Recaps

He-El discovered that Bulma was pregnant during their return to Earth, and their friends celebrated and argued over names for the baby. As the spaceship landed at the Red Ribbon Army’s base, a brilliant sword strike suddenly raced toward them.

• He-El sensed that Bulma was pregnant, and Bulma decided to research a machine that would let her keep her figure after giving birth.
• Chiaotzu and Puar learned the news, and Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, and the others congratulated He-El and suggested names that Bulma rejected.
• He-El announced that Earth was in sight, and the group finished training and prepared to land.
• Launch and the Red Ribbon Army soldiers welcomed He-El, Bulma, and the others at the base.
• A dazzling streak of sword light shot toward the group as they stepped off the spaceship.

A hidden attacker emerged from a sword aura and slashed Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Puar, and Chiaotzu before trying to strike He-El. The sword stopped against He-El’s forehead as Launch ordered the Red Ribbon Army to retreat and summon reinforcements.

• A massive sword aura raced toward He-El and Bulma, but the group could not sense its wielder.
• Vegeta led the others in preparing to block the aura, which burst apart near them in a blinding flash.
• A figure concealed inside the aura rushed out and slashed Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Puar, and Chiaotzu before raising a sword against He-El.
• The attacker’s blade froze against He-El’s forehead while the wounded fighters stopped their bleeding and prepared to fight.
• Launch ordered the Red Ribbon Army to retreat, widen its encirclement, and call for reinforcements.

A furious figure wrapped in golden-purple aura tried to kill He-El, but his sword could not pierce He-El's forehead. He-El called him incompetent, and the figure broke down when he saw Bulma, calling her “Mommy.”

• The golden-purple figure attacked He-El with a sword, while Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Tien Shinhan, and Yamcha gathered with the others to defend him.
• He-El reflected on how his arrival had changed the fates of people in this universe, including Yamcha, Krillin, Goku, and Tien Shinhan.
• The figure blamed He-El as the source of all evil, but Goku and the others questioned him and prepared to subdue him.
• He-El stopped them and said the figure possessed the sin of incompetence because he lacked the strength to change anything.
• When the figure saw Bulma peek out from behind He-El, his aura vanished, tears streamed down his face, and he called her “Mommy.”

A grieving man who looked like He-El arrived and called Bulma “Mom,” leaving everyone baffled by his resemblance and age. After Bulma comforted him, he introduced himself to He-El as He-El Trunks.

• A powerful stranger appeared, looked like He-El, and called Bulma “Mom.”
• Bulma soothed the stranger as he collapsed and wept, while the others lowered their guards.
• Goku and Krillin asked whether the stranger was Bulma and He-El’s son, but Bulma said their child was still unborn.
• He-El told Bulma that he had children outside their universe but only one child in this universe, the one she carried.
• The stranger wiped his face, stood before He-El, and introduced himself as He-El Trunks.

Trunks claimed he was Bulma and He-El’s son from the future, confusing Bulma and the others because she was still pregnant. He-El recognized that Trunks had come from a split timeline, where another version of himself may have committed terrible acts.

• Bulma rejected the idea that He-El had deceived her, while the others speculated about why Trunks looked like He-El and called Bulma Mom.
• Bulma silenced the group and demanded that Trunks explain who he was.
• Trunks told Bulma that he was the child currently in her belly, leaving her and the others bewildered.
• He-El sensed Trunks’s exhaustion and suspected that a version of himself from a split timeline had done terrible things.
• Trunks explained that he was He-El Trunks, Bulma’s future son, and had come from the future.

Trunks revealed that he came from a future Parallel Universe where He-El became a tyrant who killed Bulma and the others. He urged the group to help him kill He-El and change that future.

• Trunks told Bulma that he was her son from the future, and He-El clarified that Trunks came from a slightly advanced Parallel Universe.
• Bulma accepted Trunks as her son, while the others said they trusted He-El and suspected Trunks had misunderstood him.
• Trunks described how the future He-El killed Bulma and the others, used the group to conquer the universe, and made Trunks a Super Saiyan.
• Trunks said he had traveled back using Bulma's time machine and called on the group to kill He-El to prevent the future he had witnessed.

Trunks told Goku, Vegeta, and the others that He-El had destroyed his universe, killed Bulma, and experimented on him, but they refused to believe their He-El could do such things. Trunks explained that he had come back to kill He-El and change his future, while He-El said the difference between their universes was because of him.

• Trunks claimed that the He-El from his universe had killed everyone and implanted Goku's and Vegeta's S Cells into him to force him to reach stronger Super Saiyan forms.
• Vegeta, Goku, and the others rejected Trunks's story, insisting that their He-El would never kill them or take their S Cells.
• Bulma and Krillin suggested that Trunks had come from a parallel universe rather than their own future, but Trunks insisted his time machine had brought him back to change the future.
• Trunks recalled that his universe's He-El had killed Bulma in front of him, prompting his transformation into Super Saiyan 5, and had still defeated him.
• Trunks said he had returned intending to kill He-El, but admitted that this He-El was already stronger than his Super Saiyan 5 form.
• He-El quietly said that the difference between the two universes was because of him.

He-El explained that the parallel-universe versions of himself had formed with flaws because he was an outsider to the Dragon Ball Universe, and that this was connected to Trunks's future. Trunks agreed to watch He-El and intervene if he began to turn evil, naming Dr. Gero as the starting point.

• Bulma, Goku, and the others rejected Trunks's claim that this universe's He-El was responsible for the crimes of his parallel-universe counterpart.
• He-El explained that his arrival caused parallel universes to copy flawed versions of him, who might seek him out and try to become him.
• Trunks refused to trust He-El's explanation, but He-El suggested that Trunks could watch him and change events if he began turning evil.
• Bulma struck Trunks on the head, and Trunks accepted He-El's suggestion while appreciating his mother's concern.
• He-El asked where the events began, and Trunks answered that they began with Dr. Gero.

The group recalled Dr. Gero’s connection to the Red Ribbon Army and learned from Trunks that Gero had become an Android creator whose Android 17 and Android 18 devastated his future Earth. He-El decided they would return to the Red Ribbon Army and wait for Gero to appear, while Bulma warned that changing this universe would not alter Trunks’s future.

• Bulma, Krillin, and the others remembered that Dr. Gero had led Red Ribbon Army soldiers in a robbery before He-El destroyed the army and turned its base into the Justice Legion.
• Tien Shinhan questioned how Dr. Gero could have become powerful, and He-El realized that Gero had created a serious threat in Trunks’s parallel universe.
• Trunks revealed that Android 17 and Android 18 had ravaged Earth in his future and that He-El had later defeated, modified, and strengthened them.
• Bulma said they could stop Dr. Gero and change their own future, but warned Trunks that doing so would not change his universe.
• He-El told Trunks they would return to the Red Ribbon Army and wait for Dr. Gero to appear.

He-El and the others returned to the Red Ribbon Army, where Launch and Bulma rested during their pregnancies while the rest prepared for Dr. Gero's arrival. Trunks continued to distrust He-El, and two months later Dr. Gero's trail appeared near South City.

• He-El relieved pregnant Launch and Bulma of their duties, and they went to Chi-Chi for advice about pregnancy and raising children.
• Tien Shinhan sought advice from Goku about fatherhood, while Goku and others went to Kami's Lookout to train and Vegeta entered the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
• Krillin stayed on duty at the Red Ribbon Army, Master Roshi left to travel, and Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu went to find a parenting institution.
• He-El spent time with Trunks, who challenged his claim that he was different from Trunks's father, and He-El brought him into the Mental Network.
• Two months later, Dr. Gero's trail appeared in a small town near South City.

Dr. Gero and Android 19 attacked a Red Ribbon Army branch base, and Dr. Gero declared his intention to destroy He-El and reclaim the Red Ribbon Army. He-El ordered the Dragon Ball Warriors to capture Dr. Gero, warning them that he had contingencies.

• A communications soldier reported that Dr. Gero and a pale-skinned fat man had destroyed a Red Ribbon Army branch base.
• Trunks identified the fat man as Android 19 and worried that Android 17 and Android 18 might be hidden elsewhere.
• A soldier played footage of Dr. Gero threatening He-El and declaring that the Red Ribbon Army was his army before destroying the camera.
• He-El considered Dr. Gero's scientific achievements and understood why his counterpart in another universe had recruited him.
• He-El sent Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Puar to capture Dr. Gero, warning them to be careful of his contingencies.

Vegeta confronted Dr. Gero and Android 19, confident that his training had made him powerful enough to defeat them. Though he declared himself Super Vegeta, Android 19 began overpowering him in close combat.

• He-El sent Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Puar to capture Dr. Gero and Android 19, while Trunks insisted on dealing with Dr. Gero himself.
• He-El agreed to Trunks's demand and stayed behind, leaving Trunks suspicious of his intentions.
• Vegeta reached Dr. Gero and Android 19 first as they prepared to retreat, and Dr. Gero ordered Android 19 to kill him.
• Vegeta introduced himself as Super Vegeta and challenged both of them, then dodged Android 19's beams and engaged him in close combat.
• Android 19 analyzed Vegeta's movements and turned the fight around, punching Vegeta in the chest as Vegeta struggled to believe he was losing.

Vegeta fought Android 19 and revealed that he had forced himself into an early Super Saiyan transformation, but Android 19 still adapted to his techniques and gained the upper hand. Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Puar, Tien Shinhan, and Chiaotzu arrived as the battle continued.

• Android 19 struck Vegeta after adapting to his fighting rhythm, and Dr. Gero revealed that he had analyzed techniques Vegeta learned from He-El.
• Vegeta forced his S Cells to erupt and transformed into a Super Saiyan, then unleashed a barrage of Ki blasts at Dr. Gero and Android 19.
• Android 19 protected Dr. Gero from Vegeta's blasts with a barrier, then fought Vegeta and gradually turned the tables on him.
• Dr. Gero explained that Android 19 used He-El's stolen artificial intelligence to analyze Ki, learn fighting techniques, and target weaknesses.
• Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Puar, Tien Shinhan, and Chiaotzu arrived while Android 19 still had Vegeta on the defensive.

Vegeta and Goku joined forces against Android 19 while the other warriors attacked Dr. Gero, but both enemies used combat data and artificial intelligence to counter their techniques. Piccolo proposed a way to beat them and began explaining his second option.

• Goku and the others arrived and were stunned to see Vegeta transform into a Super Saiyan.
• Vegeta and Goku fought Android 19 together, while Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Puar, and Krillin surrounded Dr. Gero.
• Dr. Gero revealed that Android 19 had recorded the warriors’ techniques, while his own combat AI helped him fend off their attacks.
• Piccolo noticed that Dr. Gero and Android 19 could imitate the warriors’ techniques and explained that an unprecedented move might defeat them before it was recorded.
• Goku asked Piccolo to explain his second way to defeat Dr. Gero and Android 19.

Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo defeated Android 19 with a Ki-powered Kamehameha, while Krillin cut Dr. Gero in half with a Destructo Disc. Goku proposed taking Dr. Gero back to the Red Ribbon Army for He-El to decide his fate.

• Piccolo joined Goku and Vegeta against Android 19, and Goku asked Vegeta and Piccolo to transfer their Ki so he could fire a Kamehameha.
• Vegeta poured Ki into Goku while Piccolo held Android 19 back, and Krillin prepared a Destructo Disc as Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu kept Dr. Gero occupied.
• Goku fired a Kamehameha that destroyed Android 19, and Dr. Gero tried to flee after losing contact with him.
• Krillin threw the Destructo Disc, which sliced through Dr. Gero's shield and cut him in half.
• Tien Shinhan pinned Dr. Gero's mechanical upper body, and Goku suggested taking him to the Red Ribbon Army for He-El to decide what to do with him.

Goku and the others captured Dr. Gero and flew toward Red Ribbon Army Headquarters, but he threatened them with stronger Androids that could destroy Earth. Yamcha revealed that Dr. Gero had stolen He-El’s artificial intelligence technology, and Dr. Gero offered to increase their strength tenfold to avoid being taken to He-El.

• Goku and the others carried the defeated Android 19 and Dr. Gero toward Red Ribbon Army Headquarters while Dr. Gero cursed them and threatened them with his remaining Androids.
• Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo discussed the danger of Android 17 and Android 18, while Vegeta vowed to become strong enough to defeat them alone.
• Tien Shinhan demanded the location of Dr. Gero’s Android Base, but Dr. Gero refused to reveal it and insisted his Androids would destroy Earth.
• Vegeta asked Krillin to bring Dr. Gero over so he could kill him, but Goku stopped him.
• Yamcha told Dr. Gero that He-El could extract his memories and discover his secrets, making Dr. Gero fear being taken to He-El.
• Dr. Gero offered to increase their strength tenfold if they spared him from He-El.

Trunks killed Dr. Gero in the Red Ribbon Army headquarters, but He-El reprimanded him for destroying a potential source of information about the Android Base. Trunks took Dr. Gero’s damaged AI chip to the research department to search for the base’s location.

• Dr. Gero tried to bargain with Goku and the others by promising increased power and other benefits, but they ignored him as they carried him to Red Ribbon Army Headquarters.
• Trunks transformed into Super Saiyan 5 and cut Dr. Gero in half in front of He-El and the gathered group.
• He-El asked Trunks whether he knew where Dr. Gero’s Android Base was, and Trunks admitted that he did not.
• Trunks claimed he could kill Android 17 and Android 18 when they appeared, but He-El told him to recover Dr. Gero’s damaged AI chip and have the research department search it for clues.
• Trunks retrieved the chip from Dr. Gero’s brain and took it to the Red Ribbon Army Research Department.

After the Androids were defeated, Vegeta asked He-El to let him keep training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber so he could catch up to Goku. He-El revealed that the chamber had no time limit but warned that extended training consumed their lifespans, and Vegeta left to seek more training while Goku asked about the future Androids.

• Trunks took Dr. Gero's artificial intelligence chip to the Red Ribbon Army for analysis, while He-El had soldiers take away Android 19's and Dr. Gero's bodies.
• Vegeta asked whether he could enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber again, and He-El revealed that he and Kami had removed its lifetime limit.
• He-El warned that time spent in the chamber shortened their lifespans and could strain their minds, but Vegeta said he would accept the cost to catch up with Goku and the others.
• He-El told Vegeta he would not stop him, and Vegeta used Instant Transmission to return to Kami's Lookout and request more training.
• Goku asked He-El whether the Androids Trunks had mentioned were really that powerful.

He-El warned Goku and the others that Dr. Gero’s hidden Androids were too strong for them, so they went to train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. He then asked Trunks to show him the time machine, but Trunks refused, convinced He-El might interfere with his plans to change the future.

• He-El judged that Androids 17 and 18 would overwhelm the fighters, and Goku, Piccolo, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Puar asked to train.
• He-El let the fighters enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and warned them to watch Vegeta, whose obsession with becoming stronger was unsettling his mind.
• He-El called Trunks away from analyzing Dr. Gero’s AI chips and asked to see his time machine.
• Trunks refused to let He-El near the time machine and suspected that He-El wanted to use it to return to an earlier point and recruit Dr. Gero.

He-El hypnotized Trunks into showing him the time machine and used his left eye to study the rules of Trunks’s Parallel Universe. He offered to travel there and fight the evil He-El, but his explanation that Trunks could not change his own past drove Trunks to despair.

• He-El hypnotized Trunks and ordered him to lead the way to his time machine.
• Trunks brought He-El to the time machine hidden in a simulated cave, then woke and tried to attack him when He-El touched it.
• He-El stopped Trunks’s sword with a finger and studied the time machine and Trunks with his left eye, discovering that Trunks’s universe held less information than his own.
• He-El said he could visit Trunks’s universe and help defeat the evil He-El because he wanted to examine its underlying rules.
• He-El told Trunks that the past he wanted to change belonged to a different universe and could not be undone, and Trunks collapsed in anguish, unable to accept that his mother and friends were dead.

Trunks broke down over the deaths of his family, and He-El explained that the Trunks and He-El of his universe were connected to this one through a Parallel Universe split. He-El agreed to help Trunks confront the danger in his universe after they dealt with the Androids, while a search revealed a machine matching the time machine in West Forest.

• Trunks collapsed in grief over his mother and everyone else being killed by his father, and He-El ordered the Red Ribbon Army to search for Cell and missing humans.
• He-El told Trunks that his father was an incomplete duplicate of He-El created by a Parallel Universe split, and Trunks said he could tell the two were different.
• Trunks asked He-El to help solve the trouble in his universe, and He-El agreed after they handled the Android problem in the main universe.
• The Red Ribbon Army surveillance chief reported that satellite scans had detected a machine matching Trunks's time machine in West Forest.

He-El found Cell’s time machine in West Forest and explained to Trunks that another version of him had arrived in this universe four years earlier. Evidence of Cell’s presence and years of human disappearances left He-El suspecting that Cell had been secretly absorbing people.

• He-El received the Red Ribbon Army’s report that a time machine had been detected in West Forest and took Trunks to investigate.
• He-El uncovered a second time machine identical to Trunks’s and explained that another Trunks from a different parallel universe had arrived four years earlier.
• A Red Ribbon Army brigadier general reported a sharp rise in disappearances, and He-El ordered increased satellite surveillance of cities.
• He-El found Cell’s shed shell near the time machine and told Trunks that its biological data could be detected inside it.
• He-El concluded that Cell had come to this universe and had likely been secretly absorbing humans for years.

Trunks discovered that Cell had killed his counterpart in another Parallel Universe before traveling to this world, where he had secretly devoured more than 2.8 million people. He-El sent Trunks to track down the monster, and their flight back to Red Ribbon Army Headquarters brought Trunks closer to calling He-El Dad.

• Trunks examined Cell’s shed shell and the time machine, finding evidence that Cell had killed his counterpart inside it.
• He-El revealed that an average of seven hundred thousand people had disappeared each year since Cell arrived four years earlier, and Trunks blamed himself for the deaths.
• He-El told Trunks that he was the true original sin and urged him to deal with Cell, lifting Trunks’s resolve to fight the monster.
• He-El instructed Trunks to have the Red Ribbon Army identify the cities with the most rapidly increasing disappearances and to bring the time machine and shell for study.
• Trunks packed the time machine and shell into a Hoi-Poi Capsule storage unit and flew with He-El toward Red Ribbon Army Headquarters.
• He-El teased Trunks about wanting to call him Dad, and Trunks turned away with a slight smile.

Trunks tracked the mass disappearances to Guagua City and confronted Cell, who revealed that he had come from another timeline to absorb Android 17 and Android 18. Cell escaped Trunks's attack by turning transparent and vanished, leaving Trunks with the name He-El Cell.

• Brigadier White Bear reported that more than twenty thousand people had disappeared in Guagua City, and Trunks flew there to investigate.
• Trunks studied the missing-person cases and searched the city with his Ki for nearly thirty-five hours before locating Cell in an eastern slum alley.
• Trunks saw Cell absorb a person through his tail and realized Cell was behind the disappearances.
• Cell told Trunks that he had killed and absorbed the Trunks of his own world, stolen a time machine, and planned to absorb Android 17 and Android 18.
• Trunks transformed into Super Saiyan 5 and slashed at Cell, but Cell turned transparent and escaped while taunting Trunks and calling himself He-El Cell.

Trunks reported that the multiversal creature Cell, also called He-El Cell, was hunting Android 17 and Android 18 to perfect himself. He-El gathered the recently trained fighters and led them toward Dr. Gero's Android Base before Cell could reach the Androids.

• Trunks searched Guagua City for Cell, then received word from He-El that the Red Ribbon Army had discovered the Android Base's location.
• Trunks told He-El that Cell came from another universe, had devoured over three million people, and intended to absorb Android 17 and Android 18; he also revealed Cell's name was He-El Cell.
• He-El told Trunks to join Goku and the others, who had completed another two years of training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
• Vegeta declared that he had surpassed the Super Saiyan and challenged Goku to fight after they dealt with the Androids.
• He-El led Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, and the others southwest of South City to reach Dr. Gero's Android Base before Cell could devour Android 17 and Android 18.