Who Goes There?

One year later, Age 740

At the Briefs residence

"Mr. Sun, we just received footage from one of my company's satellites. An unidentified spaceship is heading toward Earth, and it's expected to land in two hours!" Dr. Briefs handed Sun Yu a device resembling a tablet.

Lana and Bulma leaned in to look at the screen, while Ace, who had become Dr. Briefs's bodyguard, edged closer out of curiosity. The screen showed a single-pod spaceship traveling through space, exactly like the one Sun Yu and Lana had used to reach Earth.

"Saiyans!"

Sun Yu and Lana cried out at the same time. They exchanged a glance and fell silent. They tried to sense the newcomer's aura to estimate his battle power, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't detect anything.

Seeing that neither of them was saying a word, Bulma asked curiously, "Is this person one of big brother Sun Yu and big sister Lana's people? Is he here to take you away?"

Sun Yu smiled and gently patted Bulma's head. "He's probably one of our people, but we don't know what he's here for yet."

Who could it be? Sun Yu searched his memory. In the original story, Son Goku arrived on Earth in Age 743, so Sun Yu thought it was unlikely to be him. Could it be Vegeta? But if it was Vegeta, then even though he was only two years old, Sun Yu and Lana should still have been able to sense his aura.

Sun Yu thought it over, but couldn't come up with an answer. In the end, he decided to go see for himself. "Sis Lana, let's go check it out." Sun Yu was confident. With their current battle power, there were few people in the universe who could threaten them, aside from Frieza.

That's right. Over the past year, Sun Yu's battle power had caught up with Lana's. They had both reached 100,000. Though Lana had thrown herself into training like a madwoman after Sun Yu caught up with her, the foundation he had built in martial arts over the past year had begun to pay off.

That year, Sun Yu had reached mastery in the Knowledge Realm of martial arts, and his battle power had soared. He spent only half as much time training as Lana, yet his strength was already showing signs of surpassing hers. Lana had nearly rushed off to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber over it.

With a battle power of 300,000, and an even higher one after Great Ape Transformation, Sun Yu could probably take on Frieza unless he transformed into his final form.

"Hmph! If you want to go, go by yourself. I still have to train this afternoon!" Lana refused without hesitation. She still couldn't accept that Sun Yu had grown stronger than her.

"Come on, Sis Lana. You need to balance training with rest. If you keep forcing yourself to train, your body won't be able to take it," Sun Yu said with a faint smile.

"That's none of your business!" Lana's pretty face flushed red, and she turned and ran toward the Gravity Training Room.

Sun Yu watched Lana's retreating figure and shook his head. Then he turned to Bulma, who was leaning against him. "Are you coming too, Bulma?"

Hearing that Sun Yu was taking her out, Bulma happily planted a kiss on his cheek. "Sure, sure! Bulma wants to go play!"

Sun Yu smiled. Dr. Briefs shot Bulma an exasperated look. "All you ever do is play! Mr. Sun, I'll have to trouble you to look after Bulma."

"Relax, relax. With me around, you can rest easy!" Sun Yu waved at Dr. Briefs.

"Exactly! Dad, you're so naggy," Bulma said, making a face at Dr. Briefs.

Once he'd decided to go take a look, Sun Yu scooped up Bulma and flew high into the sky, quietly watching for the spaceship to arrive.

Two hours passed in a flash. Sun Yu and Bulma gazed up at the sky as a ball of fire appeared in the distance.

"Big brother Sun Yu, look! A spaceship!" Bulma excitedly pointed at the fiery object.

"Come on, let's follow it." Sun Yu shielded Bulma in his arms and followed the flaming object's path through the sky.

The spaceship streaked across the sky like a meteor, then headed toward a mountain range Sun Yu knew quite well: Mount Paozu!

Could it really be Son Goku? Sun Yu's thoughts were in turmoil. If it was Son Goku, that would explain why they couldn't sense his battle power. An infant Son Goku had a battle power of only 2, and sensing him from this far away would be extremely difficult!

The spaceship finally crashed into a gorge on Mount Paozu. Sun Yu carried Bulma down to the ground.

"Bulma, stay here and don't run off. I'll go get the spaceship and bring it up."

The spaceship had left a huge crater when it landed, so Sun Yu decided to move it to level ground first.

After flying down, Sun Yu peered through the transparent window. Inside the spaceship, a baby with a very distinctive hairstyle was crying.

There was only one person in the world with that hairstyle: a Low-Class Warrior, the Saiyan Kakarot, also known as Son Goku!

"So it really is you! Oh, no. The Dragon Clan storyline's completely gone off the rails. Why did you come to Earth so early?" Sun Yu sighed, rubbing his forehead. The butterfly effect he'd caused was already in motion. He had no idea what other changes the future would bring.

Sun Yu lifted the spaceship out of the crater, then set it down on level ground beside Bulma. When the hatch opened, Bulma stared wide-eyed at the baby inside and couldn't help exclaiming, "Wow, what a cute baby!" This was the first time Bulma and Son Goku had met in this world.

"Sweetheart, he's not as cute as you," Sun Yu thought silently. Suddenly, the spaceship began making a strange "zzzt, zzzt" sound and projected a hologram of a middle-aged man with a red, spiky hairstyle and a cape.

"This is... King Vegeta!" Sun Yu stared at the holographic image, full of questions. Bulma seemed frightened by King Vegeta's gaze and hid behind Sun Yu.

Soon, King Vegeta's hologram spoke in Saiyan Language: "My people scattered across the far reaches of the galaxy, I now need your strength. Immediately abandon your mission to invade Earth and report to Planet Vegeta. Otherwise, you will face my wrath..."

"Big brother Sun Yu, what's this person babbling about?"

Bulma couldn't understand Saiyan Language, so she asked Sun Yu curiously. He smiled helplessly. "Don't mind him. He's an idiot talking to himself."

From King Vegeta's few words, Sun Yu gathered several things. First, King Vegeta had known for a long time that he and Lana had come to Earth, but thought they were there to invade it. Second, King Vegeta was in desperate need of manpower, which made it all but certain that he had begun plotting to rebel against Frieza. Finally, he had probably sent Son Goku to Earth early to deliver a message and, while he was at it, take over the mission to invade the planet.

Just as Sun Yu was considering how to deal with the situation, a shout came from the distance. "Hey... up ahead! Is that young friend Sun?"

(PS: A lot of original-story nitpickers have flamed me, saying I don't even have the basic timeline straight. I know Son Goku was sent to Earth by Bardock before Planet Vegeta exploded. But nitpickers, please pay attention to this book's plot: King Vegeta is plotting a rebellion and needs to gather all available forces. Also, the protagonist has no communicator, so King Vegeta is recalling him and his companion this way. The author set this up with the later plot in mind. If you don't like it, please don't flame me!)