Trunks stared into the black eyes of his opponent. He saw only blackness in those eyes, no trace of the person this creature had once been.
He had been in situations like this before. On his own world, the loss of Gohan stood out as one of the times he had felt the most helpless. Every failed battle with the androids reminded him of his own powerlessness.
Now his opponent was himself. It was ironic really. He now faced a version of himself that might have existed had events on his own Earth occurred differently. His opponent was another Trunks who had grown up hearing tales of himself.
Toran grabbed Trunks by the throat. Trunks could feel his opponent's breathe on him.
"How does it feel Trunks? How does it feel to be utterly useless?" Toran said, his soulless black eyes gazing at Trunks with contempt.
Trunks struggled to speak. If he had to struggle to even talk than transforming was out of the question. This was not a battle he could win. Yet if he lost he would lose his life. That was something he could not let happen.
Trunks coughed, spitting up blood in Toran's face. The Corrupted Super Saiyan had a blank expression in response.
"I really thought you were strong, but now I know what true power is. I would kill you Trunks, but I think you need a demonstration of what I am capable of now. Only after you know the darkest depths of despair will I set you free and terminate your life. Now watch." Toran said as he dropped Trunks roughly onto the ground.
Trunks could literally do nothing. Breathing was difficult, his eyes struggled to stay open. It seemed he had seen his last battle. Accepting his fate, Trunks gazed as Toran rose into the sky, a dark blue aura of malevolence around the Corrupted Super Saiyan.
Toran yelled as his aura grew, casting everything as far as the eye could see in a dark light. Trunks was reminded of an image in negative, as he saw dark objects made light, and vice-versa.
In truth this was not the first time he had felt this sort of power. A few days before the fateful event known as the Cell Games, during the ten days Cell had giving his adversaries to train and prepare themselves, he had, alongside his friends fought a terrible being. The being's name was Broly. When the formerly mind-controlled Broly assumed his bulky, "Legendary" form, Trunks had felt a dark pit of foul energy behind him. During that battle, occasionally Broly would increase in power without a logical explanation.
Whatever power gave Broly it's strength, felt like a combination of power itself and pure unadulterated evil. There was another feeling present however. It was a feeling of emptiness. Trunks had never felt something so evil.
And now he felt that same power.
Toran flew in front of the sun. The Corrupted Super Saiyan's power caused an artificial eclipse, and darkness descended on the world.
Looking down on the world he once fought to defend, Toran clutched an orb of black energy he had created in his right hand.
Momentarily, Toran felt regret for what he was about to do. He even briefly thought maybe he was wrong. But then a voice spoke to him.
"You owe nothing to the living on this world. They have given you only disappointment and pain. Whatever desires you had before are immaterial. This world cannot be defended forever. Death is the only absolute." The voice said
Smiling as joy filled him, Toran tossed the small black orb of electrical-like energy towards the Earth.
Back in his laboratory, Gen stared with disbelief as Toran, who was supposed to be HIS puppet, tossed an energy attack capable of destroying the Earth towards the Earth. He tried to reboot the system, anything to reestablish control, but nothing worked.
He then heard footsteps coming towards him.
At this point, he did not care if Krysis found out about what was going on. In seconds they would all be dead.
"I see your little experiment with Trunks backfired, just as I predicted it would." A familiar voice said.
Gen turned his head to see Krysis, his dark eyes staring at him with annoyance.
"I told you I wanted the other Trunks alive didn't I?" Krysis said, his face an intimidating visage from behind his red mask.
"Yes sir, but I did not plan on Toran breaking free from my control. He suddenly transformed into a Super Saiyan Four, or something like it, and then all my controls stopped working!" Gen said, in a panic.
"Calm down you fool. I already have Giga heading to that location. He will end your pet's little rampage. Make sure you use this to our advantage. One of the Z-Fighters losing it and going berserk will go a very long way for our cause." Krysis said calmly as he spoke to Gen.
"Yes, of coarse sir." Gen said
Toran looked at his right hand. Satisfied with the amount of power his attack now possessed, he tossed it like a grenade towards the Earth.
Trunks gazed upwards as the object approached him in slow motion. If this was that moment where one's life passed before one's eyes, that was that time. The object grew as it approached, becoming a pitch black meteor capable of ending everything on Earth. Trunks truly felt this was the end, however when he had lost all hope, something unexpected happened.
A sword flew into Trunk's hands. Images and a voice immediately entered his mind.
"Hello Trunks. You do not know me, but I know of you. My name is Tapion. Years ago I met your counterpart from this reality. You may wonder how I am speaking to you now. The answer is within the sword now in your hands. Your sword and this one are part of a greater whole, as are you and the Trunks I call friend. I am not sure how I came to this knowledge, but if you are to free my friend, you must reunite your sword and mine. By the time you get this message, it will have been years since he had last seen me. The sword recorded my thoughts, so that I could pass them down to you if the need ever arose." Tapion's voice echoed in Trunk's mind.
It seemed impossible. Somehow the sword he now clutched in his hands had sent into his mind the thoughts of someone from years past. Trunks had wondered where the other Trunks sword had come from, now he knew the answer.
Strength flowed into Trunks, and with one swift motion the young warrior got to his feet. The horrid black object still bore down on him, now looking like a drop of living black liquid slowly oozing its way to the ground below, hungry to consume all in its path.
Using the enchanted sword, Trunks swatted the dark meteor past a surprised Toran and back into the void of space.
"So you have learned to use my old sword. I think you will find that toy useless against my powers." Toran said, then pointed his left hand towards Trunks.
"I call this attack Eclipse Barrage!" Toran said as he released several hundred tiny orbs of black flame, each no larger than a marble, at Trunks and the Earth below.
As the black rain approached the earth, Trunks spotted his sword. Keeping Tapion's words in mind, he quickly grabbed the weapon with his left hand.
"I have both swords, now what?" Trunks thought.
Unable to think of what to do next, Trunks flew into the air as the deadly black rain fell upon the Earth, causing enormous city-sized explosions and causing the entire planet to shake in a world-wide Earthquake.
Bardock was flying above the earth a great distance away from the battle. He was near where he last sensed his grandsons power signature when he felt the horrible energy source that preceded the earthquake.
"Seems like the battle has been taken up a notch. I better use this chaos to my advantage and get Goten and Gohan out of here while I still can." Bardock said, adjusting his red bandanna before diving straight into the ground.
Bulma and Bulla had taken one of the new Proto-type craft she had designed for the Royal Military. If the years hanging around Goku or her husband had taught her anything, it was that she should get as far away from the action as possible.
Her assumptions were proven right as they got out of visual range of West City, as the entire area went up in a large fiery orange explosion.
"I'm getting to old for this." Bulma said quietly to herself.
Somewhere on an Island Vegeta awoke. He was still in his Super Saiyan Four state. A burning wound lay on his chest.
Vegeta was greatly saddened about what had happened to his son, but another feeling grew within him..a feeling of rage. Whoever would be sadistic enough to turn someone he loved and cared about, his own son, into a weapon was someone who deserved no mercy. There was a long list of people on Vegeta's list of losers, this Gen Kato had earned himself a spot as number one.
Overcoming his reluctance to transform into his most powerful state, Vegeta gathered his strength and began to power up. His body glowed brighter than the sun as blue lightning struck Vegeta's general area.
Even Gogeta at Super Saiyan Four during the battle with Omega Shenron paled in comparison to the power levels Vegeta now possessed. As the light dimmed, Vegeta, now in the white and silver fur of a Super Saiyan Five, stood proudly.
Eyes that showed a vast wisdom became engulfed in blue fire as Vegeta completed his transformation, just in time to see a vast explosion consume West City. Vegeta knew his wife and daughter were safe, though he still felt bad for all the innocents his own son had just killed. He hurried with urgency towards the battlefield.
Trunks flew over what was West City with both swords in hand. He still did not know how he was supposed to make the two weapons become one.
That was when Toran appeared in front of him.
"Where do you think your going?" Toran said with a sinister smile.
Trunks in desperation rushed towards Toran with both swords.
Toran easily dodged Trunks attack.
"Your not even a Super Saiyan and your attacking me? The arrogance." Toran said before attempting to slam Trunks with a punch.
To Trunks' surprise he had the speed to dodge Toran's attack. He knew that if he had been hit with even one of Toran's punches, it would be all over.
Suddenly having an idea, Trunks attempted to slash Toran with both swords at once. Trunks was met only by an afterimage. Tapping on Trunks' shoulder, Trunks turned his head to see his opponent behind him laughing smugly at his expense.
"It is really fun watching you try to hurt me, it really is. But I think I'll do both of us a favor and put you out of your misery." Toran said, forming a ball of dark black energy in his right hand.
"If you destroy the planet you will die along with everyone else!" Trunks said with a desperate tone.
"Actually no I will not. I will not die as easily as this pathetic planet." Toran said with a smirk.
Suddenly both swords in Trunks' hands glowed white.
"Neat trick, it still won't save you though." Toran said, sending a hard right punch towards Trunks' stomach.
Instead of hurting Trunks, Toran's punch only hit some kind of invisible forcefield.
"What the heck?" Toran said, repeatedly punching the forcefield in frustration.
Both fighters suddenly heard a roaring sound, typical of someone who had just slowed down from ultra-fast flight.
"I have seen enough of this circus. Time to terminate the failed experiment." A robotic-sounding voice with an English accent said, causing both Toran and Trunks to turn their heads to see who spoke.
It was a golden robot, resembling a medieval Knight. It flew seemingly of its own power.
"Brave talk for a tin can!" Toran said, then attempted to punch the robot.
As Toran's right arm headed towards the robot, the machine soldier grabbed Toran's arm and sent a series of increasingly powerful electric shocks into the Corrupted Super Saiyan's body.
Trunks watched as the robot's left hand detached from its left arm and sent Toran soaring downwards into the ground. The robot then fired a series of missiles at Toran.
The area was engulfed in yet another large explosion.
The robot scanned the area, once he was satisfied that Toran was dead, he looked at Trunks.
"My master desires I bring you to him. Do not attempt to resist." The robot said
"You shouldn't assume your opponent is dead until you know it for a fact." Trunks said, pointing towards a very angry looking Toran flying towards the golden machine.
"I don't like people who try to take away my chance at vengeance!" Toran yelled, putting both hands together as dark energy gathered in his palms.
"Your power is inferior to mine. Allow me to demonstrate." The golden robot said, hovering backwards some distance from Toran as he pointed his right hand at his opponent.
Trunks got some distance away as Toran fired a pitch-black beam at the gold robot, who fired a green laser in response. The two attacks slammed into each other, causing a mid-air explosion and a huge shock wave that nearly caused Trunks to fall from the sky.
Whatever Tapion wanted him to do, he had to figure it out quick before whatever that machine was killed the other Trunks.
Toran charged the golden machine, rage evident on his face. The robot dodged each of Toran's punches with ease as his opponent tried in vain to hit him.
The robot then pointed his right hand at Toran, and blasted the Corrupted Saiyan a great distance away with a blast of green energy.
After that Toran and the machine exchanged fire as the two attempted to hit the other with an energy attack.
Trunks knew that although the robot had the upper hand now, Toran would eventually grow stronger if he tapped once again into whatever that foul well of emptiness was that he drew his power from.
Trunks did not know if he could do as Tapion asked. Nothing he did worked, he could not combine the two swords. As he was about to give up, suddenly an idea hit him. It was very risky, and probably insane, but if the sword was indeed enchanted, then perhaps it was the only thing capable of freeing his counterpart from whatever darkness now held sway over him.
"Toran..catch!" Future Trunks said, tossing both swords at the Corrupted Super Saiyan.
Toran on instinct caught both weapons. Suddenly his mind was filled with images.
"Trunks...my friend. You have been manipulated into working with the forces of evil. These swords can set you free, if you will them. You and the other Trunks are halves of the same whole." Tapion's voice spoke
"There is so much..darkness. Tapion I don't know if I can overcome it." Trunks said. He felt surrounded by a sea of infinite darkness, his head above the dark waters, but only barely.
"The friend I know would never give up. I believe in you Trunks, I believe that in the end, you will do the right thing. I know you will fight for justice, not revenge." Tapion's voice said
Trunks felt his body rise a bit. The darkness seemed to be slowly losing its hold on him. He was nearly free from the ocean of darkness, when he felt a powerful, and very evil, presence nearby.
"Why do you cling to that which is meaningless?" The voice said.
"My love of family and friends is not meaningless" Trunks said in response.
"Everything is meaningless except for that which is the only absolute. Only death is meaningful. Why not end the futility that is mortality?" The voice answered.
Trunks ignored the dark presence and accepted the swords conditions. In his mind the sea of darkness seemed to retreat as a pillar of light engulfed Trunks.
Suddenly the other Trunks appeared. Future Trunks stared at his counterpart. His scarf and outfit vaguely reminded him of Android 17.
"I really screwed up didn't I?" Trunks said
"Yes you did." Future Trunks said
Trunks looked ashamed.
"I hurt you for selfish and stupid reasons. I hurt Goten, and father. How can anything ever be ok again?" Trunks said with sorrow in his voice.
"It is not too late, we can still save our family and friends." Future Trunks said
"No matter if you save them or not, they will die eventually, as all mortals do. Why prolong the inevitable? Is your futile existence worth so much to you?" The voice said.
Future Trunks looked around, sensing the same feeling of emptiness he had felt earlier. Above them was a dark figure in a black robe. A dark red aura surrounded the figure.
"Who are you and what are you trying to do here?" Future Trunks asked.
The figure was silent. After a few moments it faded away.
"That was disturbing. Anyway, are you ready Trunks?" Future Trunks asked his counterpart.
"Whatever I have to do, I am willing." Trunks said
"As am I." Future Trunks said.
Back on Earth, it appeared to both the approaching Vegeta and to the golden robot known as Giga-001 that Future Trunks flew towards Toran, who in a flash had reverted back to Trunks. The two Trunks then were engulfed in a sphere of white light.
"What is going on?" Vegeta asked, sensing both his son's energy disappear.
The sphere disappeared seconds after its formation, revealing a figure in golden armor with long shoulder length lavender hair, wielding a silver broadsword. The sword's cross-guard was seemingly made of gold, and had the image of a lion engraved on its surface.
"Who are you and where is the failed experiment?" The golden robot said to the newcomer.
"I am Trunks, your experiment as you called it, is me. Where there was once two, is now one. I am complete." Trunks said, pointing his sword in the robot's direction.
"I do not understand." Giga said.
Suddenly Trunks disappeared in a flash and reappeared behind the robot with his sword in a position suggesting he just used it offensively. Giga promptly exploded seconds after Trunks reappeared.
"Your armor is no match for the power of Excalibur." Trunks said, placing his sword in a golden scabbard on his back.
Back at his secret company headquarters, the last image seen on Gen's monitor was that of the golden armored Trunks moments before he completely destroyed Giga, the most powerful robotic soldier in their arsenal.
As angry and confused as Gen was, Krysis seemed livid with rage.
"Again, every time he comes to stop my plans. This is not going to go his way this time. Gen, launch the Neo-Saiyans into combat immediately, and prepare the time gate to transport my entire army to this time period after your done with that." Krysis said, his body now giving off noticeable red bio-electricity.
"Activating the entire Time Gate network will take time. We need to use our footage of Toran's rampage to convince the public that the Royal Military is in league with the Z-Fighters, and that our forces are the only means of stopping them." Gen said, once again going over the plan the two of them had thought up months ago.
"What are you waiting for then Gen, go and get your company's propaganda machine running." Krysis said with a tone suggesting impatience.
Gen winced at the word "Propaganda", even though he knew it was the truth.
As Gen was about to leave the room Krysis said one last thing to him.
"Gen, make sure the first person to be transported to this time period is General Terra." Krysis said
"Of coarse sir." Gen said.
Time was growing short. Not only that, but Gen's plan to use Toran against Krysis had failed miserably. The Neo Saiyans were completely loyal to Krysis and his army after Gen had been forced to reprogram them. Once Krysis forces arrived Gen knew he would have outlived his usefulness.
Gen knew by transporting Krysis' army here, he was likely carving his own tombstone. Still he had a backup plan. When he had carried out his orders, Gen intended on unleashing his greatest creation on his supposed master. They would never see it coming.
However in another section of Gentech's hidden base, Bardock had landed after tunneling threw solid rock. The Green-armored saiyan looked around at his surroundings, seeing only a simple tunnel of concrete in both directions.
Sensing his grandsons nearby, Bardock quickened his pace as he ran threw the tunnel. Strangely there were no guards, nothing preventing him from going where he wanted threw the tunnel.
Bardock arrived at a series of holding cells. In one cell he saw the unconscious form of a bald old man wearing a hawaiian style T-shirt and shorts chained to the far wall. Bardock recognized the man as Mr. Roshi. He had met the mentor of his son a few days after arriving on Earth. The old man loved the ladies, that much was certain, however he also was very helpful in answering any questions Bardock had of the Earth or its people.
The prison cell also held another older man wearing a very old orange outfit, perhaps for martial arts. Bardock recognized this man as well, he was Krillin, one of his son's oldest friends. Krillin also had been very kind to him, perhaps because he resembled his son so much. Krillin had told Bardock of all his adventures with his son.
Bardock could not help but feel slightly angry. These two had been kind to him. They had both helped save the Earth numerous times, especially Krillin. They had been rewarded with their efforts with lies and imprisonment.
Bardock walked over and looked into the next prison cell. This one contained another older man, this one had a brown outfit, a large mustache, and a balding head framed with the remains of an afro.
Hercule Satan, the former world martial arts champion, and the Grandfather to Pan. Pan was Bardock's Great-Granddaughter, and his grandson's father-in-law. He was not the most perfect person, but he had helped to save the world once, and was generally a good guy deep down, or so Bardock was told.
Also in the cell was a woman who looked no older than twenty. She had blond hair, a black shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. Bardock had met the woman once, she was Krillin's wife. Her name strangely enough was a number. Apparently she was actually a cyborg-type android created by some insane scientist that wanted his son dead for whatever reason. Her name was Eighteen. She was a cold, but kind person, that much Bardock could tell. She reminded him somehow of his own wife.
Bardock looked to the third cell. This one contained the people he was looking for. In addition to Gohan and Goten, who both were still wearing the clothing they had been abducted in, the room contained a blonde-haired girl. The girl was Marron, Krillin's daughter. From the looks of things in the room, Bardock surmised that Marron was the latest to be captured.
Not wanting to waste any time looking for whatever device would unshackle the prisoners, Bardock decided to do things his way, the saiyan way.
Using as little energy as he could while still forming enough to destroy the shackles, Bardock freed each and everyone trapped in the hellish dark prison.
Each of the people slowly regained consciousness, starting with Gohan.
"Easy Gohan, I don't know what those guys blasted you with, but I think it would be wise if you took it easy." Bardock said
Soon Goten awakened, followed by Eighteen. After that Master Roshi, Krillin, and finally Marron and Mr. Satan awoke. Everyone seemed confused as to their surroundings.
"Now that everyone is awake, can I have everyone's attention please?" Bardock asked.
"Sure go right ahead tough guy, I won't stop ya." Master Roshi said as he spotted Eighteen and immediately began to drool.
"Where the heck are we? Looks like some kind of dungeon." Hercule said, looking around.
"That's because it is a dungeon." Bardock said
"Why would anyone want to imprison the champion of the world?" Mr. Satan asked, anger and confusion in his voice.
"People who want us out of the way so they can take over most likely." Krillin said, rubbing a sore spot on his head.
"Reminds me of my dad." Eighteen said with disgust.
"Well with that statement I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to get out of here. Valese is probably worried about me." Goten said, adjusting his shirt.
"Worrying about your girlfriend is the last thing we should be doing. Bar, I mean, Grandfather, what has been going on since we have been down here?" Gohan asked.
"Well Gohan I can answer part of that." Goten said with anger in his voice as the recent memories came back to him.
"What do you mean Goten?" Gohan asked.
"Trunks had me use fusion in order to fight the other Trunks, you know, the one who helped you guys fight Cell?" Goten said, disgust in his voice.
"He had you do what?" Gohan said with surprise.
"Yeah, he was obsessed with it. I guess he left me out cold after the fusion ended because after that other Trunks used some kind of weird sword technique on Gotenks I don't remember a thing until a few minutes ago." Goten said
"We can think about how we got down here, or we can escape. I think the second option sounds better, but thats me." Bardock said with a smirk.
Somewhere in a vast desert, General Yumimoto watched a television report originally aired by GenTV that showed ghastly images of someone completely destroying West City. The report by GenTV's completely un bias reporters claimed the attack was another example of Z-Fighter aggression.
The news reports would always claim the Royal Government and its military were behind the Z-Fighters. The general had not in his long career ever heard such despicable lies.
The Vanguard of Independent Nations was soaking up the false information from GenTech and eagerly using it as more justification for their war effort. It was once said that information was one of the battlefields in war, with Truth the first casualty. General Dwight Yumimoto had little reason not to be believe that claim.
As the General continued to command his forces from his recently acquired desert base in what was proving to be a successful campaign, he could only hope that in other fields of battle in this war, his peers enjoyed likewise success.
As the sun set on the sand dunes and on the military base, Yumimoto removed his hat and said a quiet prayer for the Z-Fighters who had risked their lives so many times to save his life and the lives of everyone he cared about.
