Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or its related characters. All is the property of FUNamation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, and Toriyama Akira. I'm just borrowing them for some light-heated entertainment.

Campaign

Prologue: Adversary

All the greatest conquerors had equally great adversaries. Tokugawa Ieyasu had Ishida Mitsunari. Leonidas had Xerxes. Sherlock Holmes had Moriarty. His father has Goku.

All were masters in their chosen fields. All challenged their respective counterparts, prompting them to work harder, fight smarter, think more creatively, so that when their victory was finally claimed, it would be all the sweeter. Who, then, in his chosen arena did Trunks have?

The obvious answer to most would be Son Goten. His best friend and frequent sparring partner. The boys remained consistently equal in terms of power and strength. But Goten had never been much of a challenge when it came to intelligence. To strategy and manipulation. Goten was to easily influenced. To easily controlled. He and Trunks had been best friends almost since the day Goten had been born. As such, Trunks knew all his buttons and triggers, knew just what to say to get him to lose focus on the match and leave himself open to his friend's winning blow. Or just the right thing to bribe or blackmail him with to coax the other demi-Saiyan into his notorious mischief. They would always be best friends and they would always be rivals, Trunks would always go to him to test his physical strength, try out a new technique he thought up, or to just spend some time with someone his own age who shared his unique... circumstances. But as far as a challenge went, he wanted something more.

Sadly, nothing like what Trunks wanted could be found within their group of friends. Or even the expanded fighting community. Not many people with brains delight in pounding them out of others. Or, if they do, they don't usually keep those brains very long. One solid blow to the human skull could do anything between lowering an IQ by 5 points or cause permanent brain damage -hell! even death. Trunks wouldn't find an intellectual opponent among the Z-senshi or any of Earth's 'fighters'. He would have to look elsewhere.

As it happened, Trunks found his challenger completely by accident and in the least likely of places. His own middle school, just after announcing his plan to run for Student Council President.

The young heir to the Capsule Corporation and descendent of Saiyan royalty hadn't expected any opposition to his bid for the position. After all, who in this whole godforsaken school would run against him? He had the almost perfect GPA that seemed to be an un-written requisite for the job, which made the faculty happy. Plus, the looks that would win him the popular votes from the main (female) portion of the student body. Not to mention his extra-curriculars as Treasurer of the Robotics Club, Under Secretary for the Science League, and of course, Captain of the Kendo Team. His Presidency on the Student Council should have been assured.

That was, until his opponent announced her intention to run.

At first, Trunks was livid. How dare that little bitch try and wrest power from him! The position of Student Council President was basically 'King of the School', it was his by right! He was a prince who deserved a throne.

Using his leverage as heir to his mother's company, Trunks had the Capsule Corp. security staff run a thorough background check on her. Because, as his father was constantly drilling into him, you must first know your enemy before you can engage them. Trunks intended to learn everything. Every last skeleton out of every last closet she ever owned, ever speck of dirt no matter how microscopic would be used to his advantage if played the right way. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard a voice -that sounded suspiciously like Goten's goody-goody brother- saying that smear campaigns where beneath him and that he should try and win by his own merit. But he squished that voice down, smothered it under his father's voice reminding him that to lose to an inferior opponent is the single greatest shame a Saiyan Elite could endure and that victory should be his only concern. Only fools and idiots concerned themselves with 'fighting fair'.

Panni Rajkumari

Born Age 767

Daughter of Ashok and Korwaki Rajkumari. A wealthy family, originally from the southern part of the eastern continent. Moved to West City when Panni was eight. An only child. Her parents own a a computer company that designs military grade software. Capsule Corp. has even commissioned them twice over the past five years. Inversely, what the company doesn't report on its annual tax return is that they also manufacture viruses for less reputable clients. Those commissions are handled under the table by her father only and its unlikely Panni knows anything about them to begin with. Trunks filed it in the back of his mind in case it might become useful, but to beat her in the Student Council elections he would need something a bit more relevant to the concerns of the average middle school student.

As far as her academics went, Panni had never gotten a grade lower than B+. Her current GPA was 3.9 with her lowest grade being an A-. She was active in the Girls' League, Drama Club and was Captain of the Naginata Team. Trunks licked his lips in anticipation when he read that. He found himself wondering how her naginatajutsu skills might hold up against his mastery of kendo. Perhaps after he won the presidency and completely destroyed her, they could have a match. After all, while he could easily crush her into the dirt with a simple flick of his wrist, weak human that she was, fighting with sword or naginata wasn't about strength, but skill. Weapons combat was one of the few sports on Earth where a human might actually pose a challenge to a Saiyan, because all the strength in the world wouldn't help them against an opponent who actually knew what they were doing.

She had never been involved in any version of a school yard scandal, and as far as CC's investigators could find, she had never had a boyfriend, girlfriend, or even owned a body pillow. She did, however, have a brief crush on the Great Saiyaman for one year between the ages of nine and ten. Well, if she liked that goody-goody Gohan then maybe she wasn't all that smart after all.

In short, she was a rich spoiled brat that was used to getting what she wanted. Trunks would crush her like a worm!

She might not be great. But Trunks found his intellectual challenge.

Their chosen arena was Politics. Their battle ground was the school. Only one of them could come out with his dignity intact. The looser would be left to wallow in the shame of her defeat, the unwanted dredge of the school.

Let the battle be joined.

...

(A/N: Not sure if I'll actually continue this or not. I have a terrible track-record when it comes to actually finishing stories. Either way, I hope you enjoy my little prologue.)