behind Piccolo. He's in no hurry, since he obviously doesn't want to alert his victim. He stretches out his arms and gets ready to steal ki, then he jumps on Piccolo. He wraps his legs around Piccolo and puts his hand over his mouth, locking Piccolo in. Artificial Human, "Nobody knows where we are except for me. Well, now your energy will be mine." Piccolo grabs his arm and looks back at him. "Gohan, please come to me. Hurry." Gohan hears Piccolo's telepathic request. Piccolo, "It's Number 20." Gohan, "Piccolo-san. Where are you?" Piccolo's grip on 20's arm loosens. Gohan turns around. "I can sense him over there." He flies off in the direction of the dying ki.

"Your power levels are almost down to zero." Piccolo's arm finally falls to his side. Artificial Human, "Die!" Gohan suddenly jumps up behind him and knocks him off of Piccolo. Kuririn, Tenshinhan, and Vegeta all turn toward the flare up of ki. Number 20 hits the ground and his hat bounces off into a crevasse. Artificial Human 20 stands up, angry and shocked. Piccolo thanks Gohan. Number 20 flies back up to them. "How... how did he find me?" Super Saiya-jin Vegeta suddenly arrives behind him, and when Vegeta's aura flares up, 20 hears it and turns around. Kuririn and Tenshinhan arrive from another side, making escape all but impossible for the jinzouningen. He looks around at each Z Senshi and Vegeta smirks. Gohan, "Kuririn-san! Get a senzu seed for Piccolo!" Kuririn grabs yet another of the senzu out of the back and tosses it to Piccolo. Number 20, "With only his power, I won't be able to defeat Vegeta." Vegeta, "Hah. What a crappy machine." Number 20, "I'm going to need to get more energy from the rest of these fleshbags."

Piccolo finishes eating his senzu and drops down to the same level in the sky as 20. The Artificial Human surveys his situation. In front is Vegeta, behind is Piccolo, to the right are Kuririn and Tenshinhan, and above is Son Gohan. Anyone would be able to cover the left before he could make a get away, so even though it's open, it's out. Piccolo takes off his turban and mantle. "Let me be the one to do him, Vegeta. I don't need your help!" Vegeta, "Heh. If you want to die, then you go on right ahead. But no matter what you do, you'll lose your power again, won't you?" Number 20, "Piccolo is going to try to take me on again? That's good. I'll be able to take his power again. And then I'm going to get Vegeta." Piccolo vanishes and reappears in front of 20. He knees 20 in the jaw, sending 20 flying toward Vegeta. The Artificial Human flies right past Vegeta and straight into a mountain. Vegeta is mildly impressed, Kuririn is a bit surprised, and Gohan is cheerful. Number 20 frees himself from the mountain. He glares angrily at Piccolo, who's already prepared for round two.

Artificial Human 20 starts to fly toward Piccolo. "This isn't what I was expecting... I have to be a lot more careful with how I deal with him." He speeds up and tries to attack Piccolo, but before his punch can connect, Piccolo's gone. He turns to Vegeta, who just smirks like always and nods his head up. Number 20 looks up just in time to see Piccolo's elbow connecting with his face. The Artificial Human plummets and lands in a nice little pile of rocks. Artificial Human 20 stands up. "This is impossible. I drained away almost all of his energy and made it my own. Doing it again should be a piece of cake for me. At least I have the same power as he does now."

Back at the smoking remains of the city where it all began, Trunks shows up. "It's too late. There's nobody here. Where did Goku-san and everyone else go to? What happened to the island? I wish I could figure out this time lapse, but the time machine doesn't have enough power to travel back to the past." He gasps and turns to the right. "I can feel them. I can sense them fighting somewhere else." He flies off toward the battle.

Number 20 lunges at Piccolo but hits only air. Piccolo gets in a good kick. He then smashes 20 into a mountain, which promptly falls over. Gohan, "Piccolo-san! You really are great!" Kuririn, "What power! Where did he get the power? He's not even a Super Saiya-jin." Number 20 breaks through one of the rocks, getting very angry and frustrated.

At the Son family household, Son Goku has regained consciousness, but is still in very bad shape. Yamucha, "Come on, Goku. When you get better, we'll go off and fight them."

Bulma and Yajirobe are still not at the fight yet. Bulma, "They must be on that island that just exploded." Yajirobe, "You don't have to go there. Let's go home. They should be able to take care of themselves and you should be taking care of the baby." Trunks flies straight past them at a much higher speed. Bulma, "Did you see that?! He's the one from the future!" Chibi Trunks begins to cry. Yaji, "See, you just woke him up again." Bulma, "If he's going that way, then we must be headed in the right direction. Good. Let's go!" The aircar speeds up and flies to the fight. Trunks, "Over there." He's almost reached the battle when he suddenly notices a huge crater and stops.

Number 20 jumps up to attack Piccolo, who blocks his hit and then hits him in return. Piccolo jumps behind him. "Die." He kicks the Artificial Human in the back, and 20 falls through two mountains, which, of course, collapse. Kuririn and Ten shield their eyes from the rising cloud of dust. Jinzouningen Number 20 flies up to steal Piccolo's power and no one can see what happens through the dust. Gohan, "Piccolo-san!" When the dust begins to settle, they see Piccolo, holding a seething Artificial Human 20 by the wrist. "Understand that we are able to increase and destroy the power that you Artificial Humans call 'energy.'" Piccolo raises 20's arm, then takes slices straight through it with his other hand. Number 20 stares at his new stump and Piccolo holds up the severed hand. "That's why I was allowing you to drain my power a bit earlier on." He crushes the hand and lets it fall to the ground. Gohan, "Piccolo-san! You cut off the Artificial Human's hand! Now he can't steal anyone's power anymore!"

Trunks surveys the area and chances upon the head of Jinzouningen Number 19, still smoking. He stares at it incredulously. "What is this? They're fighting against the wrong Artificial Humans..." Piccolo continues his assault on 20. After getting hit into another stone wall, 20 starts hopping from ledge to ledge to get away. Piccolo throws a ki blast at him. Over at the original battle site, Trunks hears the explosion and turns around. "There's still fighting going on." He flies over to the source of the explosion. "That's not the Artificial Human I that remember seeing... What's going on here? Something's wrong. There were supposed to be two Artificial Humans." Artificial Human 20 climbs out of his little hole in the ground. "You bastard... I never even dreamt that Piccolo could be this strong." Piccolo, "The world is supposed to have been destroyed by two Artificial Humans in the Earth's future history. I guess history is about to be changed. What do you think the reason for this is? Maybe it's because you are so weak and we've become too strong for you to overcome." Kuririn, "Yes, we are! We can take him without Goku!" Gohan agrees. Ten, "I didn't like Vegeta's and Piccolo's power ups, but they were really great." Vegeta, "Piccolo! Finish him. Or do you want me to do this?" Piccolo, "No way. I am the devil that comes from the god. I'm not kind-hearted like Goku." He senses a strong ki and turns, as does everyone else. Kuririn, "Who's that?" Gohan, "That's..." Trunks finally arrives at the fight. Piccolo, "Trunks?" Vegeta, "What? Trunks? He called him Trunks... That's the same name as my son. The same name... from the future? I see..." Number 20 stares up at the new arrival and Trunks stares back. "That's not him..." Number 20, "That's a new face. Where did he come from? I didn't read about him in my data files. I've made a serious error in underestimating the situation. I have no other choice now but to get back to the laboratory." Trunks, "Who... who is this guy? Were you fighting against him?" Vegeta, "What? What do you mean? That's the Artificial Human you had told us about." Trunks, "Something's gone wrong..." Piccolo, "Has something changed?!" Kuririn, "What? That's not him?" Tenshinhan, "You can't be serious... This can't be happening."