So many things had happened within the past week, it was difficult to tell what was going to happen next. Travelling realities, meeting her father for the first time, then wishing back her father to her own reality. Training, talking, catching up...
She ran through everything silently in her mind as she stared up at the sky, then closed her eyes as if to soak in the astro-rays.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping in a bed of some sort?" a voice called from above her. Her eyes snapped open to look up at the smirking figure. A smile touched her lips.
"I was just thinking, Tousan," she said softly, sitting up as Vegeta landed quietly beside her and sat down.
"About what?" he asked curiously, looking up at the sky. He obviously noticed that the sky seemed brighter as well.
She looked up at him and smiled. "About everything," She replied. "Well, mostly about what's been happening lately."
He smiled down at her. "Aah, yes. Much has happened within the past few weeks, ne?"
She nodded quietly, then looked past him. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she gasped. Vegeta raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What is it?" he asked. Trunks quickly pointed behind him, and he turned to look toward the horizon, his eyes widening as well. "The moon?!" he gaped. "How did that get back up there?!"
Trunks remained staring at it quietly, and Vegeta somewhat calmed down. She had never seen the moon before in her life, and it didn't appear to be full yet, so he let her. "Maybe someone wished it back," he muttered.
"It's beautiful..." Trunks said quietly. Vegeta nodded slightly.
"I suppose it is," he replied coolly. Trunks looked up at him then, and smiled.
"Tousan," she remarked. "I've never seen the moon before, except in pictures. I'm sure you've seen it before and not thought twice about it."
He paused a moment, watching her, then looked over again to gaze at the moon. "You're right, Trunks," he admitted. "I'd never thought twice about it."
They both stayed staring up at the moon for a while, until something suddenly caught Vegeta's eye. He turned to look, but didn't see anything there, and he frowned.
Trunks tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Tousan? What did you see?" she looked as well, but didn't see anything. "I don't see anything..."
"Shhh!" Vegeta hissed as he got to his feet quickly. Trunks also got to her feet, now watching her father closely as he narrowed his eyes. He quickly jumped off the roof, followed closely by Trunks, who was now quickly putting on her jacket.
"What is it, Tousan?" she asked quietly. He didn't reply, and instead jumped closer to the object, until he was only a dozen feet away. Trunks stared a moment at it. "I see now..."
It was a large sphere, about the size of one of the Namekian Dragonballs, but it was a deep purple, with swirling greens and blues floating on the inside.
"What is it?" Trunks asked, staring at it in awe. Vegeta shook his head in reply. Trunks reached forward to touch it, but Vegeta quickly grabbed her wrist.
"Don't," he hissed, "it could be dangerous."
"Tousan, I'll be al—" she suddenly stopped, eyes widening. "T-t-Tousan!" she stammered.
Vegeta turned his head, eyes widening as well as he globe had reached out, and taken hold – or rather, grown over – Trunks's hand. "Shit!" he yelled, trying to pull her back.
"Tousan, that isn't working!!" Trunks screeched as it began taking in more of her arm, seeming like liquid. Suddenly, the main part of the globe grew, drawing much closer, and taking hold of Vegeta's arm. "Tousan, what's happening?!"
"I.. don't... know!" he managed while trying to fight the substance futilely. Within seconds, the fight proved to be useless, as both he and Trunks were consumed into the globe.
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Trunks muttered as they looked over their new surroundings.
"What are you talking about?!" Vegeta snapped, obviously extremely aggravated at this point. "Have you gone mad?"
"No, of course not. It was just... Nevermind." She shook her head, looking around a bit more. They were in a clearing of some sort, with nothing but forest surrounding them. Thick, and with unfathomably tall trees of all kinds towering over them. "How big is this forest?" she asked more to herself than her father.
"Not sure. I'll take a look," he said. He paused for a moment, then Trunks looked at him confusedly. He closed his eyes and tried to focus. Tried to fly. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes again. "Shit!" he exclaimed, and Trunks walked closer to him.
"What the matter?" she asked confusedly.
He turned toward her. "Trunks, can you fly?" he asked.
Trunks looked mildly insulted. "Of course I can!" she exclaimed. Vegeta watched her for a moment as she paused, then looked off to the side confusedly.
"Didn't think so," he muttered. "Neither can I."
"Tousan... Nevermind the flying, why are we here? There must have been some reason for that globe thing to have been there."
Vegeta shook his head again, and sighed lightly. "I don't know, Trunks."
"Well, we certainly aren't going to find anything out by standing around here!" she started walking forward, and her father quickly took her shoulder. She turned her head slightly to give him a look. "Do you expect the answers to come to you, Tousan?"
There was a brief pause, then Vegeta grudgingly released his grip, following alongside her closely, his senses heightened to the extreme. He wasn't about to let anything in this strange new place attack him or his daughter.
It didn't take long before Vegeta seemed to be leading the pair, telling which directions to go, as Trunks followed quietly. They walked on for well over an hour, and Vegeta kept getting a bad feeling about him. A feeling that he was being watched, which was an extremely unwelcome feeling in his mind.
Trunks suddenly stopped walking, and Vegeta turned to face her. "Why did you stop?" he demanded. "It was your idea to start walking in the first place!"
Trunks gave him a curious look for a moment, then a smirk touched her lips. "You have no idea where you're going." She said calmly.
"So what?" he grumbled. "We don't know this place anyway. If we just keep walking, we're sure to find something. Or someone, at least."
Trunks sighed and kneeled down to the ground. "I was afraid of this, Tousan, so I marked a spot on our path." She looked around a moment in the lower bushes and pulled out a rock. She examined it closely – or as closely as she could, as it was pitch black out – and stood up, showing it to her father. "I put that mark there."
He gave her a skeptical look for a moment. "That could have been made by-" he suddenly cut himself off and snatched the stone away and stared at in incredulously. "Wha- How did you do this?!" he hissed.
Trunks shrugged lightly. "I did it with another rock. Works kind of like chalk on a chalkboard. Why do you ask?"
He turned the flat part of the rock – the part she'd marked on – toward her. "Are you sure you marked this? With this symbol?"
She looked at it again, then nodded. "Yeah, why? What's the big deal? So I marked a rock..." she trailed off as Vegeta shook his head.
"Do you even know what it means?" he asked, staring at the rock again.
"No, not really," she muttered. "Just a little symbol I use when I think I'm going around places in circles," she smirked. "Like now, for instance."
"Trunks, this is written in Sayiango. This is a symbol commonly used..." he paused a moment. "Like how humans often use the "X" to mark a particular point."
She looked amused, but didn't say anything further as Vegeta frowned pensively, then dropped the rock down onto the ground, turning to face her, crossing his arms. "Well," he sighed. "Do you have any more bright ideas?"
Trunks paused a moment, blinking a few times. "Yes," he said. "I think I do." She pulled a compass from her pocket and opened it, using a built-in light to see it. She frowned suddenly.
"What?" Vegeta asked impatiently. "Don't you have a device that points home?" he looked over to see the compass, then quirked a brow. "Isn't the needle supposed to just point in one direction?" he asked.
"Didn't know you knew so much about compasses," she sneered, shutting the compass quickly and shoving it back into her pocket. "Yeah, it's obviously broken. Either that or wherever we are has a huge magnetic force coming from all directions, in which case—"
"Yeah, yeah, enough with the blathering already!" Vegeta yelled. "Where are we?!"
Trunks gave him a serious look. "We're nowhere." She replied solemnly. "I don't know. We're no place on earth as we know it. We must be in another dimension of some sort."
He narrowed his eyes quickly. "Another dimension?!" he snapped. "You can't mean that we—"
"We'd have halos," Trunks replied quickly. She looked around her surroundings, then up at the sky, which didn't seem to show any signs of growing lighter yet. "Tousan, perhaps we should continue this little journey in the morning." She yawned.
Vegeta quickly growled. "Don't you dare-" But it was too late. Trunks had already slumped against him, eyes closed. He quickly hissed, grabbing hold of her, then brought her over by a tree to rest. He himself stood up against the tree, watching her wearily.
So much had happened with him, as well, within the past little while. Before he had been wished back by Dragonballs from the reality Trunks had visited, he hadn't seen his daughter for ten years. Ten years, and so much had changed in her. She wasn't quite as powerful as if she'd been training her whole life, but yet she already managed to achieve the level of Super Saiyan.
A smile touched his lips as he remembered how her power level had increased dramatically in that state, even though she hadn't previously reached her highest potential, nor had she achieved it through the usual method of grief beyond imagining.
Before he realized it, he found himself sitting down beside Trunks, his own eyelids drooping, despite his attempts to stay alert. It seemed the harder he'd try, the faster he'd start falling asleep.
"Tousan."
Vegeta jerked his head quickly to look over. It was Trunks, looking up at him, now seeming wide-awake. "Hai?"
"Tou, you can sleep now. I'll stand guard." She said softly. He shook his head quickly.
"No, Trunks. You're too tired, and you'd fall asleep. Besides, if something were to come, and I not be awake..."
Trunks looked insulted. "Otousan, you don't trust me?" she asked quietly. "At the first sign of trouble, I'll wake you, I promise." He looked over at her, and sighed.
"First sign?" he repeated.
"Hai," Trunks nodded. "I'll wake you at every weird noise!" she laughed lightly. Vegeta sighed, then nodded, closing his eyes and drifting to sleep almost instantly.
Vegeta woke once from his sleep before morning. Light had almost broken, but he was far from sufficiently rested. He heard a scraping sound a little while away, and what sounded like a soft muffled cry. He turned his head to see where it was coming from, and saw Trunks standing over a fire pit, starting a fire for breakfast.
She turned to smile at him. "Go back to sleep, Otousan," she said calmly. "Everything's fine, I'm just getting breakfast ready!" She sounded overly cheerful, but Vegeta didn't seem to care as he drifted to sleep again.
When he did wake, however, it was to the delightful smell of meat cooking over the fire, and berries being mashed into some sort of jam.
He rubbed his eyes and stood up, then walked over to the food, looking around for any signs of Trunks. "Trunks?" he asked wearily. He saw her sword lying against a tree nearby. 'When did she get the time to bring that along with her?' he asked himself as he walked over toward it.
Vegeta tensed as something suddenly jumped out of the bushes and in front of him. He readied himself to attack, before he realized that the figure was familiar. "Trunks," he hissed. "Don't scare me like that! I could have blasted you into oblivion!"
Trunks smiled calmly. "Gomen, Otousan." She said, turning to pick up her sword and clip it on. "Breakfast should be ready now." She walked over to the fireplace and – using her left arm – pulled the stick away from the fire and swung it around in the air a bit to cool it down. "Did you have a nice sleep, Otousan?" she asked.
Vegeta nodded absently, watching the food carefully. He then looked at her curiously a moment, and wondered why she was calling her 'Otousan' instead of 'Tousan' or 'Tou' like she usually did. She was also more calm than usual, and he was actually quite surprised that she hadn't fallen asleep at post.
"Otousan, the food is ready!" she said cheerfully, taking a bite from the meat. Vegeta couldn't really tell what it was that she had shishkibobbed, but he was too hungry right now to care. He quickly snatched it and tore away at - whatever it was - hungrily. He was somewhat bothered that Trunks was staring at him intently, until she abruptly turned and grabbed the berry jam she'd made from a piece of bark.
Vegeta stopped and stared at her. "Trunks, when did you learn how to do all this?" he wondered, watching her closely. She looked up at him and smiled soberly. There was something missing in her eyes, replaced by something else that he couldn't quite place. Maybe she was tired. Maybe he was. Vegeta quickly dismissed the thought.
Once breakfast was over with, the two covered up any signs that they were there, and headed out into the forest once again. To Vegeta's surprise, Trunks seemed to be leading the way at every opportunity. 'She must have been very tired last night' he mused silently to himself.
Vegeta paused at one apparent fork, as Trunks started down a path that had obviously been traveled down before. She noticed his hesitation and turned around. "Something the matter, Otousan?" she asked innocently.
"We've been here before," he explained. "I recognize this place quite well. We've been down this way twice, perhaps three times before." He gave her a suspicious look. "Why are we traveling in circles, Trunks?"
"We haven't been here, before," she said calmly. "We just have to walk this way..." she started toward the worn path, and Vegeta continued along toward the other path.
Trunks quickly turned to him. "Otousan! You can't go that way!" she said quickly. Vegeta stopped and gave her a look. Now he knew something was wrong.
He continued along the unworn path, and Trunks quickly put her hand on his shoulder. He grabbed her wrist and growled at her. "What is wrong with this path?" he demanded. Trunks hesitated.
"You just... You can't go that way!" she insisted. Vegeta continued walking then, pulling Trunks by the wrist, whom he was now severely doubting was actually Trunks.
Suddenly, he heard a loud yelp from in the distance. He jerked his head around every direction to hear where it came from. He turned quickly to Trunks and narrowed his eyes. "What was that?" he hissed.
Trunks shrugged casually. "I don't know. Let's get out of here." She turned to leave, but Vegeta quickly took her by the arm.
"What's wrong, Trunks?" he sneered. "Are you scared?"
Trunks hesitated.
"Wrong answer, imposter!" he quickly jumped away from her and into a fighting stance. "Who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?!" he demanded.
Trunks frowned. Then, as if nothing had even changed, Trunks wasn't there anymore. It was as though she had just turned straight into air.
Another cry of pain sounded from a distance. Vegeta's eyes widened. Trunks! He quickly started to run toward the voice, as quickly as his legs could carry him. After about five minutes of running, he stopped and looked around. He now had no idea where he was going, nor what he was doing.
'What is happening?!" he thought desperately to himself, as if he could get an answer. He closed his eyes and tried to find Trunks's ki. Nothing. In fact, he couldn't find anything by ki in this place.
He growled, then risked a lot by yelling, "TRUNKS!"
He paused a moment, and heard something move in the bushes to his right. He turned quickly, ready for an attack. "Trunks?" he asked quietly.
~Tou,~ a soft voice passed through his mind. Telepathy. Obviously the hold that this place had on their kis did not have the same effect on their mental connection.
He focused his thoughts. She obviously knew where he was, if she could direct the telepathy to him so clearly, and she can't have been in too much trouble at the moment. He looked around carefully, watching for anything that may be a sign.
~Tou, look right.~ Vegeta snapped his head to look around, then stepped toward the bushes. A hiss of pain emanated from about a dozen yards away. He moved the branches of the trees that were in his way to see.
Suddenly, Trunks was at his feet, unconscious, and she'd obviously undergone a fair amount of physical abuse. He quickly kneeled down and put two fingers to her neck. She was alive, and strongly at that.
He turned his focus back to where she was thrown from. Two figures stood there, and now that they knew he knew they were there, they both chuckled. One of the figures, a man quite obviously, stepped forward into full view. He was a tall, with longish curly blond hair and deep brown eyes that looked almost unreal.
"About time you showed up," the man said, seeming amused. "I was wondering how many times we'd have to deal with her." He motioned toward Trunks with his hand.
Vegeta growled. "What have you done to her?!" he demanded.
The other figure stepped forward. A female, but with strong build, with shorter, much darker hair than the man's, and eyes that reminded Vegeta of the globe that he and Trunks had been sucked into.
"We haven't done anything to your daughter, Prince Vegeta," she said calmly.
He snapped his head up. "How do you know who I am?!"
The man laughed, and took his turn to speak. "Everyone knows you who are, Prince Vegeta. That's why we brought you here."
"What do you want with me and Trunks?" Vegeta asked, only slightly more calm, as he picked Trunks up off the ground and held her in his arms. "And why when did you take her? Why? Why was I lead in circles around this Goddamned forest?!"
The girl smiled calmly. "We care nothing for Trunks. Simply that she would be good bait to lead you here. You were lead in circles as a test. We didn't think it would take you so long to catch on."
"Well then, take Trunks home if she's no part of this!" he hissed.
"I'm afraid we can't do that," the girl said quietly. "She is here now, and we no longer have control of the sphere. She is, needless to say, stuck here. As you are."
"Why the hell do you want me anyway?" He didn't get a reply as Trunks shifted in his arms, groaning. "Trunks," he said as her eyes snapped open.
"Tou!" she managed weakly, a small stream of blood making its way from her mouth. Vegeta lowered her legs to the ground and allowed her to stand, but holding her up still to balance her.
"Are you alright Trunks?" he asked quietly. She nodded quietly, straining to keep her balance as she stared at the two strangers cautiously. "What did they do to you, Trunks?" his voice was kept low.
Trunks looked up at him and opened her mouth to answer, but the stranger girl answered instead. "She kept trying to escape, for one. Secondly, she wouldn't shut the hell up!" she lost her calm it seemed for an instant, then quickly regained her posture.
Vegeta looked down at his daughter. "Wouldn't shut up?" he inquired. Trunks shrugged and smirked weakly. He turned back to the two. "You didn't answer my one question, what do you want with me?!"
"To tell you the truth, Prince Vegeta, we aren't the ones who wanted you here in the first place." The woman said slowly.
Vegeta was just about to lose his temper at this point. "WHO DID, THEN?!" he nearly screamed.
"We are here to test you," the woman replied.
Vegeta, still angry from not having been answered, growled. "What kind of test?"
"Several different styles of tests, Prince Vegeta. Some much easier than others. We simply need to have a few questions answered."
Vegeta narrowed his eyes quickly. "So ask, bakayaro!" he quickly turned his attention to Trunks, who was struggling to keep her balance, so he slung her arm around his neck and held onto her.
When he looked back toward the couple in front of them, they suddenly weren't there anymore. He looked around quickly, ready for an attack, but quickly turned his head toward Trunks again, as she was beginning to cough up a fair amount of blood.
He quickly kneeled down, bringing her down to her knees as well, leaning her over gently to cough toward the ground. Once she seemed finished, he helped her back up, allowing her to lean against him.
"So," he said quietly, "It was 'her' who had made that breakfast, and lead me into those many circles." He scowled, as she looked up at him, wiping excess blood off her face.
She nodded silently, and Vegeta sighed. She hadn't said anything to her since 'Tou', when he'd just found her again. Quite frankly, he was beginning to get worried.
"And it was 'her' who had made that symbol on the rock while we were walking through the forest?" he was surprised as Trunks shook her head. He quirked an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me that you knew that symbol?" Trunks nodded. He sighed exasperatedly. "Trunks, why aren't you talking?"
She shrugged silently. Vegeta sighed again, but didn't bother to try to persuade her any further into speaking. For now, he was too tired already.
They started walking again, only slower because of Trunks's injuries. Actually, Trunks kept urging him to walk faster, but he refused, knowing that, if she were to injure herself any further by walking too quickly, there weren't any first aid stations around.
After a while, Trunks stopped walking. Vegeta turned toward her. "What is it now?!" he asked exasperatedly.
She bent over and picked up a familiar rock. She turned it over and revealed the Saiyan symbol, which she had written on it before. He growled loudly. "We're exactly where we started!! How is that possible?!"
Trunks sighed soundlessly and shook her head, shrugging. She stood up again and looked around a moment, before pointing at the ground. Vegeta raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "What is it, Trunks?" he looked down at the ground.
It was then he noticed that the ground wasn't completely solid where they were standing. It seemed to be the path itself wasn't even made of solid ground, but more like... He kneeled down to inspect the ground further, then his eyes widened quickly.
"SCALES?!" he screeched, standing up again. Trunks blinked a few times, as if she already knew, but was in shock, then she looked up at him. His eyes quickly focused on something behind her. It appeared to be approaching them at a fairly fast pace.
"Trunks, look out!" he yelled, shoving her out of the way as a rather large set of fangs sank into his arm.
"TOU!!" Trunks screamed, running back over to him. She quickly grabbed the creature's head at both sides of the jaw, forcing its huge jaws open and away from Vegeta. She pushed it back abruptly and –surprisingly – it backed away and slithered away quickly, taking the 'ground' out from under them.
They stumbled onto the real ground, which was only about two or three feet lower than the snake's back and Trunks turned to her father in a rush. "Tou, are you alright?" she looked at his wound. "That was probably a poisonous snake! We have to get that tended to right away! Give me your arm!"
He frowned, then looked down at his arm. "It wasn't poisonous," he said calmly.
"How are you so sure?" she scowled.
"I'm not feeling the poison. And with fangs that big," he pointed to the wound marks on his arm, "I think the poison would already have killed me, if not seriously paralyzed me."
Trunks frowned, then looked down at his arm. "Well, we should get it dressed."
"With what?!" he growled, gesturing to the surroundings. "I doubt there's going to be any first aid kits just lying around here! What do you expect to use, leaves and dirt?!" he was getting just about enough of this. He hated the fact that he didn't know where he was, nor where he was going, nor what he was doing there, or what was going to be done with him and his daughter.
Trunks stood up quietly, and watched him as he stood as well. "Where the hell are those fucking bastards who brought us here?!" he demanded. Trunks frowned and took a step back, as Vegeta continued his ranting. "I'll teach those bastards to fuck with me!" he felt his anger rise within him.
Trunks took another step back, eyes widened warily. "Tousan, calm down!" she said, holding her hands up defensively.
He shot her a look, but then calmed slightly as he saw her frightened expression. What was the matter? He turned around to see if there was something there, but saw nothing. Nothing but the same forest, the same trees and the same paths that he and Trunks had been following for nearly a full day now.
He turned to her again, anger surfaced and nearly to the extreme. "I'm not going to take this shit anymore!" he turned to run off the path, into the forest, but Trunks quickly grabbed him by the arm. He turned on her quickly, and – unable to help himself anymore – punched her straight in the face.
Trunks stumbled back, then fell down, holding her face in pain. Vegeta straightened and watched her for a moment. On the surface of his thoughts, he knew she was an obstacle. She wouldn't let him go off-course. Hell, she was probably just another fake Trunks!
Yet, another part of his mind knew his daughter. Another part of his mind, hidden, suppressed beneath his thriving anger, knew that she was worried about him.
He easily dismissed the deep-down thoughts. Now was not the time to stop and think. They'd been thinking for too long. Now was the time to act. He took Trunks by the front of her shirt and lifted her off the ground.
She took her hands from her face quickly and grabbed his wrist with both hands, revealing that her nose was bleeding a bit, and the expression on her face showed fear.
Vegeta smirked evilly. It'd been so long since he'd been in a position with this power. Since he'd 'resigned' as a ruthless "Bad guy", he'd never really been able to see the faces of pure fear that he himself would usually conjure.
Since he had become one of the 'good guys', resided with Bulma, fell in love, had a daughter, Trunks......
His eyes widened in realization. What was he doing?! Was he going to attack his own daughter?? Was this what had become of him, to attack the people he loved? After betraying his race name, by fighting alongside those he meant to kill, would he betray them as well to meet his own anger?
He put Trunks back down on the ground and let her go quickly. She stumbled back a moment, watching him cautiously, but not saying anything.
A brief silence hung in the air which seemed almost deafening, as Vegeta looked down at his own hands, then asked – more to himself than his daughter – "What am I doing??"
Trunks approached him slowly and put a hand to his shoulder. "Tou, I don't think that brief, um, outburst... was your fault." He looked up at her confusedly. She still had a small stream of blood under her nose. She was looking up at him, smiling softly.
"Why not...?" he said confusedly. She reached forward and touched the wound on his arm, which had now miraculously healed over.
"This place has a lot of strange things that we don't know about, Tou," she said quietly. "I was half-watching the wound on your arm. The more you got angry, the faster it healed."
Vegeta looked down at his arm. He didn't know how anger could have healed a wound that deep, even if Saiyans did heal at a much faster rate than humans. This almost seemed impossible. He looked back up at Trunks. "We've been taking the path for nearly a full day now. We appear to be travelling in circles, no matter which path we take."
Trunks nodded. "Maybe we should try walking through the forest, then. It may be dangerous, but it'll probably get us better luck than the path."
Without any further response, they both walked further into the forest. No obstacles showed themselves as they walked. No more snakes, any unwilling turns in any paths, any other people...
After walking for about three hours – what seemed like forever to Vegeta in the silence, but Trunks didn't appear bothered at all – They approached a building, which was circular around the sides, with a very high, flat ceiling.
They approached the building cautiously, aware of anything, but nothing approached or attacked them as they walked over and pulled the door open. The inside seemed clean, even though there were vines grown up and across the walls. There was a long hallway that split into two corridors. They walked to the split, nodded to each other once, then headed separate directions cautiously.
Vegeta hesitated as he reached a large doorway. He walked through to see a small room full of people. Not humans, but many different species of aliens, which he suspected lived in this strange world. He kept his guard up. Only a few of the strangers glanced over at them.
One of them actually smiled at him. "Are you here to see the fight?" it asked in a slightly garbled, masculine voice.
Vegeta frowned. "What fight?" he asked as he looked over toward a glass wall. Through the wall, he saw a large dome-like room, with no entrances or exits save one across the room.
~Trunks,~ Vegeta said telepathically to his daughter. ~Where are you?~
~Not sure..~ Trunks seemed unsure. ~I keep walking down this hall...~
~Trunks, turn around and go back!~ he said, realizing that the other hallway lead to the dome. There was a brief pause.
~I can't. There's a wall or something and I can't turn around. What's going on here?~
~I think you're being lead to a fighting gym, Trunks.~ he replied. He didn't get any answer as a small figure walked out of the entrance to the gym. It was Trunks, looking rather confused. She turned as if to walk back through the doorway, but was quickly pushed back by another figure.
The other figure looked somewhat like Kakarot, by the fact that he looked muscular, tall and powerful and had similar spiky hair. Differences, on the other hand, were that his hair was a dull mauve, and his eyes were a darkish green.
The man looked over at Trunks and grinned slightly. As he spoke, the speakers on either side of the room crackled. "So... You're the stand-in, are you?" he sneered.
Trunks stepped back. "I.. What are you talking about? Stand-in...?"
"Stand-in for the fight, baka!" the man said, losing his grin. "Aren't you the stand-in for Murkret?"
"Who's that?" Trunks asked confusedly. "I don't know what you're talking about... I don't know how I got here..."
"Well, you're his stand-in anyway. He always was a coward. He could never fight his own battles. I just kick his stand-ins' asses anyway." He sneered, crossing his arms, looking quite sure of himself.
Trunks hesitated. "I... I didn't come here to fight," she said.
The man shrugged. "Well, you're here, so you're going to fight. Do you know the rules for this tournament?" Trunks shook her head and the man grinned. "Good, because if you did, they were wrong. There are no rules here. First one to give up or die loses. That's all."
Both Trunks's and Vegeta's eyes widened. Trunks paused a moment. "I see. What happens to the loser, if they don't die?"
With that the man's grin returned again. "Oh, the loser always died. It's just their choice if it's painful or not."
Trunks looked away from him for a moment, then asked, "When does the fight start, then?"
"Whenever you want to start. You are the challenger's stand-in, so it's your first move. I'm warning you, though. Just because you're a little girl, I'm not going to take it easy on you!"
Vegeta ran up to the glass and pounded his fists against it, trying to break it, but two aliens quickly came and dragged him back into a seat, forcing him down.
"Let me GO, you little shits!!" he demanded. "That's my DAUGHTER out there, you fucking assholes!" the aliens didn't seem to notice his screaming as they held him by the arms in place.
Nothing else he could to. He couldn't raise his arms for an attack, and even if he could, he didn't know how hostile these creatures could be. Nothing more to do, now, than watch his daughter indefinitely get pummeled, and killed...
"By the way," the man sneered, "My name's Jerrin."
"Why should I care?" Trunks hissed.
"I just thought you'd want to know the name of the man who killed you."
Trunks immediately shifted into her battle position, not replying in any way. Vegeta knew why as well. She didn't know how powerful this man was, or how fast, strong, or even if he could use ki attacks.
~Trunks, are you sure you're going to be alright?~ Vegeta asked to her mind. She hesitated a moment.
~There's nothing we can do otherwise, Tou. I can't escape unless I win this.~ She quickly lashed out toward Jerrin, in a blur of punches and kicks. Surprisingly, he only dodged a few of the attacks. Unfortunately, he didn't seem phased at all by the ones that hit.
The man raised his arm and brought it forward quickly, but Trunks dodged it. He appeared to be strong, but not very fast. What Trunks needed now was power.
She jumped back quickly and watched him a moment. He grinned at her. "Was that it, little girl?" he sneered. "Why, I barely felt that at all!"
Trunks narrowed her eyes. "You will," she muttered. Clenching her fists, she raised her power level up, closed her eyes tightly, then let out a loud scream as a golden aura surrounded her, her hair standing on end and taking a golden color. She looked back over at him once she was finished the transformation, and smirked somewhat evilly. "You will."
Jerrin looked confused. "What the hell...?" he said, stepping back a pace. "You can't do that!"
Trunks gained a calm expression. "You said yourself. No rules." She lunged toward him in a fury of attacks, this time much faster, and much more powerful. Jerrin stumbled back quite a ways before regaining his balance. He took another swing at Trunks, this time much faster. Trunks was knocked down to the ground a few feet away from him, but she quickly recovered and stood up, pulling her hands back against her right side.
Jerrin wiped his face, which now had small streams of blood in various areas from Trunks using her nails in her attacks, and then he smirked at her. "Hey, that wasn't too bad, for a little girl. Maybe I should pick up the pace for you." He began to make his way toward her.
She narrowed her eyes, more in concentration than anger, and a small ki ball appeared between her palms.
Before she could gather enough power to attack, though, Jerrin rushed forward and body-checked her down to the ground. She remained Super Saiyan, but she also remained on the ground as Jerrin stood over her, gloating.
Vegeta struggled futilely. "Let me go, you assholes!! Bring my daughter out of there!! I'll fight that bastard! Let me GO!" he screamed, thrashing at the two who were holding him.
Two figures stepped before him. Familiar faces. They were the two that had kidnapped Trunks. The woman stepped forward and lifted his chin with a finger as cold wires raveled around Vegeta, disabling any movement from his seat.
He hissed at her, narrowing his eyes, unable to move away. She smiled evilly, keeping that air of calmness to her. "You can't do anything, Prince Vegeta," she said. "You'll have to watch her from here."
"Damn you!" he growled. "Let me go! Let my daughter out of there!"
"I'm afraid we can't do that," she replied quietly, tilting her head as if to try to see him in a new view. "Only one person can leave that room. Quite frankly," she stepped out of his view, revealing Jerrin holding Trunks – now out of Super Saiyan – held up by the collar of her shirt, being punched repeatedly in the face. "I don't think she'll be the one to do so."
"TRUNKS!!!" he yelled. For a moment, it seemed as though she was completely lifeless. Jerrin stopped his assault and let her fall limply to the ground. "NO!!" Vegeta screamed, still thrashing wildly in his seat. "Leave her alone! I'll fight! I'll fight that bastard and send him to HELL!!"
Jerrin looked over through the glass window and sneered. "Seems she wasn't such a good fighter after all." He walked over to the glass.
Vegeta's thoughts raced as he watched his daughter lie near death on the floor, barely even breathing. I hadn't trained her enough. She wasn't nearly strong enough. He defeated her so easily! She has to get up, she just HAS to! She can't die now! Not now, not ever! There's nothing I can do. These people are so obviously much more powerful. DAMNIT, I HATE THIS!!
"Jerrin, she's still alive," the man said as Jerrin stopped near the glass. Jerrin looked back at Trunks a moment, then looked at the man.
"She's completely useless. She can barely move now," he sneered.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!" Vegeta screamed. "I'll rip your throat out!! Release me NOW!"
The three looked over at him. The girl stepped to him and smiled. "No, Prince Vegeta. I'm afraid we aren't control of this setting either, nor were we the other. We aren't in control of this arena, nor the rules. You must watch." She stepped back to the window. "Finish her, Jerrin."
"NOO!!!" Vegeta screamed. The familiar golden aura surrounded him, breaking the wires that bound him. His hair took the golden color and his eyes shifted to green as he quickly stood up to face the two who were in the room.
He glanced over and saw Jerrin moving toward Trunks. He narrowed his eyes and made his way to the glass, when more robots came to take him around the wrists and knees. He lashed out toward them, but found that he was – yet again – unable to resist against them. He was pulled back into his seat again, despite his Super Saiyan strength, the wires were replaced with stronger ones, wrapping tightly around him.
"TRUNKS!!!" he yelled out. Suddenly, he felt a lack of power. Not just in his mind, but when he looked down, the wires around him were glowing with energy that was being drained from him.
He closed his eyes a moment, then forced himself to look back up at Trunks, reverting back to normal. She was once again being held by the front of her shirt in the air, only half-conscious, her face covered with her own blood.
Vegeta narrowed his thoughts quickly. If he didn't get through to her now, there would be no hope...
~Trunks! You have to snap out of this! Attack him with all your strength. Turn Super Saiyan again!~
She turned her head to the side to frown slightly, shaking her head, indicating that she didn't have enough power to go Super Saiyan.
~Kakarot's son won't be too happy about this, I'm sure,~ he sneered. He knew he had to do what was needed to get her thinking again. Anything that would help her.
Her eyes shifted a moment, then she shut her eyes tightly. Her ki level rose, but barely. Vegeta continued. ~But then again, I'm sure he'd get over it soon enough. I'm sure he'd forget about you just as soon as he'd hear the news.~ It hurt him to 'say' these things to her, but – he told himself repeatedly – this was the type of talk that got her blood pumping.
Her ki level rose again, this time much higher. Almost high enough... This was all happening in the span of a few seconds. She didn't have much time left before Jerrin would strike again. ~He's Kakarot's son, after all. That says everything for him.~
That obviously did it. Trunks screamed out, shocking Jerrin into dropping her. Her hair took the golden glow, eyes blazing emerald as she jumped forward and started punching Jerrin forcefully in the stomach.
The man and woman turned to face him.
"I wasn't expecting this," the woman said quietly. "Psychic powers?"
Vegeta sneered, but didn't reply as he was watching the fight, Trunks getting the upper hand in every hit, her power level seeming to be endless as it kept rising.
"We'll need to inform the boss," the man said quietly. Vegeta shot them a look, but they had disappeared instantaneously. He turned back to the fight. Jerrin was on one knee, and Trunks was continuing her assault, only slower now, and her ki level slowly stopped its incline.
She stopped quite suddenly, as soon as Jerrin was down on all fours, and she jumped away from him, watching wearily, breathing quickly.
~What are you waiting for, Trunks?!~ Vegeta hissed. ~Finish him!~
Trunks looked over at Vegeta and shook her head. Damnit, Vegeta thought to himself, if she doesn't finish him, then he'll finish her. I have to get her to see that!
~Trunks, I heard that that man was an associate of Kevin's...~
Trunks automatically raised her hand up, palm facing toward Jerrin. Vegeta smiled lightly as a light surrounded her hand. ~Tou, is it alright with you if I use your attack's name?~ she asked, building the power.
Vegeta chuckled, though shakily. ~Go ahead.~ he said.
Trunks nodded. "BIG BANG ATTAAAAACK!!" she screamed out, the ki escaping her palm and creating a gigantic explosion before her. Smoke crowded their vision, and once it had cleared, Jerrin was gone. They both looked around to see if he had somehow dodged, but it was apparent that he was taken out by the blast.
The entrance door opened and, without hesitation, Trunks turned and ran through it.
The restraints used on Vegeta suddenly diminished, and he quickly bolted out his room's doorway. The moment the two were within arms-reach, they found themselves hugging each other tightly.
"Tousan, I was so scared," Trunks started shakily. "I didn't think I could-"
"Of course you could, Trunks," Vegeta interrupted. "You're my daughter, after all." She smirked lightly. They eventually let each other go, then walked down the hallway toward the exit.
Before they reached it, however, a voice emanated from behind them. "Prince Vegeta."
They both spun around readily. It was the man and woman again. Vegeta hissed. "You again?! What do you want of us?" he motioned for Trunks to keep close by him.
"Those questions that we needed to ask you. We only need to know one more," the woman said in her ever-calm voice.
"What the hell is it?!" Vegeta demanded.
"Do you love your daughter?" the man asked.
Without hesitation, Vegeta stepped forward and clenched his fists, voice low. "Of course I do," he growled softly. "She's everything to me."
Both the figures nodded. "Then our questionnaire is completed. Your portal of exit is stationed where you first entered."
Vegeta quirked an eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about? That's it, you're just letting us leave?"
The woman smiled. "Yes," she replied softly, "because we only had a few questions we needed answered. Mainly of you, and your faithfulness."
"Faithfulness?" Vegeta echoed. He turned to look at Trunks, who smiled lightly. He turned back to the figures. "Tell me, what was the purpose of which test?"
The man took his turn to speak. "The first was to show how much you really knew about her. Speaking for how long you've known your daughter, Prince Vegeta, you know her well, but you still have much to learn. It did take you a while before you realized it was her."
Vegeta nodded slowly. "And the snake?"
"I'm afraid that was a mistake, but it did help our little test. The snake did inject you with a type of poison, Prince Vegeta, but a type of poison that would not be fatal to you. It was a sort of," he paused a moment, to think of a proper word, "hate serum, I suppose. It builds up all your hate, grief, anxiety and frustrations and unleashes it in one massive blast.
"We're quite surprised that you stopped when you did. You suppressed the serum just at its high point, before you did any serious damage to your daughter."
Vegeta looked down at Trunks again, who nodded slowly, smiling up at him silently. He looked back at them again. "And this fight? I suppose I could guess what that was about..."
The woman spoke again. "Yes, you're probably right. We were wondering not only how far you would go to try to help her, but also how strongly she was attached to you."
"You said before that you had no interest in her!" Vegeta growled.
"That's not true. We said that simply so that you wouldn't figure out what was happening," She smiled thinly. "We wouldn't want to have spoiled our own test."
"But what was the purpose of this test?!" Vegeta asked, his voice raising again.
"Prince Vegeta, when you were raised – As a child, a teenager, an adult, etc – you were raised for the purpose of being a ruthless, cold-blooded Saiyan warrior. Our purpose was to simply see if all of that training had soaked through to your mind. You have a strong will, Prince Vegeta. As much as you were taught to keep your cool, and how many times you were told that you were superior, you still wen tout of your way – or tried to – for your daughter."
"As I said before. I love my daughter. I would do anything for her."
She nodded. "Yes. That was the Faithfulness Test."
Trunks piped up. "Why were our abilities taken away? Like flying..."
The woman looked at her and smiled lightly. "That could possibly have made it easier for you to have found this arena, and you would have noticed quite quickly that the path you took was a giant circle."
Trunks nodded slowly, then looked up at Vegeta. "Tou, can we go home now?"
Vegeta smiled at her. "Of course, Trunks." He looked back up, but the two figures had disappeared. He turned again and put Trunks's arm around his shoulder, and held her to support her as they walked out of the building. A suddenly tingling sensation crept up his spine, and he looked around cautiously, pausing in his tracks.
"Tou, what was that?" Trunks asked confusedly. She had obviously felt it as well.
Vegeta shrugged slightly then lifted off the ground. He smirked. "I suppose that was them giving us back our 'abilities'."
He took off quickly, finding the starting point rather easily, and flying straight into a strange-looking flat portal.
"Tou? Tou?" a quiet voice called to him. He opened his eyes slowly and groaned slightly.
"Vegeta! It's about time!" he looked over and saw Bulma standing there with an apron on – which was covered in what appeared to be pancake batter. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at him, with Trunks standing behind her, smirking slightly.
"Oi, Tou! It's breakfast time already, and you're not awake! I thought I was the lazy one!" Trunks laughed.
Vegeta sat up wearily and put a hand to his head. "I had the strangest dream..." he started.
"It wasn't a dream, Tousan," Trunks said, her voice quiet suddenly. "It was real." She pointed to her arms, which had a few bandages on them, and gauze at one or two spots.
Vegeta smiled lightly. "I'm glad you're alright, Trunks."
Trunks nodded. "I'm glad I'm alright too, Tousan. But that's not important right now."
Vegeta looked at her and arched an eyebrow silently.
"It's breakfast time! Come on! Kaasan won't let us eat until you get down there!"
Vegeta laughed and shook his head. "Alright, I'll be down soon." He said.
End//