Trunks stood up in his bed, ignoring the tingly feeling that had built up in his spine since he arrived here yesterday. The news that he couldn't go back hadn't hit him as hard as he'd thought it would. Then again, he'd already lost everything, its not like he had anybody waiting for him in his world. Sure he'd wanted to go back and live in the timeline he created, but that was due to lack of other options.
Not to say he wasn't distraught that he might never see his friends again, but if the whole Dabura ordeal hadn't happened he would have probably never used the time machine again. It took to much energy to make just a single trip and wasn't worth the hassle. He might even be able to get used to this new earth, though there was still a lot to do for him to get used to it.
Kara and Courtney had helped him out yesterday and today with getting settled in and telling him a few basic things he'd need to know about this earth. The Justice League had given him a room on their watchtower and he'd taken a few books on earth history and geography. He'd spent most of his alone time reading through the books.
His alone time consisted of maybe three hours. He'd been given a tour of the truly massive watchtower and had met a few of the heroes. The ones he liked the most right now were The Flash and Wonder Woman. Flash was the definition of happy-go-lucky and was very hard not to like. Wonder Woman on the other hand had the warrior philosophy of his father but wasn't heartless and closed off like him, she held a lot of wisdom. The others he'd been able to talk to were nice enough, Ray Palmer in particular stood out to Trunks because of his scientific knowledge, Trunks would definitely have to pay him more than a few visits. Technologically this world was hard to pin down, they didn't have capsule technology but they had the means to create hover cars and such even if they weren't in use. Their spaceships were much sleeker than Frieza's or Goku's but he didn't know how they matched up speed wise.
There were some members that sort of grated on his nerves. The one called Green Arrow was a bit of an annoying ass and Orion was Vegeta without the power to back up his attitude. Then again he'd only spoken to either of the in passing so he couldn't judge them just yet. He had yet to meet the two most talked about members, Superman and Batman. Batman was in his city and Superman would return from a space mission the next day.
Kara and Courtney, Supergirl and Stargirl, were with him most of the time. He'd asked them how they had time to give him a tour. Their response was that the league didn't have shifts; everybody was technically on call. You could spend most of your days protecting your chosen city, never stepping foot on the watchtower and only directly assisting the league when they called upon you. In fact this was what Batman did, though he was called upon so often he was around the watchtower as much as anyone who lived there. The reason why a lot of heroes decided to stay and live on the watchtower was simply because vigilantism didn't pay the bills and the watchtower gave them free food and board. The daily protection of cities was left to the police, unaffiliated heroes and sidekicks (who were themselves reserve members). It helped focus league members on more serious crimes rather than going out for every bank robbery.
The tingly feeling in his spine grew and rushed down to his tailbone. It was starting to annoy him but he didn't want to get it checked up as it didn't bother him too much.
He was going to ask if he could join the league tomorrow. It seemed like the smartest idea, he'd already made some friends here and he was around technology. He had free food and a place to sleep, he just needed somewhere safe to train and he would be set for life.
He pulled the comforter over his chest and dropped back down in the bed, turning sideways and getting a view of his sword. The Z-sword was great for constant training; it was a substitute for weighted clothing. Thinking about training reminded him that he'd pledged to try the constant super saiyan training Gohan and Goku had done but he decided to put it off until he got settled.
Trunks woke up to the sound of his watch's alarm He groaned and stretched, hearing the wet pop of his bones, a sound that was music to his ears. He untangled himself from the bed sheets and cracked his neck.
His watch said five in the afternoon though it didn't really mean anything. For one it was set to the time in his dimension and more importantly he was in a space station floating above the earth, time of day didn't matter.
After a quick shower Trunks went to his closet, full of the clothes he decapsualized yesterday. There wasn't much variety; underwear and undershirts, a few jackets and pants and saiyan armor. After returning from the past and showing her the armor past Bulma had made his mother had taken to it as a hobby. It must have reminded her of Vegeta in some way. She'd made Trunks' favorite article of clothing, saiyan armor based on his father's when he was on namek: a blue jumpsuit with the white and yellow shoulder guard armor, similarly colored boots and white gloves.
His stomach grumbling brought him out of his musings and he quickly threw on some pants, a shit and a jacket. He strapped his sword to his back and left the room.
"Oh stop it Trunks" Squealed a giggling Courtney. They were walking toward the control tower and Trunks was imitating Green Arrows open gaping at Black Canary.
"I'm sorry but the guy just rubs me the wrong way" Trunks shrugged. It was fun to actually be normal and joke around with people.
"I know what you mean" Courtney said. "Kara's interacted with him more and said he's a bit of a creep."
"What can he do besides shoot arrows?" Trunks asked genuinely perplexed. He didn't look like a good martial artist and his bright green costume didn't allow for stealth.
Courtney shrugged. "He's rich"
"Talking about other league members behind their backs isn't exactly smiled upon" came a serious voice from their right.
Courtney looked up and reddened as she took on a chastised look. Trunks looked at the man who said it and immediately knew this was Superman. Besides the emblem on his chest, the way he carried himself with quiet dignity screamed leadership. Whie everything people said about the man reminded Trunks of Goku, this guy looked much more serious and smart, though Trunks could see a gentle smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Sorry Superman we didn't mean…"
"It's ok" he cut her off in a gentle tone. "Just try to keep it to a minimum even though I know there are some leaguers that are less than agreeable."
"You must be Trunks" he extended his hand out and Trunks shook it firmly. "I'm Superman"
"It's an honor to meet you. I've heard much about you" Trunks said politely.
Superman took the young boy in. From the way Kara spoke about he knew she was slightly infatuated with the boy. Looking into his eyes he looked trustful enough, though there was a cold streak in there that would need to be looked out for.
"How do you like the watchtower?" Trunks grinned.
"It's really cool actually. The cafeteria is excellent"
"Have you thought about what you're going to do?" Superman asked once the pleasantries were done with. Trunks nodded with a serious face.
"I want to join the league" Superman looked like he had been expecting this and looked to be mulling it over. Courtney gave Trunks a reassuring smile, none of them had really seen Trunks in action but she was sure he could be useful to the league.
"You do know you can continue staying here even without being a member" Superman told Trunks.
"it doesn't matter, it would be disrespectful of me to leech off your hospitality. Besides this is something I know I'm good at"
Superman nodded and smiled at him. "Well, lets get you through some tests"
"Hnn" Trunks grunted as he drove his fist into another opponent's gut, this one with a flaming green skull for a head. The enemy crumpled up and fell on his knees. He perked up his ears to sense for any more threats, this simulation was like nothing else Trunks had seen before, but the enemies and civilians being robots made his ki senses obsolete.
They'd been at it for thirty minutes, first sending in progressively stronger enemies and then switching to different scenarios to see how he worked under pressure. His sword was still sheathed to his back; he couldn't use lethal force so it was really just there to provide extra challenge to the workout as he needed to stop the reflex he'd built of using it as a crutch in battles. It had been something that even Gohan had pointed out when he'd had his first sword.
He kept himself alert to the vibrations of the ground and felt nothing. He flew up and hovered above the city, sensing for what could be coming next. He had yet to use ki attacks, sticking with superstrength and speed for now. The tingly feeling in his spine had become agitated when he'd begun this exercise and ignoring it added another layer of difficulty to the test, he would definitely have it checked out after finishing this up.
He heard a scream from a few blocks away and flew off in that direction. He was welcomed by the sight of a giant blob monster attacking cars and bystanders. This was definitely a change of pace. The blob had multiple tentacles sprouting from its sides and had no visible mouth or face. He swooped down and saved a woman and her baby from being eaten up by the giant blob. Putting her down a few meters away he turned to the gelatinous blob and inspected it. Punching it would probably not work but there was no harm in trying.
He fazed in front of the green blob and gave it an experimental punch. His hand was instantly engulfed and he struggled to pull it back. Using his feet as leverage proved to be a stupid idea as they too were sucked into the monster. He cursed his stupidity as that probably lost him sonme points.
Watching through a screen were a few dozen league members who wanted to see the new guy in action. At the forefront were the girls, Superman, Wonder Woman, J'onn and a reluctant Batman.
"He's good" Wonder Woman stated. She found the purple haired kid to be likeable enough, and to see he was a skilled warrior made her itch to spar with him. To her left a silent Batman was staring blankly at the screen, ignoring the few looks Diana sent him. He was really a ridiculously stubborn man, she thought.
"He'll lose to the blob. He wasn't smart enough to switch up his strategy" Batman stated.
"Still Batman I think he'll be an asset to the league, especially with this dimensional tear we'll need to be watching over." Superman contested. He knew the only reason Bruce agreed to come to these training sessions was to asses the vulnerabilities of possible league members.
"What's he doing now?" asked someone from the back of the room.
Trunks groaned as the blob thing was sucking him in. He gave up and powered up a ki blast through his right hand, releasing the ball of energy within the giant beast. The ball blasted a hole through the Blobs chest, sending chunks of it flying off in all directions as Trunks was released. He was thrown back from the blast but quickly collected himself in midair. Turning to face the blob that was repairing the hole in its chest, he thought up a strategy only to be deterred by a scream behind him.
Turning around he saw a fleet of humanoid robots attacking the city. They had Rocket launchers and machine guns for arms with otherwise sleek metallic bodies. Trunks grinned at this and used a technique he'd never really though valuable.
He crouched down midair and joined his hands at his solar plexus. "MULTI-FORM!"
His body became blurry and unfocused as one Trunks split into two. One of them flew at the fleet of robots while the other turned back to the blob.
The Trunks attacking the robots unsheathed his sword and went to work. In the blink of an eye a few precise slices of the heavenly blade cut through and decimated all but one of the robots, spraying the floor with bolts and pieces as the only surviving robot was left in the middle of all the carnage. Trunks stared down the final robot, which went to blast him with its machine gun. Trunks flew directly at it, his sword dragging on the floor and the bullets from the machine gun bouncing off his body as he came up on the machine and sliced its head off.
Meanwhile the Trunks assigned to the blob touched down on the ground directly below the mass of tentacles, getting a good angle he collected some 0f his ki and used it in one big burst to push it upwards to the sky. The blob almost stayed stuck to the street but Trunks' push was too powerful as it flew upwards with a loud plopping. When it was high in the sky Trunks floated up to make sure he didn't get any buildings before powering up a ki blast in between his hands. He put his palms side by side and as the helpless blob began to fall he released a ball of ki slightly bigger than the massive blob.
The ki ball engulfed the blob and exploded in a rush of smoke which Trunks tried to keep under control so as to not have it spread too far, he knew they'd give points for cleanliness after all.
His work done he dropped back down to the slightly battered concrete. The other Trunks sheathed his sword and fazed in front of his double, merging back into one being.
In the observation room a group of very impressed and slightly shocked justice leaguers sat in silence.
"He's definitely in" Flash said, awed at the efficiency with which the new kid took care of a training simulation even Superman would have trouble with.
"He still needs to pass the written test" Superman said absently.
"We shouldn't be that surprised" Said Courtney.
"I guess so, he did talk about blowing up planets" Kara agreed.
Everyone turned to them in that instant and Kara realized her mistake. She quickly went to cover it up "He said a villain in his world blew the earth up. Not that he blew up planets" though after seeing that display part of her was thinking that he could.
Superman turned back from her and spoke into a microphone. "Ok Trunks that's enough. Go to the next room for a written test"
The demi-saiyan nodded, the city he was in suddenly shifted and he was in a small bare room with a door to the right. He went through it and found a simple classroom with a desk and a blackboard. On the desk were a paper and a pencil.
The test was rather easy. There was a section that tested his cognitive abilities and general knowledge, that part he aced. Another section was on recent history and conflicts between countries which he left blank for obvious reasons. The questions on moral dilemmas and the like were the most challenging for Trunks as he didn't know how the league would like him to answer a few or if they'd know he'd been lying. In the end he decided to be honest.
"…he failed the history and current events section of the test, but that's to be expected. From the first part I can attest that he is of above average intelligence." Mr. Terrific reported. It was his job to go through the tests for new league applicants.
"What about the other section?" Superman asked. The seven original league members sat around a circular table listening to Mr. Terrific's report. In the end it would come to a vote to see if Trunks would join the league.
"I couldn't gleam any lies from the way he answered; he has good moral fiber though he doesn't have any qualms against killing" This didn't sit well with a few league members, mostly Superman, Batman and Green Lantern.
"Let me see" Batman commanded. Mr. Terrific passed him the test. The final section, the one that tested a potential league members moral fiber, was the most important one. While many thought it was crap, after all you just had to lie your way through it, it was all written questions. With geniuses such as Batman and Mr. Terrific on the team it was quite easy to notice if anyone was being dishonest and to see through their real intentions.
"Well, what do you think Bruce?" Superman asked.
"He doesn't seem like the gritty idiot type" Batman stated simply.
"From what I've seen of him he is decent and has a warrior's heart" Wonder Woman put in.
"He's a cool kid!" Flash said cheerfully.
The others didn't have anything to say so they quickly went to a vote.
Batman voted yes. Having such a powerful being unchecked would be irresponsible and dangerous on their part with all the players running around that would take advantage of someone like that. The rest of the league voted yes for different reasons.
"Well its settled then. Mr. Terrific and I will go wrap this up" Superman said as everyone stood up from the table.
"Clark, we might need to discuss some discoveries I made about this little tear" Batman said while stepping out.
"You know Bruce, a woman's outlook might be helpful" Diana told him. The caped crusader simply looked at her with a neutral frown for a few seconds. "It might" he admitted before making his exit with his cape billowing behind him.
"He's a stubborn one isn't he" Shayera said to Diana. Their relationship was still a bit strained after the Thanagarian invasion, though it wasn't as akward as Shayera's relationship with John Stewart.
"I like a challenge" was all the Amazonian princess said.
"So Trunks, what will you be calling yourself?" Kara asked playfully as they waited for the meeting to end. Trunks, Kara and Courtney were leaning against a wall next to a window waiting for the door to the meeting room to open.
Trunks looked perplexed "What do you mean?"
"You know; your superhero name, plus the costume. To keep your identity secret" Supergirl said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why would I need a secret identity?"
"Well if you ever want to hang around somewhere on earth without people bothering you you'll need a secret identity. Though your hair will be a problem" Courtney said as she took one of the lavender locks in her hand and inspected it with a frown. "You'll probably need a cowl or something"
Trunks swept his hair back. "Neither of you cover up your hair. Heck Kara's costume is just a skirt, a cape and a t-shirt, how is that a disguise?"
Kara reddened. "I'll have you know this is a perfect disguise. I've never been recognized when I go out in the city"
"How does that work? You don't wear a mask or anything. How do people not recognize you?"
Kara looked like she had never given it a thought before. "I dunno" she shrugged it off. "But don't change the topic, you need to think up a cool name cause it'll stick with you forever" she said melodramatically.
Courtney nodded wisely in agreement. "I've never heard of a cape that got to change their name. If you start out as The Whizzer there's nothing you can do to change it"
Trunks rolled his eyes knowing they were playing with him "I'll think of something…" he trailed off as he looked out the window, getting a perfect view of the earth below. It was funny that through all his adventures he'd never seen it from space before. The almost glowing curvature of the planet contrasted beautifully with the unforgiving black expanse of space. It really was a breathtaking view. His eyes traveled upward noting the weirdly shaped landmasses, Europe, looking just like in the map. He wondered how his own earth would have compared to this one when observed from space.
His eyes drifted higher until he came across an almost opaque little satellite. Trunks' pupils dilated and the insisted tingle up his spine became a raging itch. It took his logical mind a few seconds to register that that was the moon and realize what that meant.
When he had been in the planet of the kais and seen a moon for the first time in his life he had been entranced by the three orbs that could be seen in broad daylight. He remembered he had felt a small itch then but he had forgotten all about it because of the much more important matter of revenge.
And now it all made sense. His tail had been cut off at childbirth, he never really understood why his mother had done it, a saiyan's tail was an integral part of their being and with the moon gone there was no danger in having it. He had never asked his mother why she removed it, but past Bulma had said that it was so Trunks could fit in. In a world were anthropomorphic pigs and three eyed men weren't given second looks Trunks didn't really buy that.
As scant as it was the moonlight filled his blue eyes, which themselves became a mirror image of the heavenly body. Trunks could feel a beast growling within him and every nerve ending in his body shook with power. His rational mind was fighting for control over the beast that had been caged for too long. His mouth watered and he subconsciously passed his tongue through his now razor sharp canines.
"Trunks…Trunks….earth to Trunks" Kara snapped her fingers in his face trying to get his attention. Courtney looked at his eyes curiously and she could see that they had lost focus. Gazing out the window all she could see was the earth and the moon. Why would that make him space out like that?
"Something's happened to him" Courtney pointed at Trunks' glazed eyes and Kara frowned.
"Wha-"
"Hey girls I'm going to need to steal Trunks for a minute" Superman walked up to them with the rest of the original seven and Mr. Terrific.
"There's something wrong with him Superman" Courtney told him. The Man of Steel furrowed his brow and walked up to the young hybrid who was staring out through the window.
"His eyes are unfocused. He's in a trance" he diagnosed. "J'onn"
J'onn walked up and everybody else except Batman inched closer to see what would happen. The Martian stood behind Trunks and put his hand on the back of Trunks' head and closed his eyes in concentration.
The first thing he saw was the moon high above, shining with more intensity than it had ever done in real life. He could make out every crater and crack on its surface. It looked many times more beautiful than he'd ever seen it. The ethereal light it glowed with was not natural.
A loud roar brought his attention downward. On top of a jagged cliff, amongst hundreds of barren mountains, stood a beast of epic proportion; J'onn immediately thought that Grodd had something to do with this, but corrected his assessment upon further inspection. Gorilla Grodd was in prison, he had been caught the same day the tear had opened, and this was no ape, this was a monkey. It was a giant fifty foot behemoth of a monkey to be exact, brown fur and gargantuan muscles rippled as it let out a mighty roar, its long tail knocking over mountains as it swished from side to side. Its long snout protruded outward and its razor sharp teeth glinted in the moonlight. Its body was stout relative to its size.
The giant beast was roaring at the moon like a wolf would howl at it. In that instant J'onn understood.
He exited Trunks' mind and immediately tackled him to the ground. They fell to the floor in a heap. J'onn picked himself up and everyone else crowded around Trunks in a semi-circle.
"What happened?" asked a worried Kara.
"There is a beast within him"
"A beast?" it was John Stewart who asked.
"It is a…part of him, it had been repressed"
"Are we in danger J'onn?" questioned a wary Wonder Woman.
The Martian shook his head. While inside Trunks' mind he could tell the teenager was fighting for control over the beast; now that he was away from direct moonlight he seemed to be winning the struggle for his mind.
Trunks was indeed fighting the Oozaru that had been trapped for eighteen years inside his body. He had a few things on his side, the lack of a tail plus the beast lying dormant for so many years made it weak; now that he wasn't in direct moonlight he could fight off the more base elements of his psyche and get a hold of himself.
He picked himself off the floor to meet the guarded gazes of the Justice League. He went to open his mouth, but instead of words came a grunt of pain. He doubled over to his knees and brought his hands to his backside. The itch had become searing pain, localized to his tailbone. He gritted his teeth and dug his nails into his palm drawing blood.
"Arghh!" it became too much and he began rolling around on the floor, the sword strapped to his back pushing uncomfortably into his side every so often.
"We should do something!" said a panicked Courtney who was torn between helping Trunks and standing her ground.
"NO!" Trunks growled out, spittle flying out his mouth. He closed his eyes and concentrated in ignoring the pain. He had received hundreds of beatings worse than this damn it, he had died, this should be nothing.
He ignored the pain enough to get off his knees.
"Its n-nothing t-to be w-worried about" he gasped out through gritted teeth. He could feel the climax coming and shut his eyes as he felt a buildup of ligaments trying to break the skin of his lower back.
"Trunks what is it?" Kara stepped up from the semicircle.
At that moment the tip of his tail broke through his skin and shot out like a jet, making a hole through his pants in the process. Everyone stepped back, looking at the new appendage with trepidation. Trunks gave a relieved sigh. He took a step forward but lost his balance and fell face first, being propped up by each shoulder by Green Lantern and Hawkgirl.
"It's just my tail" he said with a weak smile
"Ready there monkey boy?" asked Green Lantern John Stewart.
Trunks nodded as they both stepped into the teleportation pads. He had chosen his fathers saiyan armor as his costume, only needing to tear out a little hole for his tail. This was his first mission as a member of the Justice League; he had been attached to a senior member for the time being to learn the ropes.
The incident with his tail earlier today had been awkward at the beginning but Trunks counted it as a blessing. His tail was something that connected him to his heritage, his saiyan blood that had been neglected for too long. He did mind that a lot of people said it looked impossibly cute, that ended with them trying to touch it and him whimpering on the floor.
His tail was very sensitive, incredibly sensitive. Not to mention that until a few hours ago he couldn't even walk properly as he couldn't gain his balance. It was still a problem to take control of the extra appendage, he remembered embarrassedly as it had tried to wrap around Kara's waist.
He knew though that if he trained it well enough, this tail could be an asset. He remembered vaguely Gohan mentioning to him that his father had overcome the sensitivity of his tail and could even control his Oozaru state. Trunks was certain that he could do the same.
He had told the leaguers who were present when his tail grew back about the Oozaru transformation. None of them had been horrified thankfully; Superman even said that they could do something to help him.
Right now he was concentrating on his first mission out on this new earth, his first mission as a bona fide superhero. He smirked as he swirled the name he had chosen inside his head, embedding it into his psyche. He didn't know were he'd gotten the name from; he had been preoccupied with not naming himself something stupid like Saiyanman or The Monkey King when the name just popped up from somewhere in the recesses of his mind.
From now on his name was Captain Ginyu.
Mappadouji- Thanks! I hope to make the romance progress slowly though I will admit that I'm not the best at writing it. The Old Kai will probably make an appearance though right now I;m not sure when, it'll probably be much later in the story.