Chapter 10: Trials Of The Blade
"Supreme Kai," Trunks called out as they flew, "how long should it take us to reach the sword?"
"Not very much longer, Trunks," Shin replied. "Actually we should be nearing it soon."
Though not completely satisfied with the answer, Trunks remained silent as they continued to fly. He began to wonder if he would truly be able to kill Majin Buu. The Supreme Kai seemed to think that it was impossible earlier. Trunks hoped that he could find a way, because he certainly didn't have a plan at the moment.
"I suggest you not worry about it," Shin reassured Trunks. "I don't know if Majin Buu can be killed, but I do know that it will be you, if anyone, that kills him."
"Do you believe that everything happens for a reason, Supreme Kai?" Trunks asked.
"Would I not be hypocritical for thinking otherwise?" Shin responded. "Why must you worry, Trunks?"
"Something Shell told me," Trunks said remembering. "She told me that even when things get as bad as they possibly can, something good will still come of it. I'm trying to understand how she thinks that."
"Perhaps she is right," Shin agreed. "Her optimism is most welcome, though. Our day has been long and absent of optimism."
Trunks smiled. He could appreciate that in Shell. He hadn't known her but for a week, but still it seemed that they had just clicked to one another. He didn't understand it. He didn't think love just happened out of nowhere. So what was it? Fascination? No, he could feel it. He was sure he loved her, though unable to understand how on such short time. But at the same time, they had spent all hours of each day together the past week. As short as it seemed, perhaps it was more time than he gave credit. Although, maybe he shouldn't have told Leon to tell Shell that he loved her. Perhaps that was a little rash, but it was impulse. Trunks sighed aloud.
"You doubt too much," Shin said softly.
"What do you suggest?" Trunks asked uninterested.
The Supreme Kai stopped flying and hovered in one spot. As Trunks stopped behind him, Shin said, "You should not worry about things that you cannot control, Trunks. Learn to trust your heart and your feelings. Then you'll understand how to express them."
Trunks looked at Shin with a silent straight face.
"We're here," the Supreme Kai said vaguely.
"Where?" Trunks asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Here," Shin said as he looked downward and began to descend.
Trunks followed down to the peak of a rock platform. He landed with his back to the Supreme Kai and began to look downward surveying the altitude. "Wow," he said to himself. Looking outward and downward, he could now see that they stood atop of giant monolith at least three hundred feet high. It was gigantic, rising out of the grassy plains down at the face of the planet. As he turned to look with the Supreme Kai, he noticed that the peak was only perhaps ten to fifteen feet in diameter, but in the center of the staged platform their treasure stood embedded in the rock. Rising out of the rocky base, the Z Sword, he presumed, was not much different from his own sword. As he looked at it, he noticed that the hilt was gold as opposed to his own silver one. And at the tip of the handle was an encased bluish jewel, and as the blade faded down into the rock, he saw it was somewhat slimmer than his usual weapon of choice. Elegant certainly, but he imagined the shrine would have been somewhat more considered.
"This is the Z Sword," Shin introduced with a proud grin. "This is the legendary weapon that we shall use to destroy Majin Buu!"
"How did it get all the way up here?" Trunks asked blatantly.
"It was placed here, obviously," Shin said somewhat insulted, "at the site of its legendary pedestal."
Trunks hesitated for a minute. "So… do I just pull it out of the ground?" he asked.
Shin, too, hesitated. "Well, I…" he stopped.
"…Don't know." Trunks answered.
Shin frowned. "Is it that obvious?" he asked.
Trunks nodded.
"I'm terribly sorry, Trunks," Shin apologized. "I don't know everything! I've never had to get the thing before."
Trunks stood for a moment. "Well," he said as he walked over to the sword, "Guess I'll go with my feelings on this one."
Shin stood back. "Be careful not to damage it," he reminded.
Trunks slowly placed his right hand around the hilt of the sword. It gleamed in the sunlight, and had a strange feel to Trunks' grip on it. "Here goes," he said in a whisper, and then gave a tug on the sword. "What the–?" he asked surprised.
"What's wrong?" Shin inquired worriedly.
"It's stuck!" Trunks announced as he grabbed the hilt with both hands and pulled.
"What do you mean it's stuck?" Shin asked running over to help.
"I mean it's stuck! It won't come out of the ground!" Trunks shouted, letting go.
"Let me try," Shin said as he gathered his grip. He grunted loudly as he did his best to pull the sword from the ground. "Why… won't it… come out?" he shouted as his grip slipped and he fell backwards. "Confound it!" he cursed from the ground. Trunks lent a hand to help him up. "Thank you," he said, "I can't possibly imagine what the matter is."
Trunks turned to grip the sword again with both hands. "Maybe…" he said as he strained, "if we try to wedge it out…" He began pulling horizontally towards him, but the sword didn't even budge.
"Careful to not break it!" Shin griped.
"Are you kidding?" Trunks said through gritted teeth, "Majin Buu couldn't damage this thing…" After pulling intensely for several minutes, Trunks gave up and let go with a loud sigh.
"Perhaps we are doing something wrong," Shin wondered.
"We could blow up the monolith," Trunks suggested.
"And risk destroying the sword?" Shin reasoned.
"I don't know about destroying it…" Trunks replied, "I mean, we can't even lift it. I think it's pretty doubtful that we might break it."
"I suppose," Shin reluctantly agreed. "I shall meditate on the thought and see if I can think of any way it should be unearthed." Shin walked to the edge of the platform and sat down, legs crossed, and began to go into a state of deep thought.
"What now?" Trunks thought to himself. "Did I really come all this way just to be unable to get the damn thing out of the ground?" His thoughts flowed back to his friends and family and Shell back home. He didn't know if Majin Buu had been revived by now or not. He decided it would be best to believe that he had that way he would use his time quickly and efficiently on the Kai Planet. Trunks searched for energy signals for a moment. The Earth was too far. He couldn't tell what was going on there. He sighed aloud. This was no good. What if Leon and Kibito had encountered Buu already? And what if they were in trouble? He doubted Leon and Kibito could stop Majin Buu by themselves. And with them out of the way, who would stop him from destroying the entire population, including Shell? The full risk of danger began to become more and more apparent to Trunks with every flowing thought. The harsh realization came that he wouldn't make it back to Earth before Buu was reborn. Leon and Kibito were on their own for a while. And they couldn't protect everyone. "No!" Trunks thought to himself. He couldn't let anything happen to Shell or anyone else. He looked down at the sword before him. He studied it silently for a moment, and then remembered what Shin had told him. "It wants to test me…" Trunks said aloud.
Shin's eyes snapped open. He turned to watch Trunks grasp the sword with both hands and stand, almost as though he were waiting. "Yes," the Supreme Kai affirmed, "that's it, Trunks. I'm almost certain of it! The Z Sword means to test your strength, so don't hold back!"
"Step back," Trunks said deeply.
Shin obeyed and backed to the edge of the platform.
Trunks glared down at the hilt in his hands. He grasped his hands into the sturdiest grip he could muster. He relaxed to begin with, slowly allowing his energy level to expand and grow. It had been so long since he had allowed his energy level to stretch. The native feeling of being cramped began to subside, and he could sense most every aspect of the Supreme Kai's planet. It felt good; like waking up from a long night's sleep.
Behind him, Shin's mouth dropped and he began to back further away from the monolith platform and began to hover in the air.
After allowing his energy and aura to flow and stretch, no longer being suppressed, Trunks' mind began to flow back through time as he closed his eyes. As it did, he slowly began to add pressure to pull at the sword in the ground. Much of his aura glided back to him, giving him added strength and allowing his muscles to build. As his body began to strain, and his pull on the sword heightened, it still gave no movement. Trunks continued to push his body to where it would gather a build up of energy. His jacket began to get tighter from the strain of his muscles' growth, and his belt began to do the same at the added strain. At that moment, Trunks focused all of his mental capacities back to the past. Gohan, his best friend… had given everything… to… to protect him. It was his fault for not being strong enough. He should have been there for Gohan, to help him when he needed the help the most. Gohan would still be there, if not for… And now, the same was with his friends. Leon, Kibito, his family… Shell. They would all be destroyed if he didn't get there fast. He needed the strength. He needed… the rage. And then he could feel it. When he reopened his eyes, they were now an aqua green color, and the lands around him were shaking in his wake. The winds had picked up, and his hair had begun to stand on end. And then with the thought of Gohan's needless death on his hands, Trunks' emotions pushed to the surface. Trunks erupted with a scream of anger and passion. His muscles bulged even greater, almost shredding his jacket and belt. His aura turned from dark blue to light blue to gold. And with the gold of his aura, his hair flushed the same shining color. As this added strength bolted onto his existing strain, the Z Sword vibrated in the ground. Trunks pushed his energy downward to add to his immense tug, and his body began to come off the ground crushing the platform soil into shards and breaking it into a million pieces. The monolith itself rumbled and broke at the might of Trunks' power, and as he gave his final pull on the sword, the tower of rock crumbled and collapsed. Trunks rocketed upward, Z Sword in hand, as the rocky platform below him dissolved and fell to the earth.
Shin watched in near horror as this legendary pedestal was desecrated in an instant by a Saiyan-human. The giant boulders and rock faces crashed to the ground erupting a cloud of dust and debris. And in a state of shock and awe, Shin floated slowly to the ground and to his knees. As he tried slowly to gather himself to his feet, a hand found its way before his face in an offering of help. As he took it and looked up, Super Saiyan Trunks stood holding the Z Sword in his right hand.
"I hope you're okay," Trunks said darkly. "But I'm ready to learn to use this thing now."
Shin stared with an open mouth at Trunks. Incredibly shocked at the display of raw power, the Supreme Kai could find no means of expressing his feelings. Trunks' hand felt of steel as it pulled him to his feet. "Oh," Shin gasped softly after finally regaining his ability to speak, "Oh, my… That, that was…"
"Hard," Trunks said completing Shin's sentence with his own ending. He calmed his aura to a subsiding glow. "This is amazing," Trunks continued to explain to the Supreme Kai, "Even in this state, this sword still weighs a lot!"
Shin began to collect his astonishment long enough to reply, "What do you mean?"
"Here," Trunks said handing the sword to Shin.
As Shin grasped the hilt and blade with each hand, Trunks released it, and the sword, along with the Supreme Kai, plummeted to the ground with a crash. The Supreme Kai shouted in pain as the sword crushed his fingers into the ground under its immense weight.
"Uh, oops; sorry!" Trunks apologized as he knelt to help Shin get the sword off his crushed fingers.
As the sword lifted, Shin quickly removed his fingers from the imprints in the ground and stuck them in his mouth. Tears swelled in his eyes from pain.
Trunks raised his eyebrow, and then lifted the sword up off the ground, straining. Trying to find a suitable position for the dense blade, he found the most comfortable and practical place to be balanced over his shoulder. "Sorry, Supreme Kai," Trunks apologized again, "Guess I should have told you first. You okay?"
Fighting back tears and through gritted teeth, Shin slowly got up cradling his mashed fingers to answer. "I–I'm… fine," he grumbled. "My, that terribly hurt!" he painfully complained. As the color began to return, the pain began to dissipate. "I don't see how you hold that thing…" Shin whispered under his breath.
"Huh?" Trunks asked.
"Oh, nothing," Shin said, confirming his recovery. "So what do you think, now that you have held the Sword of the Kais?" he asked.
Trunks shifted his weight to support the insanely heavy sword on his shoulder. "I think we should just drop it on Majin Buu and blast him while he can't move."
The Supreme Kai laughed. Still grinning, he agreed, "That just might work, I think."
Trunks grasped the hilt with both hands and brought the sword off his shoulder and back into a position in front of him. "So how am I supposed to use it?" he asked. He turned away from Shin and tried to swing with both hands. The rather humorous effect resulted in Trunks staggering to keep his balance. He looked like a three year old trying to swing a Major League baseball bat. He tried several times at a successful, fluent swing, but always got a wobbling strike. "Man!" Trunks gasped, "This thing's a piece of work!" He laid the sword to rest, blade down, in the grassy soil. His glow faded, and his hair fell back to its purple color. He sat down shakily next to the sword and looked up at the Supreme Kai. "I'm beat," he gasped, still breathing heavily.
Shin gave a slight smirk. "And now your training begins," he started.
"Are you gonna teach me how to lift heavy objects first?" Trunks joked.
"Hardly," Shin remarked. "The Z Sword is going to train you, Trunks. From now until you are ready to fight Majin Buu, the sword will train you body, mind, and spirit. It will teach you how to surpass your strongest strengths and mental capacities, giving your spirit a new gauge on your power level like you have never imagined. Then, you will be truly unstoppable."
"So I guess my first lesson is to learn how to hold the thing and swing it?" Trunks asked kiddingly.
"So it appears," Shin said seriously. "Trunks, I want you to take the sword and train using it. Meanwhile, I shall meditate on all the events that have unfolded today. I need to know what is happening back on Earth and what we should do when your training is complete. If you need me, I shall be over here." Then he turned and walked over to an area under a nearby tree and sat down to meditate.
"Great," Trunks grunted as he lay back onto the grass. He looked up at the peaceful blue sky and wondered how he was going to get through training, let alone Majin Buu. After resting for several minutes, he opened his eyes to look back up at the sky. It was dark. Had he fallen asleep? As he sat up and looked around, he saw that the grassy plains had disappeared. Nothing but cracked, dry earth ran for miles on what had been the lush planet earlier. The only grass left was the small area around the Z Sword. "What's going on?" Trunks asked himself as he stood up. He turned to look, and the Supreme Kai was still sitting under a now dead and rotting tree. Puzzled, he walked over to Shin. "Hey, Supreme Kai, do you know what's going on?" he asked. Shin didn't flinch. "Supreme Kai?" Trunks asked again as he reached down to touch his shoulder.
As he did, the Supreme Kai's body faded and turned to black. The black figure spun around quickly and punched Trunks square in the face, knocking him back several feet.
As he landed and rolled, Trunks grunted and, once stopped, kicked back up to his feet. "What's going on!" Trunks exclaimed to himself. The shadowy figure that had punched him was just that, shadow. It was nothing but the shadowy outline of a man in fighting uniform. "Is that you, Supreme Kai?" Trunks shouted to it.
The figure ignored the question and flew instantly towards Trunks to fight. As it neared, it shot out its foot to strike with a kick. Trunks attempted to block, but the creature's foot traveled in a smoky haze straight through Trunks' forearm and into the side of his face.
Trunks gave a shout of pain as again he flew and skidded across the ground. Stopping face down, he pushed his face up out of the rocky, dry dirt. "What is this?" he muttered with one eye half open. "I don't get it." He got up slowly and watched as the shadow warrior took charge at him again. Remembering Gohan, he strained and shouted loudly, summoning back his Super Saiyan strength. Once in his form, he charged the shadow and began to fight it brutally, clearly outmatching it. Unfortunately after a few swings, Trunks found that all of his attacks sank clear through the shadow. "What the hell?" Trunks asked, backing off. The figure wasn't finished fighting, so it charged towards Trunks again. Trying anything he could think off, Trunks brought back his cupped hands, and brought them forward again, firing his own, primitive version of Gohan's Kamehameha wave. He hadn't used it a lot, but at this particular time, it served a quick, medium strength attack. The only problem being that it too passed like a fog through Trunks' attacker. Trunks' face turned to a look of surprise, but the shadow's knee reared into Trunks' stomach all the same. Following through, the shadow's fists hammered into Trunks' back, smashing him into the ground. Silently, the shadow kicked the Super Saiyan hard, rolling him across the ground. As Trunks looked up warily, to his left was the creature, walking hauntingly towards him. To his right, Trunks could make out a grassy patch, and a sword erupted up from the middle of it. As the figure trotted up to Trunks to make his attack, Trunks expelled his aura causing bits of rock and dirt to rotate upward, around, and outward from his body. Trunks pushed himself off the ground, grabbed the Z Sword with his right hand, and pulled with all his might to bring the sword over his body and down into an overhead cleave to sever the shadow warrior's right arm at the shoulder. The slice caused the figure to stop, look at his wound, and then look back at Trunks as he dematerialized into small blue flames. The strike had caused the sword to slice into the ground, and Trunks felt he could almost lean on it from the weight. He stood silently, breathing heavily.
The dirt crunched off to his right from the weight of a foot. He looked up slowly to find another shadow warrior. Without a word, Trunks pushed out his aura once more and heaved the sword out of the ground and into a partial fighting position in front of him. It wasn't impressive, but at least he was lifting it. The shadow charged to fight, and Trunks spun making a horizontal slice, cutting the shadow in half. It continued to fly and dissipate into flames on the other side of Trunks. "Use the sword," Trunks said between breaths, mockingly remembering what Shin had told him. "Sure, no problem." Two shadow figures appeared out of nowhere in front of him to the left and right. "Maybe a small problem…" he said changing his mind. Super Saiyan had given him a bit of added boost to his stamina. Deciding to use the extra energy, Trunks charged one of the shadow creatures, dragging the sword along the ground because it was still heavy compared to Trunks' fatigue level. He swung vertically-left upward, but the shadow disappeared before the blade ever touched. It reappeared behind him, but unfortunately so. Because of the immense inertia from heaving the sword upward, it fell over and backwards, pulling Trunks with it and into the shadow warrior splitting him in half. The sword again implanted into the ground, and Trunks landed hard on his rear still attached. Trunks was pleasantly surprised, but at the same time his butt hurt. His attention changed to the surviving shadow partner. It looked at its dissolving comrade and then back at Trunks. "Uh oh," Trunks muttered. It launched itself up in the air and then came down towards Trunks. Trunks let go of the hilt and moved out of the way of the shadow's falling boot. The creature's shoe smashed into the ground, and as it looked up, Trunks pulled the hilt towards the creature's stomach. The strike made the creature bow, and Trunks shouted using the opportunity to pull the Z Sword over his head to decapitate the shadow creature. However, gravity and Trunks' strength disagreed. As he brought the sword up to strike the shadow, he lost the battle of the weights, and fell backwards with the sword. It stabbed, but soil rather than shadow. As the creature recovered, it turned and ran towards Trunks. Seeing this, Trunks pulled hard on the sword to bring it from the ground, over his shoulders, and held it outward. The creature ran into the blade and fell to pieces. "Not the brightest shadows in the alleyways, are they?" Trunks asked himself. He got up slowly and dusted himself off. He reached for the sword. It wouldn't budge. "Oh, man," Trunks muttered, "I'm spent. It's only been four of them, and I can't stand up straight." He shrunk back down to normal. He stood, bent over, trying to catch his breath. The familiar sound of dirt crunching came to his ears. He brought his head up slightly, gazing through the strands of hair to look forward. At least ten shadow warriors stood in his way. He moved his head to the right: more of them. He looked left: more. "Oh, no," Trunks said horrified. "I can't beat them all!" He blinked, and they were all around him, inches from him. He put his hand back on the sword. The shadow creature grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground, putting the sword just out of reach. Trunks stopped looking at the sword and looked back at the creature. Would this be how it ended? "Sh-Shell…" he whispered. It drew back its fist. Trunks never felt the blow.
When Trunks awoke, he felt the pain in all his body. Slowly he opened his eyes to a bright blue sky. Confused, he attempted to slowly sit up, immediately noticing the dried blood from his nose. He wiped it away and sat up. "W-what happened?" he asked himself. He looked around. The grass had returned. Off to his left, the Supreme Kai still sat under his tree. But the sword rested in the ground, the same way he had dropped it. It made no sense. He got to his feet warily. He searched himself with his hands. No bruises, no marks, nothing to indicate he had been in a fight, except for the dried blood and soreness. "This doesn't make any sense," he said to himself.
"Why not?" the Supreme Kai asked, setting aside his meditation for a moment. "I told you it would happen."
Trunks turned his attention.
"Consider that your test of strength," Shin explained.
"Did I pass?" Trunks asked hesitantly.
"You're alive," Shin replied. "That's a good sign."
"I'm still sore," Trunks noted. "I think it would be best to train until that soreness is gone."
"Perhaps that's a very good idea," Shin agreed. "But for now, rest a while and eat; you will feel better then I think."
Trunks again raised his eyebrow to the Kai. Then next to him he noticed a single table with food and drink. Giving up the idea of anything close to sensible, he decided to forget rationalizing things and indulge. Once finished, which wasn't very long in traditional Saiyan-style eating techniques, he laid down to rest for roughly half an hour. Trunks wasn't sure what was in the food that Shin had provided him with, but for whatever reasons, the soreness was gone, and he felt ready to continue his training.
"It was meant to speed up your training," the Supreme Kai said reading his mind, "We haven't much time anymore. But, Trunks…"
"Yes, Supreme Kai?" Trunks asked as he laid his right hand on the Z Sword.
"…I want you to fight not only with your strength, but with your heart and mind also," Shin explained. "This is how the Z Sword uses its power. You can only harness the true power of the sword once you fight with all three. Train well, Trunks, and remember what I have told you."
"I will," Trunks answered quietly, already knowing that Shin knew what he was thinking. As he shifted his weight with his right hand on the sword, he felt it move. Surprised, he watched the movements of his hand and sword. As he applied pressure, he could vividly see the sword move with his motions. He wasn't a Super Saiyan, and he could move it! He lifted the sword up out of the ground and held it over his head with one hand.
From his shady meditation point, Shin smiled.
"Wow!" Trunks marveled. He took a few swings with just one hand, and, while they were sloppy, he could manage a decent, slow swing. "That was quick," he said, intrigued. "That's like ten day's training in a few hours! I could use a few more servings of food like that, Supreme Kai… Supreme Kai?" He had lost all sense of Supreme Kai's life force. He turned his attention to where Shin had been sitting. In an instant and Trunks' blinking eyes, the grassy plains had returned to their dry, cracked status, and in the Supreme Kai's place under his dead tree stood the shadow creature. Trunks' expression changed. "Back for more?" he asked deeply. The shadow warrior took a fighting stance. Likewise, Trunks brought up the Z Sword in front of him, both hands tight in grip. Then, with a haunting grin and intimidating look, Trunks asked, "Let's see how things turn out this time…"