The frigid air blew around them. Trunks and Ranch did their best to emulate Gohan, and sat as still as possible on the arctic ice shelf trying to meditate. While Gohan was perfectly calm, it came down to a battle of wills between Trunks and Ranch to see who would break first. Gohan told them that if they concentrated and cleared their minds, then their energy would keep them warm. But no matter how hard they tried, each gust of wind brought them back to reality, as their backsides became more and more numb. They didn't even have jackets or anything. That morning Gohan had just woken them up and took them far north.
Another strong just of wind blew, and Trunks finally had enough. "Gah!" he cried, wrapping his arms around himself and shaking. "C-C-C-Come on, Go-han! Haven't we been here long enough?" Ranch suppressed a triumphant smile even she too was shivering.
"Just a little while longer," Gohan said, keeping his eyes closed.
Knowing that there was no point in arguing, Trunks closed his eyes again and focused. There had to be something to whole energy keeping him warm thing, he figured, because if that weren't the case then parts of his body might have already froze and snapped off. So they kept at it, though the shivering continued, especially when the sun started to go down.
Eventually, Gohan finally opened his eyes again, and smiled. "Very good, you two." Trunks and Ranch both breathed sighs of relief when they joined him in standing back up. Stretching his arms, Gohan said, "Alright, before we head back let's get the blood flowing." He got into a fighting stance, and told them, "Bring it." All too happy to partake in some sparring, Trunks and Ranch got ready; they nodded at each other, and charged forward.
It's been four years since they began training together. Ranch and Trunks mostly stuck to fighting each other, really only taking on Gohan when he had some point he wanted to make—such as how much farther they still had to go. During their time together, the two developed a sort of rivalry, but more than that they became friends and partners that pushed each other forward.
Together they managed to throw Gohan for a loop every once in a while. They coordinated their moves so that whenever one had to dodge, the other went in for the attack. That day they managed to actually get Gohan start backing up under the barrage of assaults. The hits that they managed to get past his defenses emboldened them more and more, so much so that not even Gohan's counters dissuaded them.
Suddenly Gohan leapt backwards away from the fight, grinning. "Good work. But can you handle this?" Gohan let out a yell as he powered up and went Super Saiyan. It was at that moment that both Trunks and Ranch hesitated. Gohan showed them that power before, but they have never actually tested their strength against it. "What're you waiting for? If you can't take me like this then you'll never stand a chance against the cyborgs."
Trunks hesitantly got into a fighting stance. "Ready?" he asked Ranch.
Following suit, she replied, "Yeah." They charged forward.
They didn't stand a chance. Gohan just dodged, not bothering to even block anything. Ranch tried feinting an attack while Trunks went in for the real one, but Gohan easily spotted this, dodged again, delivered a punch to knock the wind out of Trunks. Before Ranch processed what happened, Gohan closed in and punched her just hard enough to only send her reeling.
After Gohan powered down he watched Trunks and Gohan try and recover before he took the case full of capsules out of his ghi. Tossing a capsule, a refrigerator appeared when the smoke cleared. "Eat up."
It was almost empty, so the three ate the last of the food that they had. A detour to Capsule Corp was going to be needed. Trunks and Ranch ate in a dejected manner, seeing as they hadn't been beaten so easily in such a long time. It had to be done, though. While confidence in their strength was good, they still had to be reminded how much stronger they had to get.
When they finished eating, Gohan led the way back until darkness fell completely around them. In the moonlight (half-moon to be exact—Gohan planned the trip to accommodate Ranch's tail), Gohan saw a river below them. Going down, they kept flying until Gohan saw a good camping spot. They then built a fire, and Gohan tossed a capsule that was filled with sleeping bags. The three settled in for the night.
The next morning they caught and cooked some fish for breakfast before continuing their journey.
At the rate they were going they should reach Capsule Corp within a matter of hours.
Suddenly off to their left a bright flash appeared in the middle of the distant city's skyline followed by a loud boom. "Damn," Gohan cursed, changing course and heading towards trouble. He looked around the ground, and found a decent place. "You two know the drill," he said as he handed Ranch his bag of Senzu beans. "When you think you're done send off the signal and then meet me at that hill over there."
"Right," Ranch said stiffly, resisting the urge to convince him to let them help.
"Okay," agreed Trunks, feeling the same way as Ranch. They split in two, with Gohan headed straight for the cyborgs, and Trunks and Ranch going to wherever the fight wasn't taking place. As always they tried to keep their minds on the task at hand, and not what may happen to Gohan.
Gohan flew towards the source of the devastation, and when he spotted the cyborgs having their fun, he shot an energy blast at them. While it seemingly did nothing, it successfully caught the attention of the cyborgs. 18 went off to face Gohan, as 17 hung back to watch. Gohan did his best to distract the cyborgs so that Trunks and Ranch could help out the fleeing people. Any time that they spotted someone in trouble they swooped in to help.
There were people trapped beneath rubble that they had to free. Anyone that was injured, or elderly, or had small children Trunks and Ranch gave a lift out of the city. Several times as they scoured the area for people to help, the fight between Gohan and 18 got way too close for comfort. As cowardly as it made them feel, the two hid until the danger passed, and then they would resume their search. It was Gohan's orders, though. They were not to fight unless left with other choice but to defend themselves. If either one disobeyed they'd get sent back home.
As they were flying near the ground, they heard, "Help! Help us!" The two stopped, looked around, and zeroed in on the cries for help, which were coming from beneath some rubble. Trunks and Ranch carefully lifted it, revealing three old people that were trapped beneath it: A woman, a short dog person, and a short guy with pointy ears.
"Uh, thanks," said the dog, as he gingerly climbed out.
"Yes, thank you," the short one said, holding onto a sack as if it contained some sort of treasure. "When the world is mine you will be rewarded."
"Want help getting out of here?" Ranch asked, ignoring his senile statement.
"Yeah, it's still dangerous here," Trunks told them.
"We'll be fine," the woman wearing a trench coat told them as she pulled a gun out. "Emperor, Shu, let's get out of here!"
"Right, behind you, Mai!" said Shu, following in her wake as he drew a sword.
"Hey, don't forget who you two have to protect!" the emperor guy insisted.
"They were weird," Trunks said, staring after them.
"You can say that again," Ranch agreed. "Oh well, they seem fine. Come on!"
Trunk and Ranch continued flying around as off in the distance explosions rang out. The fight managed to go on for quite a while because Gohan never seriously went on the offensive, and stuck to baiting the cyborgs for as long as he could. The destruction caused along the way was inevitable. Every time Gohan had to counter, he took a significant amount of damage, but in the end managed to slip away.
"Follow me, I think I spotted something!" said Trunks, leading the way to unstable building. He led the way to one of the upper floors and flew through one of the broken windows.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" Ranch called out in the empty looking office.
"We're here to help. Please come out!"
Two frightened women then crawled out from around one of the desks.
"We've been getting people out of the way of the cyborgs," Ranch explained "Please come with us, we'll get you out of here."
They looked at each other uncertainly. "I don't know, what do you think?" one asked.
"I'm not sure. But either way their just kids, what can they do?"
That touched a nerve in Ranch. "Hey, do you two airheads want to live or not? Because I've got no problem leaving to look for people with actual brain cells!"
Just then an explosion rocked the base of the building. The fight between Gohan and the cyborgs had suddenly gotten closer, and it destabilized the building even more. Trunks and Ranch ran to the nearest window, and below them they were just able to make out another blast, before Gohan retreated with Cyborg 18 right behind him. The building began to list, and there was no more time to be polite.
Trunks and Ranch ran over to the two women, grabbed them, and flew out the window they had come through, the women screaming the entire time. Behind them the building they were in collapsed into a cloud of dust and rubble. The two young fighters lowered their altitude to minimize the risk of being spotted, and soon enough they reached the outskirts of the city. They spotted a group of refugees fleeing the chaos, so Trunks and Ranch dropped off their passengers with them.
Now that they were safe and sound, the women stopped being frightened and became extremely grateful to the two.
"Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" the first said, hugging Ranch.
"You two are real heroes!" said the second to Trunks. She then bent down and planted a peck on Trunks' cheek. The other followed suit on his other cheek. They waved goodbye as they joined the refugees, leaving Trunks blushing slightly and embarrassed.
A few seconds of silence followed, and Trunks suddenly noticed that Ranch was giving him a deadpan stare. "What?"
"Bet you liked that, huh?" Ranch irritably muttered under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Let's signal Gohan."
Trunks nodded. "Right."
With a loud, prolonged yell, the two began powered up, unleashing a large amount of energy. They kept it up for a little while before they stopped and took off back into the air.
Gohan had felt the surge of energy. He stopped in midair and turned to face 18. While he was panting, sweating, and battered, the cyborg didn't show any signs of fatigue at all.
"So finally decided to quit running?" she asked, staring him down in amusement.
With a yell, Gohan charged forward at 18. She moved to counter his incoming attack—but it was just an after image. Normally an after image would be followed up by his actual attack, but instead Gohan flew towards a nearby building and rammed himself through it. He smashed his way through floor after floor downward, as 18 began to bombard it in annoyance. Upon reaching the basement, Gohan charged up and unleashed a powerful explosion that blew the building apart.
The cyborgs, unable to sense energy, searched through the cloud of debris, but Gohan wasn't to be found. He stayed low to the ground and used the ruined landscape as cover for his getaway.
At the designated hill, Ranch and Trunks waited anxiously for their mentor.
"You think he made it out?" Trunks asked nervously.
"Of course he did!" Ranch answered defiantly.
After what seemed like an eternity, Gohan appeared from behind one of the trees, panting heavily and clutching his right arm with his left hand. Relief washing over her, Ranch immediately went to him, taking out a Senzu bean. Gohan took it and munched the bean down, recovering him in an instant.
"We basically kicked a hornet's nest, we have to get out," Gohan said seriously. "Stay low." As they began to fly below the tree line to keep out of sight, he told them, "Thanks. And good job."