Hey there.^^ Thanks for the review, I really apprecciated it.:) :) There are, as you may have noticed, minor changes in the story: Baby never met Goku, Trunks and Pan on Pital and possessed Trunks there but was destroyed in his Tank on M2. At least, that's what our heros think.;)

Here comes the next chapter and this is going to be a pretty long one. I hope you like it, it's one of my favourites so far. Read and enjoy!

"Now, THAT was something", Trunks heard his father say in a, what appeared to be, mildly impressed voice.
He consented to merely nod in agreement, since he was breathing way too hard to give a proper reply. He glanced around and noticed that the former mountainous area was now merely a wide-spaced, empty plain with several huge cracks ripping through the rocky landscape.

Since it would have released too much energy, they had not transformed to Super-Saiyajin.
Probably the right call…, Trunks thought and wiped traces of sweat from his forehead.

"The Landscape sure looks changed…", he panted as a reply to Vegetas remark.
Naturally, his father hadn't gone easy on him at all, so Trunks had to push himself to his limits and beyond to stand a chance. So obviously there had still been some enormous energy releases, which would explain the pulverized rocks.
Turning Super would have vaporized the entire area in a 50 miles circuit, including the outskirts of West Capitol. His mother would've killed them both in that case, Trunks thought anxiously. She could be some scary woman…

It'd been worth the effort though and he'd really made some progress in that one year. He hadn't even realized this during the journey, but was very glad that he obviously improved his fighting to a level his father was satisfied with. Knowing his fathers pride and attitude, any lack in training would've had bitter consequences.
He was ripped out of his thoughts when he heard his father land right in front of him.

"That Journey with Kakarott obviously got you out your sloppy routine, as I expected. Good for you."
He helped his son up and pulled him into a very short hug. It lasted less than a second, nevertheless Trunks was completely overwhelmed by this unusual sign of affection. It were moments like these that showed Trunks that his father did care about him and that he'd missed him just like he had missed his father.

Naturally neither Vegeta nor Trunks would ever say this out loud seeing as Trunks inherited a good portion of Vegetas reclusive attitude. He was a way more outgoing, communicative person then his father of course, whose distaste of any 'human behaviour' was legendary, yet just like Vegeta he would never allow himself to appear weak by showing deep emotions in front of others.

"Well then", Vegeta turned quite suddenly and gave a short glance over his shoulder "We better get going, or your mother'll kill us both."

Trunks flashed a small grin and followed his father who'd already set off for CC.
"So she didn't change a bit, did she?"

"You didn't really expect her to?" Vegeta scoffed. "That's one stubborn woman if there ever was one…", he growled and Trunks couldn't help laughing out loud hearing the pout in his father's voice.
It was amazing how Bulma was so intimidating at times, for example when she had organized a get-together like today and them turning up too late, even the prince of all Saiyajin shrunk before her.
It sure felt pretty good to be home again, he thought.

When they arrived at Capsule Corp. Trunks parted his father to check on the spaceship.
They didn't have the time earlier to check the systems before docking it back on the main-station, so he figured he'd better get it over with fast, before they forgot about it eventually.

Besides, he still felt a little shaky from that fight earlier and could use some calm-down before meeting everybody upstairs for the big welcoming-party. Obviously that feeling showed on his face since he heard his father calling after him:
"Don't you dare take too long there, she's going to blame me for that."
"I'll be there soon enough sadly", he shot back "That kind of stuff's just a piece of cake."

"So, to get us out there, we had to time precisely but actually…" Pan gave her Grandfather a dismissive glance "Grandpa sucked at it. I really thought I'd die in there because he can't count to three."

"Aw, that's a bit harsh Pan. I'm not good with this number-rhythm thing, but with my chorus we did pretty fine after all", Goku scowled.
They had just recounted their adventure of Pan being caught in one of Dr. Mu's pet inventions, a Giant robot that swallowed its victims as dolls and used their energy for his systems.
Gohan, Goten as well as Videl and Chi-Chi, Bulma and Bra were laughing so hard they didn't even hear Vegeta enter the room.

"That's SO like you again, Goku", Bulma said, her voice still trembling with laughter.

"To that, I agree", Vegeta remarked scornfully.

"Vegeta", Bulma turned around "I didn't know you were back." She craned her neck to look behind him. "Where's Trunks?", she gave him a threatening glare "Please don't tell me you oh so accidentally beat him to a pulp?"

Vegeta raised his eyebrows dismissingly "Relax Woman, he hung back to check up on something concerning the spaceship. Besides, it's not that easy to 'beat him to a pulp' as you phrased it so nicely", he added and there was the tiniest infliction of pride in his voice.

"Wow, that was as much a compliment one could expect from Vegeta", Goten said, though very quietly. He noticed Gohans eyebrow twitch in an half amused, half upset kind of way.

"Just like I thought, obviously with Kakarott in the lead of that journey problems appear out of nowhere. You obviously got many opportunities to fight." He glanced over to Goten.
"It surely would've done YOU some good as well", he mocked the younger Saiyajin, but Goten was so used to his snide remarks that he merely smiled mildly and kept his reply to himself.

"Yeah, well" Goku said, and scratched the back of his head in his usual manner, "we really got into some trouble out there", he admitted. "But it was actually Trunks who took the lead of the journey pretty soon."
He exchanged looks with Pan who, reflecting the journey, nodded in agreement.

"First of all, he was the only one who could navigate the ship", Goku explained. He shuddered when he thought of this complicated flying control panels, handles and knobs.
"And second, since I shrunk back to this size he was the only one looking like an adult so…"

"I was the only one behaving like an adult, either", they heard Trunks amused voice from behind and turned around.

"Hey Buddy", Goten grinned, "Bulma was already worried, that you might've been knocked out as a special welcoming-gift from your Dad."

Trunks rolled his eyes and thought it better not to comment on this. She was always so worried about him he thought, but couldn't help smiling a little anyways. She was his mother after all; it was just natural for her to be worried about her kids. He dropped down on the couch beside Goten.

"Hey, you're bleeding man…", Goten said, grabbing Trunks arm to get a better look at his shoulder.
"Huh?", Trunks looked down as well. There was a long, deep cut he hadn't even noticed before. Did that happen during the fight? He couldn't remember…
"It's nothing", he shrugged it off.

"What did you mean by that?" Pan interrupted, who apparently hadn't listened to their discussion and threw Trunks a threatening glare.
"You being the only one behaving like a grown-up? I am NOT a child and I surely didn't behave like one!", she put her hands to her hips in protest.

Not that discussion again, Trunks thought. He got up, poured himself a drink and replied:

"No offence Pan, but the two of you tended to get sidetracked all the time. At least one of us had to stay focused on the actual goal of our journey."

"'Stay focused' seems to be one of his favourite expressions…", Goku laughed as Trunks sat down on the couch again.

"Oh yes", it came from Bulma, Goten and Bra and the general tone was a mixture of amusement as well as exasperation.

"Gimme a break here…", Trunks mumbled, who really didn't like where this was going and felt rather uncomfortable. Goten merely winked at him playfully. 'Bad luck Man', this look said, 'You know it's true, anyways'.

"Speaking of getting sidetracked", Pan just couldn't let the topic go, "Thanks to whom did we have to stay at that hospital-planet for an entire week? Hm?"

"Oh yeah!", Goku jerked up like he was stung by a giant bee "Of all planets, a HOSPITAL planet? That's been one hell of a week…", Goku shuddered.

Everybody knew he hated hospitals, doctors and especially needles ever since his first fight with Vegeta after which he'd spent months in a hospital.

Trunks blushed a little and scratched the back of his head embarrassedly.
"Yeah, well….Got me there", he had to admit and gave Goku and Pan an apologetic smile.

Bulma, Gohan and the others were exchanging confused looks.
"You got Dad stuck on a hospital planet for a week?", Gohan laughed.

"Why? And what's even more interesting: How?", his younger brother added incredulously.

Trunks felt like a spotlight was directed at him and got a little defiant:
"That was different, we had already collected all the Dragon Balls then, didn't we?"

Goku still scowled at him, so Trunks went on: "Come on Goku, they didn't do you any harm and all the services were complimentary…you ate for free", he added hastily, seeing Gokus confused expression, with an undertone that clearly said 'And that means a lot!'.

"That still doesn't explain why you were at a hospital for an entire week", Bulma spoke up and there was a concerned frown on her face.

"There he goes…", Pan muttered under her breath when she saw that excited glow in Trunks eyes that she got to know only too well during the year.

"Actually they had the most amazing technology up there, far ahead of everything we're developing right now at CC. I couldn't miss the opportunity to analyze it and they offered me free access to all the facilities, so…"

Seeing how everybody apart from his mother, who was listening attentively with the same excited expression her son showed, looked at him rather blankly, he stopped mid-sentence and looked around confusedly.

"No proper explanation, huh?", he smiled and wiped a strand of his hair back that kept falling in his face.

"Honestly Bulma, I had never known just how much a Tech-Freak Trunks is", Goku sighed and winked playfully at the young Saiyajin, who'd already opened his mouth to protest, but since he really couldn't deny this, simply sipped on his drink and raised an eyebrow warningly.

"It took you a whole year to figure THAT out?", Goten scoffed and received a sharp blow to his side from Trunks, sitting next to him.
"Hey", the black-haired young man pouted and threw Trunks a reproachful look.

"Of course", Bulma said proudly, who obviously didn't notice that Trunks was really uncomfortable with everybody focussing on him. "Like mother, like son."

"Tss…", Vegeta sneered derisively, which was his first, well, contribution to the general conversation.

"Anyways, Mom I got to show you some of the data I gathered on Pital. Can't you guys just, I don't know, focus your attention on somebody else?" Trunks asked meekly, knowing that his father didn't approve of the amount of time Trunks spent in the lab, when he could rather be spending it in the training chamber instead. It was a topic his parents kept bickering about occasionally. Which was exactly why he really had to distract them from this topic, he had no intention whatsoever to listen to that discussion right now.

"And we got 'focus' again…", Pan muttered quite audibly which made everybody but Trunks, who rolled his eyes rather annoyed, snicker again.
Now that was going to be one hell of a welcome…, he thought.

"Wow…it's like you are actually IN there…", Bulma whispered excitedly, peering through a small version of the electron microscope Trunks had studied and rebuilt on Pital.

"Those were exactly my words when I first saw it", Trunks replied.
"This is amazing Trunks, it'll reform our whole company", Bulma beamed at her son proudly who gave a moderate nod in return.

"I closed a science-cooperation contract with them, so we're free to use their technology in every aspect of applied research", Trunks winked at his mother, "So the legal-department doesn't have anything to worry about."

"You're unbelievable", Bulma sounded quite impressed. "There you are collecting the Dragon Balls and you close the biggest Deal our company had had for decades at the drop of a hat."
Trunks merely shrugged. "That's me…", he took a sip of his drink contemplatively.

"You can't be serious", a cheery voice behind Trunks said and he snapped out of his thoughts.
"It's your first day back home and you are already thinking about work again?" That sounded playfully reproachful…

"Hey Goten", Trunks greeted, as the younger Saiyajin put an arm around his shoulders and squeezed him affectionately. "Come on, there's plenty of time for that later", he said and handed him a drink.
"Guess you're right. Thanks", Trunks smirked and clinked glasses with Goten.

"Honestly Buddy", Goten shook his head uncomprehendingly, "You love technology waaaay too much, ya know?"
He sounded a little hyped up, the purple haired Saiyajin noticed and chuckled. Goten obviously had had a few drinks…

Trunks got up and rubbed his eyes. He felt a little dizzy and had to blink twice to clear his vision. Without even noticing how time flew by he'd spent nearly two hours discussing and evaluating his research results with his mother. No surprise he felt a little shaky, he thought.

"One could really say that he LOVES robots…You know, when he was talking about the spaceship he said 'She' all the time…", Pan said to Bra in a quite carrying whisper.

Bra giggled. "Yeah…I wonder when he's going to introduce us to his self-manufactured girlfriend actually…"
They rolled on the floor laughing. Trunks on the other hand wasn't the least amused by this and blushed heavily.

"Girls…", he scoffed with a disgusted expression.
Obviously Pan was determined to annoy the crap out of him today, since she added:
"Big words for someone who dressed like a girl himself once."

Trunks felt his body freeze at this sentence. Of course she now got everybody's undivided attention and he saw now how utopistic his wish had been, that nobody, especially Vegeta, would never hear this story.
But obviously this was Pans revenge for him calling her a child so often…. This was a nightmare…

"I will kill you Pan…", Trunks groaned, though nobody but Goten heard him, who was obviously trying very hard to stifle his laughter.
Pan cleared her throat: "Well, it was a brilliant plan, actually. There was this giant monster, Zunama, whom we had to lure out of the city…"
Trunks sighed defeated, knocked back his drink, poured himself another one and silently accepted his fate…

"…though, the best part of it all was, that Zunama was still completely into 'Trunksette' when the disguise came off", Gokus words were nearly incomprehensible, since he was laughing so hard, but Trunks saw his fathers eyebrow twitch dangerously at the word 'Trunksette'. He would never let him hear the end of THAT for sure, Trunks thought grimly.

"Now, that's not fair Trunks. You got all the Girls in your company who absolutely adore you, and you go for a monster?" Goten laughed and earned a very dangerous glare from Trunks.

"Not just the girls though…" Bra chimed in a mocking sing-song voice.
"That guy from accounting was undressing you with his eyes when I picked you up once. He wouldn't mind some…late shifts at the office, if you ask me."

"Which I don't remember doing", Trunks snapped "Why don't YOU try acting like a girl once? You got some dirty gab for a so called 'Lady'", he added disdainfully.

"Touché…" Goten smirked. "She's right though, you know? Remember that guy at the last world tournament?
He obviously thought you were quite a Cutie as well." Goten burst out laughing and nearly fell off the couch, which Trunks wouldn't have minded at all…;

He sighed and dropped his head, defeated. How should he ever forget about THAT creepy guy? He never made sure he didn't do any serious damage to him after he was carried out of the stadium, completely knocked out…he might've gone a little too far there…

"'Cutie' or not, I could easily beat you up anytime…" he shot back, trying to save at least a little self-esteem, his expression an excellent copy of Vegetas most dangerous, intimidating glare.

"Oh relax Trunks", Goten said, "Merely pulling your leg here…"
Since Trunks was always so serious and rational, occasions like these, where he got really embarrassed were pretty rare. Though he was so cute, pouting like this…, Goten thought and smiled mildly.

"See now, what I was talking about Chi-Chi? He can choose, uhm…well, whatever he wants obviously and still…", she made a hopeless gesture with her hand and didn't bother to finish the sentence.

Chi-Chi however nodded wisely. "Some sons we have…", she agreed.

Trunks had no idea whatsoever what the two of them were talking about, but Goten gave an exasperated groan.
"If he'd spent half the time dating he spends in the lab…" Bulma went on, but Trunks finally catching on the hint, interrupted her instantly.

"I WORK all the time I'm not in the Lab!", he flared up. "Or in training! Honestly, what do you want from me?"
He just had enough for one day, obviously he'd been THE topic of gossip, he got that much.
But if he'd have to listen to anyone else talking about him like he wasn't even in the room any longer, he'd really give them some trouble.

"Yeah right…", Vegeta remarked scornfully "You spending time in training. Now that's news to me…"

Trunks heard a soft 'Ping' inside his head and knew that he should better keep his mouth shut from now on.
He was boiling with rage as it was and had no intention whatsoever to get into a discussion with his father.
Goten threw him a concerned look, he knew what was going on inside his best friend, but Trunks merely shook his head slightly, signalling he was in no mood to talk.

"Speaking of lost cases…" Bulma laughed. "If you spent half the time with the family you spend in training, you'd be such a great husband Vegeta. Sadly, it's not a perfect world…", she teased her husband playfully, who merely sniffed presumptuously.

Bulma got up and started to clean the table. "Mind giving me a hand Chi-Chi?"

The two of them picked up the empty bottles, plates and other leftovers from the party and went to the kitchen. Gohan and Videl took that as their sign to take their leave, said their goodbyes and followed Bulma and Chi-Chi.
Probably to gossip a little more, Trunks thought with a grim expression.

He shouldn't even care about any of it, he tried to compose himself. Him having a proper knowledge of advanced technology had probably saved the entire universe after all, he thought bitterly and found himself engrossed in thoughts about Dr. Mu and his incredible inventions once again…

Goku, knowing the expression on the young man's face only too well, asked in an undertone:
"That Baby-business really gives you a hard time, doesn't it?"

Trunks didn't answer. His lips were pressed so tightly together his mouth was merely a thin line and his usually bright blue eyes were overshadowed and dark, like a cloud blocking the sun on an else clear sky.
Goku frowned in concern. Trunks seemed anxious, scared even.

Goten looked from one to another with a questioning look. "What is this? What are you talking about?"

"You made the right call Trunks", Goku said earnestly, ignoring his son's question, "Thanks to you we could destroy that bastard before he was able to start his rampage all over the universe. That was awesome!"

Trunks smiled tiredly. It was nice to hear these words, but he couldn't help wondering…

"Did I hear that correctly?", Vegeta hissed in a dangerously low voice and Trunks felt his whole body get rigid, like he was preparing for a fight.
"You destroyed an enemy beforehand, rather than fighting him face-to-face?"
Trunks took a deep breath and looked his father straight in the eyes.

His voice sounded reasonably calm when he replied: "Exactly."

Vegetas eyes were glowing with rage and his voice was very cold when he spoke:
"You are SO like your mother sometimes, it makes me sick…", he snarled contemptuously.
"It's like her building that control-device for the Cyborgs all over again. Is there any fighting-spirit in you at all? Didn't I teach you anything?"

Without even remembering getting up, Trunks found himself on his feet, locked in a glaring-contest with his father, their outraged expressions mirroring each others. It was an intimidating sight, and finally Goku understood what Goten had been talking about earlier, when he said Trunks could be so much like Vegeta it was scary…

"She was right then as I am right now. This has nothing to do with a spirit to fight, it was my responsibility to eliminate that creature for the sake of every living being in the universe ", Trunks hissed through gritted teeth.

"Hey, calm down, you guys!", Goku tried to relax the situation, but just got evil glares from father and son alike.

"I see him being stupid enough to do such a thing, but how come you didn't stop him, Kakarott?", Vegeta scorned, but before Goku could even reply, Trunks shouted:
"Stupid enough? That beast would've destroyed the ENTIRE UNIVERSE and there would have been nothing we could do to stop him, you have no idea!"

Vegeta simply smiled coldly "Wow, that actually sounds quite tempting…What a pity I never got to know him, or better: he never got to know me", he smirked.

Suddenly Trunks got unusually calm, his eyes were so cold they seemed to be sending out ice sparks and an evil grin played around his lips that Goku had never seen on him before.
Goten on the other hand knew that Trunks was on the edge of going ballistic. The atmosphere in the room was so explosive neither Goten nor Goku dared to interfere, they didn't even dare to move.

"Big Words, seeing as you weren't able to finish off neither the Cyborgs, nor Cell, nor Boo…" Trunks snarled, "Didn't Goku end up getting rid of the enemies that got to know you?" An awkward silence followed his words.

"What did you just say?", Vegeta whispered finally, his eyes turning green for the split of a second.

"There is no dignity in risking millions of lives just because fighting is so much fun", Trunks spat, "It's a sign of lunacy. You should know that by now, father"

Goten took a deep, sharp breath. Trunks had some nerve to talk back to Vegeta like that…what had gotten into him?

"Listen to you…", Vegetas voice was as cold as his son's, "Don't you have any pride? You're a Saiyajin, for God's sake!"

For the tiniest moment, there was an expression on Trunks face, which Goten had never seen before and surely would never want to see again…but before he could even take a better look the usual cold mask of inviolability had appeared on his face again.

He simply turned around and went to the door: "Yeah", he mumbled in a voice that didn't sound like his at all, "Unfortunately I am…"

With that he left and left an outraged Vegeta behind. Goten couldn't help shouting out:
"Well done, Vegeta. He's just got back here, can't you give it a rest just for once?! You're unbelievable!", and he slammed the door behind him so hard, the pictures in the room fell off the walls.

So, that's that so far. Pretty bad fight huh? As always, I'd love to know what you think. See you at the next chapter.^^