Duel of Past and Present

The city was bustling. Cars went by, back and forth. People on their way to work. West City was full of people going on with their everyday lives.

Capsule Corp, as always, stood out within the city, the massive dome viewable from the city's edge. A landmark any could find.

Inside, Bulma, considerably younger, worked on some designs. "Alright. . . so if I move it from here to here. I need as much material to connect the two lines." She waved her hand without looking. "Trunks, can you get me my cappuccino?" No response. She brought her head up to find herself alone. Her eye twitched. "If he went somewhere with Goten again. . ." She heard a knock at the door.

She started on her way to the door. "He HAS a key card. He probably forgot it. . . AGAIN!" She slowly approached the door as the knocking started again. She yelled out. "ALRIGHT, YOUNG MAN! I'M COMING!" She threw the door open, looking down to where she expected Trunks, seeing the waist line of the man standing there.

She slowly looked up, seeing a sheepish looking 19 year old with lavender hair. Not the Trunks I'm looking for- Wait what?! "Um, hi mom." The elder Trunks said hesitantly.

With a burst of energy, the blue haired woman hugged her son from another her. "It's about time! Here, you never stop by to say hi to your mother. Makes me worry!"

Trunks chuckled. "You worry either way, no matter what time it is." He joked. He pulled away. "So, at least I remembered how to get to the right timeline to pay a visit. How long has it been here since you saw me?"

Bulma wondered. "Going on nine years. I was actually looking for you." He looked confused. "I-I mean little you. Hopefully he won't pull your hair this time." She joked with a wink. "But since you're here, I guess I should get everyone together. Catch up!"

Trunks chuckled, nervous. "Well, I didn't come alone."

Bulma looked behind him. She waved. "Oh, hi 18. I don't know him though." Gesturing to 17 beside 18. 18 wore her ripped sleeve blue jacket over a black t-shirt. She wore blue jeans. 17 wore the usual. Bulma took a second to click things together. "You. . . are the ones from." She pointed at Trunks.

17 grunted. "Yup."

18 was a little curious. "So you see me often here?"

Bulma nodded dumbly, then looked to Trunks again. He chuckled. "I have a lot to explain."

She was still a little dumb founded. "You always do when you show up, but I'll invite everyone over first."

17 smiled. "You mean everyone we killed?"

Bulma flinched. Trunks sighed. "17, don't make it more awkward."

He chuckled. "Too late. Too fun."

"Hey, mom. Dad says he broke the gravity room agai-" A miniature Trunks, age 9 froze, seeing a giant him as he turned the corner. "Mom, why am I in front of you with 18 and a stranger?"

17's eye twitched, which 18 smirked at. Future Trunks looked down at himself with a smile. "We've met before. I'm from-"

"The future!" The mini Trunks finished rudely. "Yes yes, I was told about that! So cool!"

The future saiyan looked at his past mother. Bulma sighed. "I wish he was as respectful to you. One thing a good apocalypse does is teach humility." She joked before adding. "Sorry."

Trunks chuckled. "It's fine. Where's dad?"

Kid Trunks grabbed Trunks' hand and started pulling him through the halls. Bulma looked at the two twins. "Um. . ."

"We won't kill you." 18 said with no emotion.

Bulma nodded. "Right, right." She looked at 17.

17 smirked, which unsettled Bulma. "This is going to be fun."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Sure enough, Vegeta was training in the half destroyed ship. He was in his base form. "Dad, dad, dad!" He turned to address his son. "Look who I just got to meet!"

Vegeta had sensed him long before he had even gotten to the ship. He smirked slightly before returning to his signature frown. "Don't tell me you need more help."

Kid Trunks looked confused.

Vegeta looked at him. "Not you." He looked at the older Trunks who held a small smile upon seeing his father again. "You destroyed the androids, I'm sure."

Trunks seemed nervous to answer that. "I defeated them, yes. There were. . . other issues but I'll be getting to that when I get to see everyone else."

Vegeta wasn't one to let details slip by. "You didn't destroy them?" He seemed irritated.

Trunks shrugged. "It was mother's idea, and it helped in the long run, but I beat them easily when I went back."

Vegeta nodded. "Okay then." In a split second, Vegeta's fist collided with Trunks guard. They held the position as Kid Trunks stood awkwardly with a drip of sweat on his cheek. "Then I want to see how much you've improved since last time. We have time to kill."

Trunks smirked. True, Trunks had higher forms than Vegeta could do, but time has passed since this Vegeta had helped deal with Buu. His Super Saiyan two level was as strong as Goku's SS3 at the time of facing Buu. The two began to spar at base level while Bulma phoned all their friends.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Vegeta was not happy with the two bionic guests. Well, truth be told he wasn't a happy person. More like he was mildly disappointed that Trunks had allowed his past demons to stick around. However, after a spar or two. . . or five, he acknowledged that Trunks could handle anything they could possibly do.

The first of the guests to arrive had been Tien, Chaotzu, and Yamcha. They talked with Trunks for a while the androids sat with them, mostly bored.

Yamcha, being the talkative guy he is, was the first to bring up the elephant in the room, or android as it were. "So, I'm surprised these two are here."

The twins both sighed. Trunks told them that he planned to tell the story when everyone had arrived, but that didn't stop curiosity.

Tien addressed 17. "Yeah, I haven't seen you since I saw Cell absorb you."

17 grunted. "I've been told."

Yamcha snickered. "Though 18's found her place. Krillin and her are happy-"

18 choked on air as 17 burst out laughing, stopping the conversation entirely. Trunks even stared at Yamcha weirdly. "They. . . actually got together?" Trunks asked awkwardly. 17 was still laughing, but started to settle.

Chaotzu answered. "Yeah, they have a child named Maron-"

17's laughter erupted to the point that he was gasping for air. One look at 18 showed a pretty deadly image. Trunks was just shocked. "I. . . didn't think they could have kids." That earned him a glare from 18 that even made him a little nervous.

17 looked up at everyone, finally stopping his laughter. He threw Trunks a bone to save him from 18's wrath. "To be honest, I didn't think so either."

18 grunted. "Men."

That's when Mr. Hercule Satan arrived. . . with a certain fat friend.

"HEYYYYYY! How's everyone doing?" Hercule yelled.

Trunks groaned. Turning towards the 'Champ'. "When did he-" Trunks, 17, and 18 all three jolted to their feet upon seeing Buu. Trunks moved to charge Burning Attack. 17 brought both arms up to do Finish Buster. 18 created a Destructo Disk in each hand.

Buu looked at them, confused before Piccolo appeared between them all. "Settle down. He's with us." Trunks and the two androids gave each other confused glances, then slowly dropped their attacks. Piccolo continued. "I take it you've met 'Buu' before?"

17 answered. "Yeah. We killed him just about a month ago."

Everyone seemed surprised at that. Buu, confused replied. "You killed Buu? That's mean!"

17 scoffed. "You absorbed me."

Trunks went next. "You got 16 killed."

18 went last, pointing slightly at Trunks. "You blew a hole in his chest!"

Buu tilted his head. "Buu no remember these things." Buu then lost interest and started eating. Hercule stood still, slightly confused. 17 and Trunks didn't give him creeps, but when 18 looked at him, he jolted upright.

Piccolo addressed the three. "We'll have to exchange notes."

Trunks nodded. "He was one of the things I wanted to come and warn you about, actually." He then remembered. "Oh! And Janem-"

"Dead" Piccolo cut Trunks off.

Trunks was surprised. "Hirudiga-"

"Dead" the green man answered again. Piccolo smirked. "Broly came back two extra times by the way."

Trunks outright spoke up. "Okay, not happening. I blew him into nothing!" Trunks' outburst surprised everyone. It was more out of a fear reaction of that outcome.

Piccolo coughed to clear his throat. "You'll have to explain how you managed to do that."

Within ten minutes, the last few two groups finally made it to the gathering. Everyone from Kame House and the Son family.

Needless to say, kind of awkward. Trunks was being overwhelmed by Goten and Trunks.

"He's so COOL!" Goten jumped up, surprising Trunks. "You could be like, Trunks' big brother. I'll call you Other Trunks!"

Trunks sweat dropped. "Ummm, well-"

Kid Trunks interrupted. "Goten, that would be stupid. I'm sure he agrees."

Before Trunks can even attempt to stay out of the conversation, Goten gets worked up. "So not fair! You just get two votes but I get one?"

Trunks slowly backed away as the two bickered, which escalated into a spar, which escalated into a Super Saiyan spar, which was finally interrupted by both mothers.

Now, that everyone gathered, everyone exchanged stories. Trunks got to hear about how his alternate self dealt with losing Tapion along with hearing a more in depth version of what he already knew happened to Janemba. The Buu stuff surprised him, though. Made him feel a little bad about killing the monster. . . for a moment before he remembered having a hole in his chest.

With that, it was his turn to explain things. They weren't surprised much by how he dealt with Super 13. In fact, the moment he brought him up, they asked him to move on. Bojack and Broly were two exciting tales for everyone. Finally, he explained how he, 17, and 18 dealt with Buu.

As he explained, 18 was with her. . . family. 18 completely ignored her identical past self. Her focus was purely on the child with them. The past 18 commented. "I can guess a couple of the thoughts in your head."

They looked at each other. "Because it's the same head, but-"

"Why Krillin?" the past 18 asked.

After a nod, Krillin spoke to the future version of his wife. "Well, I'm sure my future self would have gotten along with you if-"

"If I wasn't the one that killed him?" 18 interrupted.

Krillin gulped, then chuckled. "Well. . . to be honest, I'm still scared of 18 sometimes, but I know she won't do THAT."

Maron finally spoke. "Is that mommy just as good as this one?" both 18's flinched, for different reasons.

Krillin, the ever trustful guy, gestured to Maron. "Go find out."

Past 18 spoke softly. "Bad phrasing." She was irritated at the way that came out. She then smiled to herself. "Go on. She's your daughter after all."

18 twitched her eye again. Then hesitantly held Maron. Within moments, she was won over before handing her back to her past self. "I still think you could have done better." 18 says.

Krillin was already taking Maron to get food. Past 18 tilted her head. "Really now?" 18's eyes flashed over, then back. Past 18 looked over to see Trunks. "I don't blame you, but when you see that. . ." She then looks at the smaller Trunks with Goten. "I see that."

Future 18's eye twitches again. "Great. . . Now, this is awkward."

"It wasn't already?" Both blondes chuckle to themselves.

Over across the gathering, 17 was having his own fun. "Hi, I'm 17."

"No cigarettes for you, then." Videl said. 17 stared at her blankly. "Sorry, bad joke."

17 tilted his head. "Oh, yeah. We saved you."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, from Buu. You were the foolish girl that tried to stand up to him without know what you were against. 18 and I saved you."

Videl, just from that, wanted to fire back, but knew that without the knowledge she had now, she would do exactly what 17's talking about. Gohan, beside her, laughed awkwardly. "So, 17, it's nice to actually see you. I never actually got to see what you looked like."

17 chuckled. "Well, that's one of us. I saw you a little too much. It's weird though." He looked at Gohan's cheek. "Add a scar." then to Gohan's hair. "And a different haircut and you'd look exactly like you did when-" He cut himself off. Even he didn't wanna be an asshole like that.

"When what?" Videl asked.

Gohan, knowing what he meant, chuckled nervously. "Well. . ." He looked around for an excuse to end the conversation.

17 sighed. "18 and I killed him in our time line."

Videl's mouth hung open for a while. Gohan assured Videl. "Don't worry. I'm MUCH stronger than my alternate self."

17 put his hand to his chin in thought. "Which is weird, considering how much more training you had in our time."

Videl's head felt light as she slowly walked away with an awkward smile. "Yeah, well I need to sit down."

17 and Gohan watched her sit at a nearby table. 17 smirked. He was having fun.

Finally, after Trunks had finished catching everyone up to date, he walked up to Goku. "So, how's being back on Earth?"

Goku was as energetic as ever. "It's great! I'm glad your time turned out well again. Was I any different in your time from here?"

Trunks chuckled. "Not even slightly different."

Goku laughed. "So you're doing what Krillin did?" Trunks was confused, but Goku shrugged. "Ask Chi-Chi. She said she could tell just from looking at you. I didn't know what she meant."

Trunks' face turned red. "I. . I don't- I mean. . . Anyway."

"How's your mom?" Goku asked.

Trunks smiled. "just fine. She wanted to come too, but decided not to. Too many memories for her."

Goku smiled sadly. "That's too bad. So, you're stronger than ever, right?"

Trunks smirked. His confidence showed in his voice as he said lowly. "Possibly. How about you?"

Goku smirked. "Same. Maybe. . ."

Trunks interrupted. "On one condition." Goku was confused. "You bring father. I bring 17."

Goku smiled, he got the message. "Hey Vegeta!" The prince looked at him. "We got a challenge!"

Vegeta smirked and nodded. Trunks called out. "Hey 17! Interested?" 17 jumped in with a smirk.

The four rose above everyone. Goku called out. "We'll be back in. . ." He looked at Trunks.

Trunks said lowly. "Half an hour."

"Half an hour!" Goku finishes. Trunks looks to see 18 groaning. He gives an apologetic smile before the four blast off.

18, next to her past self, mutters. "Men."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The four land in a small wasteland. Goku announces. "Two on two?"

Trunks makes sure both his swords are in place. 17 stretches faced off against Vegeta. Trunks answers. "Yeah."

17 smiles. "Seems unfair. You don't stand much chance."

Vegeta answers. "Care to say that to my face, machine?"

17 smirked. "Maybe. Anything to make this a better fight than last time." He referred to his and 18's murder. . .

Vegeta smirked. "We'll see."

The two teams all disappeared. Trunks guarded against a kick from Goku as 17's fist crashed into Vegeta's. They entered into a four sided strike exchange. Trunks separates, landing on the ground. He skids a few feet back, dodging Goku's fist. He throws a roundhouse kick, but Goku ducks it, sweeping out Trunks' other leg. The demi saiyan flips away from Goku as 17 missile kicks into a guarding Goku, launching him into a plateau as 17 rushes after him, unleashing a hail of punches and kicks. Goku guards against them all.

Trunks lands on his feet, disappearing as Vegeta's foot kicks through his disappears as Trunks' sword slashes through. Vegeta appears in the air and launches a hail storm of ki blasts down. Trunks slices through the blasts, sheathing his sword as he closes in on his dad. He punches Vegeta hard, but the prince grabs his wrist, pulling Trunks into a punch of his own.

Goku pulls some distance as 17 charges after him. Goku smirks as he brings his hand to his forehead. In an instant, Goku is gone. He reappears behind 17, catching him by surprise. Goku gets a flurry of attacks on 17 before the android starts blocking. Goku disappears, appearing above with a blue light. "Kamehameha!" 17 barely activates an Android Barrier to block the beam before he soars up to Goku, uppercutting him away. Goku recovers quickly and grins. He turns into a Super Saiyan. 17 charges up to full power, but Goku quickly hits him away.

Trunks and Vegeta launch each other back as they both charge attacks.
"BIG BANG ATTACK!"
"BURNING ATTACK!"

The two attacks clash. Trunks quickly turns Super Saiyan, his attack pushing through his fathers. Vegeta turns Super Saiyan as well, smacking the ball of energy aside as he charges Trunks. Just before Trunks defends, Vegeta creates energy rings, pinning Trunks' arms to a plateau below. Vegeta rams into Trunks, beating him through the plateau. The younger saiyan brings his hands up, charging a yellow blast point blank. "MASENKO!"

The explosion goes off in the background as Goku beats 17 back. 17 halts himself. "Kaioken x2!" The red aura clashes against Goku's golden one. 17 disappears, speeding around Goku and releasing a beam at Goku's back. Goku smirks and dodges the beam. "Kamehame-" He teleports behind 17. The android barely yells. "X5!" "HA!" 17 narrowly dodges the attack by mere inches as he separates himself, powering down to Kaioken X4 to save stamina. Goku smirks with a grunt as he enters Super Saiyan 2.

Suddenly, Trunks is launched between Goku and 17 by a Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta. Trunks slashes through a beam attack as he enters Super Saiyan two also. Vegeta rushes after Trunks, but 17 speeds in, hooking Vegeta and getting his attention. Trunks rushes Goku and slashes at him, but Goku blocks the sword with his bare arm. The two struggle against each other, but Trunks pulls back. In one spin, he sheaths his regular sword and pulls out the Z sword. Goku dodges back as the sword slashes his shirt. They both smirk as the power between them erupts, both becoming Super Saiyan three. Trunks charges his power into the sword and charges as Goku charges his attack. "DRAGONFIST!"

The entire landscape is shrouded in a blinding light as a red and gold aura clash in the sky. Vegeta catches 17's fist, tossing him up into the air then rushing after him. Vegeta punches, but 17 disappears. The android appears below. "Kaioken X5 FINISH BUSTER!" He launches the attack.

Vegeta swears. "God damn it, Kaioken again?! FINAL FLASH!" The two massive attacks clash and explode in each fighter's face.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The ground shakes over and over as everyone sensed the fight. 18 casually picks up a glass and takes a drink. Gohan and Videl sat across from her.

Videl jokes while being a little scared of the power. "Why don't you get in there Gohan?"

Gohan chuckled. "well, I'd need someone to face too." They look at 18, who glares back.

"I'm not that barbaric."

"Who do you think will win-" Gohan was cut off.

"Trunks." 18 says without losing her casual look as the ground shook again.

Gohan chuckled. "I gotta say my dad."

18 replied simply. "Hmph."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The four fighters landed. 17 smirked to Trunks. Trunks sheathed his sword again as he powered up. His aura turned from gold to a near pure white with a hint of blue. His hair shortened to its normal length as it spiked like his Super Saiyan form, a lavender color. The two strands in front of his eyes stayed. He charged Goku and Vegeta at the same time as he fought both at the same time. However, Goku used Instant Transmission to appear just under his guard. Trunks dodged the beam, but allowed Vegeta to grab him into a full Nelson from behind. 17 fired in, but was launched away by Goku.

Trunks quickly powered up all the way, speeding backwards to slam Vegeta through a few mountains. The prince held his grip as Vegeta's aura erupted into a point blank explosive wave.

The attack separated the two, but Trunks had been launched away. However, now in Mystic form, he still held a large advantage. He sped towards Vegeta, before seeing Goku outmaneuvering 17.

17 was slammed into the ground, Goku closing in before Trunks punched Goku back. Trunks dashed to 17's side as Vegeta landed beside Goku.

Goku smiled. "Amazing. That Mystic form gives you much more power than us."

Trunks smirked. "Thanks, but surprisingly enough, you two have much better teamwork than 17 and I."

17 and Vegeta both snorted. "Who needs a team?" They both said before noticing they were in unison.

Goku and Trunks laughed slightly. "Guess there's only one thing left." Goku said. He and Vegeta powered down to normal. They stood apart.

"Right." Trunks nodded as he powered to normal. He and 17 stood apart.

"Fuuuu." Goku and Vegeta approached each other.

"SION!" Trunks and 17 snapped to the second pose.

"HA!" All four voices sounded as two massive lights shined.

The lights dimmed as two Super Saiyan Three fusions appeared.

"My name is Gogeta." Goku's and Vegeta's voices overlapped. "What's yours? Sevenks? Trunkteen?" He mocked.

Trunks' and 17's voices overlapped as they responded. "I like. . . Trevents."

Gogeta yells out. "BIG BANG KAMEHAMEHA!"

The responding technique was a fusion of Galick Gun and 17's Power Blitz attack. "GALICK BLITZ! FIRE!"

The End.

Author Notes: Here I will address some overall questions.

With the fight that just occurred, why are Goku and Vegeta on Trunks and 17's level? This takes place a good deal after the Buu saga, obviously. We also know that Vegeta, by the time of Battle of Gods, which hasn't happened yet here, was far stronger than Ultimate Gohan or Fat Buu. This is sort of a median point. It's after all the other movies.

What started this story? My theory as to why the androids of the two timelines were different. I explained it in the first few chapters and figured I'd make a story out of the characters acting on the theory.

Why not do Bills? In timeline, Bills would have already awoken, found out no saiyans were left to be the saiyan god, then went back to sleep. This all would happen even before the History of Trunks movie. Plus, Trunks has literally no possible way of facing Bills. SSG is stronger than SS3 fusion. SS4 fusion? Maybe but still hard.

No GT? Originally, I had planned to end this story with an extra two chapters after Buu. This would include a Baby controlled Hatchiyak. However, I like keeping power levels realistic to the series and, well, Mystic Trunks would curb that by himself. At least with my explanation as to how Mystic works. Instead, I extended the Buu saga and ended it the same way. Trunks would have killed Buu with Mystic and then fuse with 17 to kill hatchiyak, I decided to make Buu stronger with Kaioken and use the fusion on him, which not only makes more sense but turned out much better. Super 17 also can't happen, since Dr Mew has no reason to do so with Gero, and the Shadow Dragons require WAY too many wishes to get to. This story would have to be double length to make enough wishes.

Sequel? There is a possibility of a future DBZ story I have in mind that can keep this in continuity, but being directly related? No. The story would include Future Trunks, but not the androids of his time like in this fic.

Is Trunks stronger than Goku? For now. In my mind, however, Goku is stronger than even this Trunks by the beginning of GT. Base level Goku was directly even with Uub, who was even in power to Kid Buu by that point. So Base level Goku in GT is even with Kaioken X4 17 in this fic.

Romance? It's hinted at and shown about as much as any romance in DBZ from my viewpoint. I like the couple, so in context of this fic, you can imagine whatever you like about what happens after the end.

Update? I will be altering and reposting this story after a few alterations to each chapter. I am removing each of the review responses and author notes, instead adding little touches at the beginnings and endings of each chapter for a better DBZ feeling.

As a side note, I would like to say I am ASTOUNDED how much more friendly the DBZ community is towards stories than Naruto is on this site. Seriously. Thanks for all the positive views. :)

CATCH YOU NEXT TIME. . . ON DRAGON BALL Z!