The last time 18 had fought against Trunks, she'd been more than a match for the half-Saiyan. However, spending two years with his father in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, along with the recent sparring with Gohan, had given the boy an edge she could've never expected; she was unpleasantly surprised, then, when she found herself already tumbling through the air thanks to a well-place right hook.

It only took microseconds for her combat systems to engage, and her primary power core to begin outputting at 100%, but in that time the enraged Trunks had already caught up to her and had grabbed her by her foot. He swung her upwards, his intent on harshly slinging her into the ground obvious by the look on his face. Focusing on that look, she aimed and kicked with her other foot as hard as she could, and his grip slipped for an instant. She tried to tug her held foot out of his hands, and instead yelped in pain as she found herself being slammed into the ground anyway.

As she settled into the shattered earth around her, she quickly shifted her power output mode so that she could move as fast as possible. With her power shifted, she shot forward out of the hole, doing a flipping leap over Trunks as she barely dodged his clenched fists slamming the pile of rocks she'd just been under.

Her internal systems were screaming in her mind, warning her that her internal, inertia-less drive system was operating at 120% recommended power; she could feel the heat rolling off her body as her cybernetic systems and implants began to overheat. She dodged the next two punches Trunks threw, but was unable to dodge a final straight punch to her chest, which sent her back towards the ridge, her toes digging trenches into the ground as she skidded backwards.

As she stumbled to a stop, she had one small moment to realize how badly she was losing; she inhaled harshly as her face twitched in pain as she looked towards Trunks, only to then exhale loudly in shock as he closed the gap and clotheslined her, hitting her hard enough to send her through the rock of the ridge behind her, and on into the plains ahead. Trunks walked over and stood atop the ridge, clearly satisfied with himself while simmering in righteous anger. As 18 got up on one knee, coughing up blood, he raised a glowing hand in her direction, ready to rid the world of one Android.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" yelled an unexpected, furious Krillin as he flew through the air and kneed Trunks hard in the left side of his face. The boy, surprised, painlessly stumbled a couple of steps, his level of strength rendering he humans strike worthless; Krillin knew that, though, and instead used that moment to quickly jump over to where 18 was kneeling. He crouched down, draping one of her arms over his shoulders as he pushed upwards to help her stand.

Meanwhile, Trunks had regained his composer and stared down at the two, not understanding what he was seeing. "What are you doing, Krillin!?" he yelled.

Krillin gave him a harsh enough stare that Trunks took a step back in surprise. "If you think you're going to kill 18, then you're just going to have to hit me first!" he answered through gritted teeth.

"WHAT!?" Trunks yelled. "Are you crazy!? What's wrong with you!?"

"LOOK WHO'S TALKING!" Krillin roared, startling even 18 with his voice.

Trunks blinked, and for a moment a feeling of wrongness settled around him. He looked at the couple now with clearer eyes; at first glance, he could see 18 was trying to push Krillin away, but another glance confirmed that the concern in her eyes was for his safety, not hers. Meanwhile, Krillins intent on keeping himself in the line of fire was obvious, as he maintained his position between her and Trunks even as her fidgeting became more frantic.

Shame welled up inside Trunks as his heart sunk low with his hand, he unconsciously dropped his Super Saiyan form, tears clouding his vision as he trembled; eventually, his balance went as well, and he stumbled backwards onto his rear. It was about this time that another figure flew in from the sky; Gohan had been helping in the search, and had made a beeline for the group once the fight had begun. He wore gi that matched both his fathers and Piccolos; the baggy outerwear was a deep purple in color, while his sash and sleeved undershirt were a bright blue. His boots, too, while much like his fathers, was instead a shade of brown more associated with Piccolos attire.

As he landed gently near 18 and Krillin, his aquamarine eyes first glanced quizzically at the two, then up towards the ridge; he had continued to maintain the Super Saiyan form as his 'base' form even after the Cell games, as he wanted to remain prepared for whatever new enemies might rise up later. He shifted his gaze back to the couple after a few moments. "What happened?" he simply asked.

Krillin was now walking with 18, supporting her even as she gently protested. "Idiot me let 18 come along; Trunks went crazy and tried to kill her!" He spat at the ground, obviously angry at himself. "I'm going to take her back to Capsule Corp so we can get her a good doctor." He glanced back up at the ridge. "Make sure we're not there before you bring him back."

Gohan nodded as Krillin, now taking 18 into a fireman's carry, flew off back the way they came from. Focusing his ki, he hopped up the short ridge and landed near where Trunks had smashed 18 through the ground. That, of course, didn't even register in his mind, his attention instead focused on the young man in front of him; Trunks was sitting there, his head buried deep into his hands, and the erratic bouncing of his shoulders only made his silence that much worse.

Sighing, Gohan walked over and crouched beside Trunks, placing a hand on his shoulder. For several minutes, nothing was said or done, and the latter didn't even act as if he'd acknowledged Gohans existence. Finally, though, his shoulders stopped jumping, his hands fell from his face, and Gohan saw the pain caused by equal parts fear, doubt, hatred, and loathing. It took another few minutes before Trunks spoke, his voice trembling. "What's wrong with me, Gohan?"

Gohan only shook his head. "Nothing, Trunks...it's okay." He squeezed his shoulder. "Lets get you home, yeah? I think I've got some ideas on what we can do."

Trunks smiled, though it was not a happy one. "Yeah," he said plainly.

As the two slowly flew up and away, a nearby figure slipped off of the tree branch he'd been sitting on, falling with grace to the ground. For nearly a minute, Vegeta looked at the ground in silence, absentmindedly letting the boys gain distance. It didn't take long before he, too, made his was slowly back to Capsule Corp.