Chapter 40: Father vs Son, Again

There was tension between Father and Son. Trunks was nervous, but he had reason to be. Vegeta was one of, if not, the strongest fighter on the planet, possibly one of the strongest in the universe. The lavender haired man was never as committed to fighting as his dear old Father, but he understood that Vegeta took pride in strength, so Trunks had indeed continued his training. That didn't mean he could match Vegeta's strength, but he could at least have a fun fight.

"I hope you don't disappoint me, son," Vegeta called out, he wore a serious expression and Trunks knew he shouldn't let his father down, especially in this scenario. Trunks swallowed and smirked.

"You'll have to wait and see," Trunks said, showing off some confidence, but Vegeta could see right through him.

"You definitely haven't trained enough, I can sense it," Vegeta confirmed. Trunks chuckled and looked down.

"You're right, but Dad," Trunks said, still looking down, but he knew he needed to look his father in the eyes. "I was never going to be as good as you."

Vegeta remained silent. He didn't really have any response to that. Trunks was absolutely right in this scenario, he was never going to train enough to match Vegeta's level. He would have to do a lot of work in all sorts of conditions to be able to get close to Vegeta's current level. The Prince smirked and chuckled.

"I just entered the tournament for fun, I had my fun in the preliminaries," Trunks explained. Vegeta scoffed and turned his head away. He wasn't annoyed with his son, but he understood where he was coming from. "That's why I don't intend to have fun here, dad, I'm going to go all out against you!"

Vegeta turned back to face his son, fairly surprised by what was said.

"I told you, I already had my fun, so let's have a real fight!" Trunks said, tightening up his stance and preparing for the announcer's signal. Vegeta looked to the announcer and nodded. Trunks did the same. Signal given. Time to fight.

Trunks' aura flared around him and he immediately blasted off the ground towards Vegeta. He soared towards the Prince but struck nothing. Vegeta had phased and moved behind him, so Trunks had to put a foot down on the ground, stop himself and then turn around quickly. He threw a punch towards his father, but Vegeta caught it in his left hand and then kicked Trunks in the gut. He was knocked away by the force of Vegeta's kick and fell on his back.

He groaned, but immediately jumped back to his feet and blasted towards Vegeta again. Trunks punched forward, but Vegeta backed away from it, Trunks then followed up by attempting to kick out, missing his target. Vegeta grabbed Trunks' leg before it went back down and swung Trunks around, launching him across the stage. The Prince then phased above Trunks, knocking him down into the stage. Trunks was on his back again, with Vegeta's foot on his chest.

Trunks opened his eyes to see his father smirking. Trunks struggled to push enough strength on Vegeta to get free from his foot. It wasn't easy. Trunks yelled out as he put his strength into it and started to shift Vegeta's foot. The Prince scoffed and released his foot, because of the strength Trunks was putting into his movement his arms move forward quickly in the air and he sat up, but instantly felt the connection of a kick to his face. He slid across the stage a little bit and his hands immediately went to his face. He grunted as he stood up, slowly. Vegeta was standing there with his arms folded, looking off to the side.

Trunks knew that Vegeta was trying to get a rise out of him, and to be perfectly honest it was working, but he wasn't going to give in that easily. He wanted to show his father that while he may not have the same strength as he or Noca, he does still have the skills to take on any tough opponent and do some work. Trunks yelled out and refreshed his aura before blasting forward again. Vegeta opened his eye at the last second and leaned back as Trunks' arm passed by his face. Trunks tried to act quickly and change his move, attempting to elbow Vegeta in the face, but the Prince managed to move his head out of the way of that and send a simple punch up into Trunks' gut.

Vegeta then followed up with an uppercut punch into Trunks' gut and sent him up into the air. Trunks rolled up, but quickly managed to steady himself, but only in time to come face-to-face with his father again as Vegeta had shot up there and did a roundhouse kick to smash Trunks in the face. The Prince watched his son fly across the air and stop himself again. Vegeta didn't move, he hoped that Trunks would change up his attempts and go for something new. Trunks yelled out as he powered up his aura some more before flying forward again, but he phased before reaching Vegeta and appeared behind him. He attempted a kick to the back of Vegeta's head, but the Prince was equal to it, managing to duck down. Trunks phased again.

He shot in from Vegeta's right and attempted another kick, this time the side of Vegeta's head, but the Prince moved again, managing to avoid it. Trunks cursed and phased again, appearing right in front of Vegeta this time. He was getting really frustrated and threw a barrage of punches towards his father's face, but Vegeta dodged every single one of them without batting an eye. He was too much for Trunks to handle at this moment and the young man knew it. He was yelling as he continued throwing punch after punch. He ended with an attempted kick up into Vegeta's face, but Vegeta phased.

He appeared behind his son and punched him in the lower back. Trunks arched and then Vegeta phased in front of him, planting his foot deep in his gut. Trunks bent forward and coughed up, and when Vegeta phased away again he went back to grip his gut, but Vegeta didn't let him have much time. The Prince flew in from the side and kicked Trunks across the face with his right and followed up with a roundhouse with his left, hitting Trunks in the face again. Vegeta, having done a full 360 then punched Trunks in the same side of his face and sent him flying down towards the stage.

Trunks crashed down, hard. He managed to crack the stage. He was sprawled out on his back again and had to look up. His father was still in the air, just watching down on his son. Trunks thought to himself. He tried to think of something he could do to not only best his father but surprise him. He knew he couldn't really win, but he could keep trying. He had a point to prove to Vegeta: he was still strong. Vegeta still hadn't moved, as if expecting something from Trunks, which only put some more pressure on him.

Trunks closed his eyes and focussed hard. He slowly got back to his feet, his face was in a lot of pain. He put a hand to it and felt a stinging pain. His father's constant hits had cut him. It drew blood. Trunks looked at the blood and wiped it on his green Gi. He clenched both fists and took a few deep breaths. He closed his eyes again and focussed. His aura burst free again, but this time it was golden and then, with a flash, he became a Super Saiyan. He opened his eyes, now a teal colour, and he immediately blasted off of the stage with tremendous force.

Vegeta smirked as Trunks came firing up. The Prince's son sent a few energy blasts up to meet Vegeta, but the Prince swatted them all away, but that was only to distract him a little bit, Trunks had increased his pace and Vegeta underestimated how quickly he would be there. Trunks was in Vegeta's face and threw a punch straight at it. Vegeta had to put his hand up to stop it, not being able to move his head quick enough. Trunks followed up by punching towards Vegeta's gut with his free-hand, but Vegeta was equal to that one too. He caught it and now had both of Trunks' hands in his own.

Trunks then lifted both legs and put them on Vegeta's chest, but Vegeta knew that move, having done it to Android 19, all those years ago, himself. Vegeta let go of Trunks' hands, but as soon as he did Trunks sent blasts into his father's face and jumped away as they exploded. Trunks almost cheered after landing a hit, but Vegeta blasted out of the smoke cloud, unscathed.

"Don't celebrate too early!" Vegeta yelled, as he smashed a fist against Trunk's face and then kicked him in the ribs before hammering his fists down on his son's head. Trunks fell down in the air a little, but managed to stop himself, but Vegeta flew around and blasted back towards Trunks, punching him in the head. Trunks flew back and steadied himself, but as soon as he stopped he threw both of his hands forward and fired an energy wave. Vegeta flew directly towards the blast and put his hands out redirecting the blast up into the air. Trunks let the energy go and flew towards his father again. Both of them clashed into each other and were putting their force against one another. Trunks was struggling, even though he was a Super Saiyan and Vegeta wasn't.

Trunks tried pouring as much of his energy into the clash as he could, his aura flaring up more than usual and his muscles tensing. Vegeta had a smirk on his face as he watched his son try with all of his might. Vegeta was a little proud of him in this moment. Sure, he was annoyed that Trunks hadn't been training properly and had fallen behind, but he was proud that Trunks was putting the effort in here and now. It assured Vegeta that if a new threat came tomorrow Trunks would be there to ensure that he helped everyone as best as he could.

Trunks noticed Vegeta's smirk, but it only managed to distract him a little bit and let up on the clash, giving Vegeta all he needed to just push all that energy back on Trunks and get on the next attack. Trunks fell back a little as the clash broke and Vegeta flew forward, knee first into Trunks face. The Prince then phased, appearing to kick Trunks in the side of the head from the right, and phasing again. He then appeared to throw a right hook into the side of Trunks' face and the followed up with a left into the centre of his face before performing another roundhouse kick, this time into Trunks' chest. Trunks was knocked back further this time and seemed to be losing the will to continue.

He wasn't just tiring out, he was feeling the pain of Vegeta's attacks. His breathing was beginning to get heavier and he looked up at his father as Vegeta floated there, just looking towards his son. Trunks looked down to the ground again and yelled out before blasting towards Vegeta again. He threw a punch, but Vegeta backed around it. Trunks followed up by attempting a spinning kick into Vegeta's head, but the Prince ducked under it. Trunks then tried a few punches, all avoided by Vegeta. He rose above his father and attempted a hammer down, but Vegeta phased. Trunks looked around to try and see where Vegeta might show up but couldn't spot him. Vegeta appeared in front of him and smashed a quick one-two into Trunks' face. Trunks fell back and dropped out of Super Saiyan.

He looked back at his father and shot towards him, attempting another punch, but Vegeta caught his arm and tightened his grip around it.

"Times up, son," Vegeta muttered. Trunks scoffed and slowly looked up at his father. Vegeta's brow furrowed as something didn't seem right. Trunks' eyes slowly turned teal again and then his energy flashed, he became a Super Saiyan again and managed to smash a fist right up into his father's face. He then dropped back chuckling weakly. Vegeta growled in annoyance and flashed Super Saiyan, smashing a fist against his son's face, knocking him out of the sky, down towards the stage, except it wasn't the stage and Trunks fell onto the grass.

Vegeta immediately dropped to the ground and fell out of Super Saiyan. He stood at his son's side. Trunks was laughing to himself.

"What's so amusing?" Vegeta asked, pretty bewildered by the new development.

"I only wanted to land one hit… and I did that," Trunks muttered, coughing and laughing. Vegeta grunted and then lifted his son off the ground, taking him back to the waiting area. Vegeta was confirmed as the winner and the crowd started cheering. They were entertained by that.

As Vegeta walked back towards the waiting area with his son, he couldn't help but smirk to himself. His son may not have had a chance in that fight, but he went in with an objective and achieved that. Vegeta was happy with that.

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Next Time... Chapter 41: Pan's Skills