"But becoming a Super Saiyain isn't about power. It's about passion."
It wasn't often that you got shy Future Trunks involved in a real conversation, so Yamcha and company took advantage while they could.
"Well it has to be about power on some level—look how strong Goku had become when he made it. And Vegeta spent the last 3 years trying to catch up!" They were sitting on a set of circular stone benches at Kami's lookout. Gohan and Goku had only been in the time chamber for twenty minutes, but it felt like forever.
"That's true," Trunks replied, staring off into the distance, "and that's why Goku and Gohan are in the time chamber right now, but it's not about getting stronger, per se."
"Then what is it about?" asked Krillin. "I mean, surely if I were a Saiyan, even at my power level I couldn't become a Super Saiyan. Not as I am now."
"Well, that's the thing. It depends. Goku doesn't have to make Gohan any stronger—like Piccolo said, he isn't cut out to be a teacher." The winds up here were gusty and cold, and Trunks' hair whipped back enough to expose a high widow's peak identical to his father's. Yamcha was startled again; it was easy to forget that the soft-spoken, blue-eyed teen belonged to Vegeta.
"I don't get it." Krillin sat back on the bench, looked out across the white tiled platform and out into the open sky. Yamcha turned his head too. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Hard to think that it might be the last one for planet Earth. "I mean, Vegeta got there through training alone, right?"
"If that's what he claims, then he's lying to you or to himself." Trunks shook his head, no doubt as annoyed by his father's arrogance as everyone else. "Either way, it's an emotional response. You may hold the power, but you can't touch it until you reach a certain... climax, I guess."
Yamcha turned back to Trunks. "Ok," he conceded, "So if it's about passion he has to what—make Gohan angry?"
"Well, not exactly that either. When I was training with Gohan he spent months trying to rile me up, and I never made it."
"Then what pushed you over the edge finally?" asked Piccolo, who had snuck up behind them. Stealthy bastard.
"Gohan's death."
Oh.
Trunks lit a cigarette.
"You see, I had lived a sheltered life. I knew what was going on outside in my head, but I didn't know in my heart. And that's the key—the power is there, but to unlock it you really have to understand your situation."
"I think we all understand the situation here pretty well, kid."
"Okay, take the battle at Namek, for example. Goku had just watched his best friend die. He'd watched his greatest enemy die at the hands of an even more terrible one. He knew my mom was lost somewhere on the planet, he knew his 6 year old son was nearby and in the line of fire. He knew that all the inhabitants of the planet had been wiped out, murdered Freeza in pursuit of immortality, a purely selfish wish. What do you think he felt? Angry? Hurt? It's a powerful feeling, it wells up inside you. To reach that Super Saiyan power, you really have to feel the hurt of your closest friend when he dies. You have to feel his fear and his pain. You have to feel this overwhelming sense of sadness at the wasted life, you have to see the world falling apart around you and feel like there isn't anything you can do. Hopeless. It's almost a physical pain, squeezing across your chest." He stopped, put out the cigarette half-finished.
"And once you've done that, you can reach the power? Because the power was there the whole time?"
"Well, then you have to come to the realization that you're the only one left who can help. You have to know what you're fighting to protect, and why. It was when I found Gohan's body that I really realized for the first time that the fate of everything and everyone rested on my shoulders—that there was nobody left to stand between me and the enemy. It was anger, it was hate, and fear and hurt and rage and… such sadness. I was crying like a child when I first crossed the threshold to Super Saiyan."
Yamcha couldn't think of anything to say. That was the most words he'd heard Trunks speak in a row since they'd known him. Krillin, however, was still speculating. "So… Goku doesn't really have to teach Gohan anything. He just has to show him what it's like. He has to make him understand—uh, what you said." Yajirobe came up behind them with a bag of cookies.
"Right. Don't get me wrong, being strong is a big part of it. But to cross over, Goku just has to make him feel that feeling. I don't know how he'll go about it." A pause. Trunks pulled his jacket tighter around him, as if suddenly chilled. "He has to make him see what will happen if we fail. I'd trade it, you know?"
"Trade what?"
"The power. I'd trade it away. I could gladly go the rest of my life without having known such power, if I also never had to know such sorrow."
"Me and you both, kid." Said Yajirobe knowingly, and patted Trunks on the head. Yamcha wanted to slug him.
"Well I'm glad you made it." offered Krillin. "I mean, if you hadn't we'd all be dead right now. So thanks, kiddo." He grinned.
"He's right." Said Piccolo in his indifferent way. "We owe you a lot."
Trunks blushed bright red and lit another cigarette.