A/N: This is my second story, and will be A LOT better than "Petals". If you didn't like that one, you'll like this one if you like…ummmm…thick lemons! There's 3 in 1 in this one, so if you like Trunks and Pan finding love, but not with each other, as well as Goten and Bra falling for each other (well, Goten eventually sees the light . Just read the story), this tale's for you!
P.S. No one is a real jerk in this, so a bunch of adults act like bakas. After having Trunks as a jack@$$, I decided the only person who can really pull that stunt off is Vegeta. ^.^
P.S.S. I do not own Dragon Ball or anything related to it that has to do with selling stuff. I'm a buyer and a watcher, AND THAT'S IT!!! NO ONE BETTER SUE MY TAIL FOR THIS, OR THEY'LL HEAR FROM ONE MAD MONKEY!!! ^.^ Oh, and if you want updates on this story and others of mine, e-mail me at saiyanjameta@yahoo.com
Dark Season
"With the light comes the dark, and with death comes birth"
Chapter 1- 'Tis the Season
Trunks sits up with a start, sweat drenching his bed, cold beads covering his body. He grabs his swore neck, then runs to his bathroom. The mirror reveals that the most harm done to him during the night hours is a small amount of mouth-rot and severe body odor.
Yawning, he turns the shower handle to warm the water while he sets out his outfit for the oncoming day. He finds himself on the floor, grumbling, after he trips on the carpet transition. Scrambling to find something for the morning's meeting before steam engulfs both rooms, the half-Saiyan places a modest black suit and an ironed white shirt on the counter before rushing into the spray. The 23-year-old curses through his teeth, partially because the water is too hot, and as he may be late. After about five minutes, he throws upon the glass door, nearly slamming it off his hinges, dries himself off, dresses, and flies out of is apartment window. He could clean-up later- it's not like the mess is going anywhere.
Unfortunately, the purple-haired fighter had been procrastinating the idea for the last few weeks, and his residence was beginning to reek. Of course, he couldn't care less, being a man and all. Living with it if it doesn't disrupt living is basically how he goes about at his (he hopes) transient home.
"Good morning, Mr. Briefs," greets the secretary as Trunks rushes past to the executives' room, "You're on time with a few minutes to spare, sir."
"Thanks!" he calls back as he opens the correct door and slides in.
As usual, the gathering of employees is long and uneventful. While doodling on his notepad, the young man begins to unconsciously write strange, jagged symbols and their meaning. He catches himself and rips the paper out, stuffing it in his pocket. After awhile, he also finds his eyes locked onto a young director's breasts, and quickly turns his head away.
Thankfully, this meeting is the only thing he is needed for today, and the restless fighter races home to change into some comfortable training clothes, then dashes over to his parents'.
Goten, his best friend, Bra, his annoying 14-year-old sister, and Pan, the even more annoying 15-year-old daughter of Gohan, are standing outside the main base of Capsule Corp. All of them had agreed to have a small tournament between each other to see who was the strongest of them all. Hopefully, the two guys could rush past the first matches with the girls and get to the real battle; if Bra hadn't been ease dropping, it would have been just them, anyway. Oh course, when was the last time the youngest Brief actually didn't "over-hear"?
"Hey, T-man!" cries his greatest ally joyfully as he comes into view, "How was work t'day?"
"Oh, you know," he jokes, "Company downsizing and inflation in the morning, defending the world in the afternoon. Nothing knew for this guy."
"Hi, Trunks-kun," coos the quarter Saiyan, sliding in front of her uncle and ruining the humor of the previous moment, "Didn't think of any other girls while I was gone, did you?"
Trunks rolls his eyes as he lands and walks right past her toward the gravity room. Why couldn't she see that he had absolutely no interest in her? One can only dream, though.
"Let's get started so we can spend more time on the final fight," states the oldest, typing in the security code to the chamber.
"Or on the time after," Pan whispers to Bra with a wink.
"I heard that!" he yells with anger.
Before any of them can say anymore, Bulma calls him to the house. Her son leaves with a piercing glare, which the Son girl mistakes as humorous and blows him a kiss back.
"Yes, mom?" responds Trunks from the stairwell to the lab.
"Come down here!" his mother shouts with a hint of delight, "I want to show you this!"
Shrugging, he flies down and drops by the blue-topped genius's side. Displayed on the monitor is a planet resembling Earth, but with two blue satellites gently orbiting and dark clouds on the verge of swallowing the small view of the surface below.
"I just discovered this planet's coordinates this morning," states the scientist proudly, "I'm hoping you and your father could travel there in the next few days to gather some information for me."
"Why are you not making us go today?" he questions, weary of a catch.
"Oh, Bra's been going on and on about your little tournament today, and I don't want me work interrupting your fun."
Repetitively, his shoulders rise and fall in a noncommittal motion, but his subconscious takes note of the location before exiting.
"Hey, guys," begins the reappearing warrior as an excellent idea comes to him, "Let's have this on another planet. It will be more entertaining than if we stay here.'
"I'll go wherever you are," the oldest girl sighs with stars in her eyes.
"Ummmm, yeah, that's nice, Pan," he fumbles, a bit embarrassed and uncomfortable now.
"Gag me," Goten and Trunks think simultaneously as they start toward the ship.
"Ladies first!" cries Bra, rushing past them into the gravity room.
"So 'brat' is included in the category of women?" smirks the Briefs boy to his friend when both are out of hearing as they pile in after her.
"I guess so!" Goku's second child exclaims quietly, "But, ummm, Trunks, where exactly are we going?"
"Just to this place my mom found t'day."
"You sure that going to this place is a good idea?"
"Hey, don't sweat it: we can beat anything out there."
"Yeah…"
Before the tag-team of girls can follow them in, the duo lock the door to the control room and punch in the coordinates. If anyone was going to stop them, it was too late now. Unconsciously, the two push the gears into high just as they exit into the main chamber. Everything seems normal as their home-planet fades into the blackness of space as the group travels farther and farther beyond. Memories, good and bad, emerge from Trunks' mind of his previous space mission as he stares into the dark void.
"Ooooo, this is just like a trip with grandpa!" cries the elder of the girls.
Mostly bad.
A low groan from the bedroom causes all of them to jump in fright and whirl around to face the sliding entrance. Vegeta staggers out into the light, worn, tired, and enraged.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" the royal Saiyan shouts.
The troupe stands in shock at the sudden addition for a moment. Their fun would be greatly limited now, not only because there was an adult among them, but that adult is Vegeta.
"Dad," starts Trunks, trying to keep his cool, "How did you get in here?"
"I was sleeping, brat!" his father yells back, "I was going to train after I was rested!"
As the other Vegetan begins to answer, the ship violently rocks its crew, sending them all into the walls. A loud, crackling roar surrounds all of them, and the temperature rises around the edges; they were landing.
"How fast is this ting going?!" cries Bra over the rumble, leaning up against her forebear.
Goten and Trunks keep their silence for a moment, deep in thought. What had they done in the control room that would make the ship act like this? Then it dawns on them, and their wide-eyes slowly meet each other's.
"Well, how fast is this damn scrap heap going?!" demands Vegeta.
"WE'RE AT FULL SPEED!!!" the duo shout as the vessel rips through the final layer of atmosphere and collides with the planet's surface. The roar surrounding them becomes dense, but rises as they skid, gradually growing louder than thunder. It alone throws the beings inside around and becomes torture on their sensitive ears.
Finally, with a final bone-rattling crash, the ship stops. Time stands still as the five collect themselves and attempt to stay calm. Trunks is the first to rise to his feet and exit the metal sphere. The ground beneath his soles is dark brown mixed with splashes of swamp-green. Thick, dark fog roams over the soft, yet stable earth as the young man walks the perimeter of the ship. Beyond their crater the world's vegetation thrives, unaffected by the earlier disruption. Shoots of green, blue, mauve, and black tangle themselves in the backdrop of and immense, luscious jungle.
A spot of bright red so out of place in the dark and dreary land snags his attention. Without thinking, the half-Saiyan sprints toward it, causing the crimson object to race away. His curiosity gets the better of him and he gives chase. Large oddly shaped leaves slap his face and body as he runs through the humid forest. The distance between the two begins to grow as Trunks presses deeper and deeper into the thick foliage.
"How am I supposed to find out what that thing is if I can't keep up with it?!" he grumbles, taking to the air, then smirks, "Guess I'll go Super." (A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know- he's quoting himself from his Chibi years. :P)
With that, he changes and shoots ahead. Just as he is about to drop down in front of the object, a brilliant flash of golden light blinds him and the creature gains a huge advantage.
The young warrior grits his teeth- this game was wearing on his nerves. He wanted to know what that thing is, and he wants to know now.
"Thank Dende for ascension," he murmurs sarcastically as he transforms to SSJ3 (A/N: In this story, he can go that high! Why? Because I said so!), "Best not to chance prolonging it with level 2."
Within minutes, he catches up with his target. Trunks suddenly lands in front of it, but is knocked over by the charging being. He tries to get rise quickly; however, the other is faster. A burst of enormous energy sends him flying back a ways.
"I've felt a power like that before!" exclaims the Earth fighter in his mind, "My father's ki feels like that when he is SSJ4! But," he pauses, now thinking out loud, "How and why would another Saiyan be here?"
Sure enough, standing opposite of him is a Saiyan of the highest known level. Their face is covered by a thick mess of matted and tangles black hair as they move into a fighting stance; the deep crimson he had seen was blood from an open wound on the chest. Obviously, this individual had been in a brawl earlier, but knowing whether they won our not is still uncertain to the half-breed.
"Fight!" yells a dark voice within his head.
"Why?" he answers back, confused at the command, "I should try to help this person instead of killing myself! They're a whole level higher than me, and on this strange planet, it would be better to make an ally than to earn an enemy!"
"FIGHT!!!" it screams, giving him a raging headache, "The power to defeat will come!"
As if on cue, the other being throws a punch at his face, bestowing him a bloody nose a few seconds later. The pressure causes the pain to grow, enraging him. Trunks counters by tripping his opponent, then kicking them away with his other leg. They are not down long, forcing him to roll out of the way before the attacker is upon him. His head throbs from the sudden toss as he jumps to his feet and moving into a ready stance.
"Alright, buddy," humors the half-Saiyan, "Show me what you got!"
With that, the SSJ4 rushes toward him, hitting him square in the forehead with a downward strike. Careening back, he takes to the sky and fires an energy beam down at a short distance. The creature seems to grin and bounces the attack back; as before, the assault is too fast for him and knocks him back down.
"MY HEAD FEELS LIKE IT'S GOING TO EXPLODE!!!" the young warrior shouts, bringing his hands to his face. Even though he has stopped moving, the torture within continues to increase, swallowing his whole head, his shoulders, torso, all of him. He begins to twitch, and his eyes fill with stinging water, the pain nothing like he had ever felt before.
Out of nowhere, the amethyst-maned fighter begins to loathe his adversary. They had brought about this cruel sensation and helped it grow. But they were not showing any sort of discomfort, which he hates even more. Why were they not being tortured from the inside? Why were they excluded? What did they know that he didn't about this? Was it because of the alien environment?
None of these questions really matter to him, though. He is the son of Vegeta, making him a Saiyan no Ouji! He did not deserve this! They did! If it killed him, he will find out what is doing this!
"MAKE IT STOP!!!" yells Trunks. Suddenly, the pain disappears, leaving a strange presence upon him. The other, who had been patiently waiting for his next move, takes a few steps back in astonishment, resulting in them slipping and falling down to the wet ground. Confused at what had startled his attacker, the lavender-top tries to stick his hands in his pockets to retrieve his pocketknife. Instead of fumbling in the loose jean compartments, he touches a silky material, totally new to him.
"What the heck?" he breathes, looking down at himself. All of his normal attire is gone, replaced by a single tunic of the purest white and odd blue markings. Spotting his small brown blade beside his foot, he quickly whips it out and is bewildered by the reflection. Paling, the Earth resident attempts to analyze the image as calmly as possible: he now appeared to be an SSJ4, but his new fine coat of fur is of a gentle snow mixed with soft lilac. He had gone beyond the highest, he is the highest- he is SSJ5.
"The power to defeat will come," he repeats in a daze, then shakes it off and strides over to the lesser being.
"Well," continues the grinning Saiyan, "What do you think of me now?"
The other fighter cringes back, pulling its swollen ankle out of reach.
"Next time, don't pick a fight with a Vegetan," he shrugs sarcastically, and flies back to the ship.