Amazing, hands down!

I couldn't stop reading. What a ride.

If you ever come around to writing a sequel, consider me a faithful reader!

I've never been fond of "the 3 years" fics, but now I desperately need one of this timeline. Wow I love THIS Vegeta And Bulma. Yours is definitely my favorite fic from now on. There was no romance and you got my hooked from the very beginning. Loved how the relationship betwenn Trunks and Vegeta developed. You are such a great writer!

Poor Trunks, the plot thickens by the minute.
There is only one way to repair the damage, and I can't imagine how you'll fit that into the storyline. But I'll be patient and just go on reading.

This alternative timeline holds so many possibilities.
I guess I sometimes forget what kind of guy Vegeta must have been all these years ago. This Trunks gets to know his father the hard way. No way to sugarcoat his past and the awful things he did even though most of them were under Freezer's orders.

I've re-read this story a good 3 or 4 times now, having discovered it a few months ago. I wish I could say that I didn't review then because I wanted to write something meaningful, but that would be lying. That said, I've got the time right now to let my fingers fly and talk about this story, so fly they shall.

I don't think it's possible to discuss this story in detail without acknowledging the amount of creative licenses you have to register for this story to even remotely remain plausible. As you acknowledge in this story, Trunks would literally be able to crush every threat he goes up against without the plot devices you register in this story. I'd have to go back and count, but the amount of times Trunks has been poisoned or nerfed by factors outside his control to create some tension in the plot has to be close to the double digits - especially with the idea of "energy sharing" from Frieza/Cooler. And yeah, I get why you had to do these things in order to move the story along. But it is a little funny, you have to admit, that the author had to go out of her way to stop the protagonist from just curb stomping everything in sight.

With that said, it's in SERVICE to your writing that I point these things out because I hold a very high respect for this story in spite of them. The way you chose to interpret Trunks and Vegeta here in particular. I think the cold, callous, dirty-fighter Vegeta that we see flashes of during the Namek Saga is one of the more fun interpretations of the character to play around with. And quite frankly, so many fanfics of Vegeta try to explore his softer side that sometimes it's just great to see this absolutely heartless villain be exactly who you know he absolutely was before ever setting foot on Earth. I hate, and I do mean hate, the whole sympathetic Vegeta backstory fanon(possibly influenced by his dying speech in the dub?) that has circulated around. He would've definitely still been evil, just serving his own whims instead of Frieza's.

I really love the stark contrast between how Trunks interacts with Vegeta in this fic vs. in canon. In the main timeline you can absolutely point to how Trunks' death changed Vegeta, but in this story I would argue that Vegeta changed Trunks far more substantially than vice versa. Trunks starts off as the same guy we always know, but his will to remain neutral and keep the timeline unchanged breaks with each passing chapter. His ruthlessness toward Dodoria once he realizes his father's life is on the line and the absolute war hound he becomes against Frieza is just top notch, and you can really feel that his morality has changed throughout this journey. He's still the same in the sense of protecting those he loves, but he's found his own confidence and doesn't have that same wet behind the ears mentality toward life. Speaking of, I love the fact that Trunks begins to swear like a sailor near the end to resemble his father moreso, and I usually "hate" excessive cursing in DBZ fanfics(Toriyama used them fairly sparingly). Plus, Trunks giving Vegeta the kill in the present timeline we all know... it shows how much he has come to understand his father. That canon timeline will be saved, easily, with Trunks's strength - but one has to wonder if Ginyu, Frieza and Cooler coming to Earth would improve the androids' strength even further now that Gero surely knows about Super Saiyans.

I recognize that you've moved on from this site as a writer, but if I were reviewing this story the day it finished, I would have to say that the "missing years" story would be something I would read(because of how strong your writing is) but it's not something I would have necessarily wanted, if that makes sense. I think there's a mystique that comes with your form of Vegeta being left off here, and I think it's better to leave that to the imagination. And while I'd selfishly love to see your spin on the androids here, I also don't know what narrative you would have left to tell - though despite you saying this was such a hard story to write, I'm sure you could have come up with some new developments for Vegeta and Trunks if you wanted to. With that said, this story just feels complete as it is, and I think that the open-ended ending you provide not only serves the original Trunks' message of "hope!" being written on the time machine, but also incentivizes me as a reader to re-read the fic all over again - and I'm sure I will eventually!

By the way, EXTREMELY nice fake-out on Trunks being Yamcha's son instead of Vegeta's. Until I read that line about Trunks' tail, I could've bought into the idea that this version of Bulma and Vegeta wouldn't have gotten together. I'm sure that was intentional and it absolutely casted a few doubts in my mind. Because sure, Vegeta definitely isn't the same as he was prior to Trunks, but I LOVE that he hasn't redeemed himself by any stretch of the imagination and is more just acting in accordance with his Saiyan pride and honor. The way I see how you wrote Vegeta's final conversation with Raditz and even Bulma in the finale, he couldn't give a shit about the androids or even Earth(beyond MAYBE baby Trunks and Bulma - I really love that this part of the story is open to interpretation, another reason I think where you left off is the perfect endpoint), but he does care about the promise he made to the son he fought alongside; that matters more than anything to him.

I have one major criticism and one only. I think that Nappa's death is one of the most forced parts of this series, even though I understand both why you did it and that he served no greater use to the narrative from that point on. Raditz's usefulness to the plot is clear as a reason for the Earthlings to learn about Frieza and set up these new weapons(as well as an intermediary between Vegeta/Trunks and the Z-Fighters), but Nappa had plain nothing to do. And while sure it was great seeing Vegeta be the cold, evil, unrepentant prick we know him to be, I can't help but think that it just came way too out of left field. I know Vegeta's whole gimmick in this story is not trusting anyone or putting anything past anyone, and this DOES advance that, but considering that he literally gets shoved into the dirt by the Ginyus a minute later... I think it would've been fine to give them the kill on Nappa, if you truly had no need for him anymore. What you did is not out of character by any means given what literally happens in canon, and it certainly manages to add onto Vegeta's coldness. I just can't shake that it feels so out of left field and unlike mostly everything else you've done in the story.

I feel like I may just be bouncing around subjects from here, but I can't end this review without mentioning that Vegeta's ascension to Super Saiyan in this story and Trunks' death felt very telegraphed, but sometimes being predictable isn't a bad thing. You built up to this moment so very well that the payoff was incredibly satisfying; in fact the ascension scene you wrote alone is one of my favorite takes for SSJ on this site.

Thank you for giving a year and a half of your free time to this story. It's clearly entertained a lot more people than just me, and has done so for over a decade - but it still remains a great read every time I feel an itch to revisit this site. I hope life's treating you well post Fanfiction!

Thank you so much for this! :))

stumbled upon this story in finding long lost DBZ fics I read once upon a time in highschool. I'm really glad my search took me to this wonderful work. The story is grippingintense which led me to binge read it for the next 10 hours or so. Mirai Trunks has always been my favorite character in the whole DBZ sagaI'm glad to see a slightly different side of him in this work. I'd be lying if I say that I'm not a bit interested on what happened between BulmaVegeta while Trunks was back home in his own timeline. So yes, I would gladly kill to read a sequel for it (no pressure ofc). I am kinda sad that Trunks traveled back to correct timeline the second time around since I'm greatly anticipating the gang's reunion albeit at the face of the two androids' threat.

All in all, I really adored this storyits take on one of my beloved childhood characters. Thank you very much for sharing your work with us!

I come back and reread this every couple of years. Recently I rewatched DBZ abridged and it pulled me back here. Thanks for this long lasting joy.

I read this everything I remember it exists. Thank you. Its probably the only fanfiction I read these days.

this is a really well written fanfiction one of the best reads i have had in a long time. Its one of the few fanficts that i will be adding to my collection you are such a good fanfiction writer. i hope you do write a sequel at some point. i applaud you for finishing this fanfiction as many good stories writers just forget about them and never complete them. Its so bad sometimes that i have started only reading completed stories however if you started a sequel i would read it. thanks for completing this fanfiction i really enjoyed the read.

what a dam good fanfiction well done i wonder what the last chapter will be like.

well that shows that vegeta respect Raddatz a lot more now than he did before he is offering raditz a choice weather to come with him and rule as his right hand man or stay on earth.

well frieza pissed off the wrong saiyan and as Saiyan's are stronger wene they are dripping with anger and loss like vegete is this should be a very interesting fight.

wow i hope vegteta is still alive and can use the last sinzu bean on himself after frieza leaves him. vegeta is so close to the super Saiyan transformation all he needs in a push a reason.

ya its kinda sad that trunks may not be born in this timeline,i still cant rap my mid around how he was born in the original dragon ball z vegetas not the type to settle down.