"Alright, I got the right place…" He shoved the paper in a pocket and walked toward the front door of the school.
Meanwhile…
Tatewaki Kuno strolled through the courtyard. The "Blue Thunder" of Furinkan High had a funny feeling that today would be the day that the pigtail girl came to him, so he decided to leave class a bit early to prepare himself. Out of the corner of his eye, Kuno saw the stranger approaching the school.
"You!" He shouted. The other man stopped and turned to face him. "Yes, you! What are you doing here?"
"I-I just came to visit a friend," he responded. Kuno thought for a moment. A gleam on the other man's shoulder caught his eye.
"I see you are a swordsman, like myself," he drew his wooden blade. "I challenge you, mysterious person, for trespassing on the hallowed grounds of Furinkan." The other young man didn't find this so amusing.
"Look, I already told you. I'm here to visit my friend-" he was interrupted as Kuno sprang forward and struck at his neck. He quickly flipped away from Kuno and reached to the hilt of the sword on his back. In a flash, his own blade was drawn. He smirked at Kuno.
"What's so funny, you fool?"
"Oh, nothing. Just the fact that you have absolutely no idea what you're yourself getting into, friend."
"Friend? When did I say you were my-" Kuno began. The battle was over in a heartbeat. Kuno lay sprawled on the ground, unconscious. His sword was in pieces at his feet. The mysterious young man sheathed his blade and continued toward the school.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey guys, Ranma KO'd Kuno again!" A boy burst into the classroom saying. Gohan and Ranma exchanged glances.
"Wasn't me, I've been in here for the past hour," Ranma said.
"Then who…" A figure appeared behind the boy. He stepped into the light of the classroom. Gohan jumped up upon seeing the young man. He had light purple hair, cut in a "bowl" style, he wore grey pants, yellow-orange boots, a black shirt, a blue-jean jacket, and had a sword sheathed over his shoulder.
"Trunks!" He ran over to his friend.
"Hi, Gohan."
"Long time no see! How are things in the future?" Gohan asked excitedly.
"Everything is as it should be. Since I destroyed the Androids and Cell, peace has been restored."
"That's great… but, I have to ask, why are you here?"
"With things so quiet, mom said I needed a vacation, so she said I should go visit you. But when I got to your house, your mom told me that you had transferred to Furinkan, so I flew over here." Ranma got up from his desk and walked over to the two friends.
"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're the one who beat Kuno, am I right?" Trunks blushed. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."
"Trunks, this is Ranma Saotome. Ranma, Trunks Briefs."
"Nice to meet you, Ranma."
"Yeah, you too," the bell, a series of musical notes, sounded. "Time to head home, eh, Gohan?"
"Let's go!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma opened the door and they went inside.
"We're home!" He called toward the kitchen.
"And we have a guest!" Gohan said. The kitchen door burst open and the girls raced to meet their visitor. They all stood motionless, jaws hanging down, as they gazed at Trunks.
"He's…" Akane began to say, but trailed off.
"Gorgeous!" Nabiki concluded enthusiastically. Trunks blushed and smiled. Videl snapped out of her trance.
He looks familiar, but I can't put my finger on why it seems like I know him, Videl thought. Waitaminute! I know! It's the close cropped purple hair! Yes, he looks just like… "…Trunks," she said aloud. His head snapped toward her direction.
"Do I know you?" Trunks raised an eyebrow.
"I definitely know you. You and Goten are best friends."
"Goten?" He furrowed his brow and turned to Gohan and Ranma. "Who's Goten?" Ranma shrugged.
"He's my little brother. You didn't see him when you stopped by my house?"
"Nope."
"He must've been playing at your, I mean, present Trunks' house."
"Present Trunks?" Nabiki looked puzzled.
"It's a long story."
"Yeah, yeah, but before we get into that, puh-lease tell us your name and age!" She begged.
"Um, ok… I'm Trunks Briefs, age 20."
"An older guy for a change!" Nabiki proclaimed.
"He certainly is a polite young man… and handsome," Kasumi said with a kind smile. Without realizing, Trunks had successfully smitten all three Tendo daughters.
"Y'know, he needs a room to stay." Nabiki mused to herself. "You could stay in my room…" She moved in front of Trunks and looked into his eyes adoringly. Gohan quickly got between the two, arms spread to separate them. He was able to retract his hand before coming in contact with her chest.
"I don't think that's such a good idea. Trunks'll stay in our room tonight," he announced, glancing at a disappointed Nabiki. She quickly cheered up and gave him a sly look.
"Tonight," she repeated before going back to the kitchen.
"I better go finish dinner," Kasumi made an about face and followed Nabiki.
"C'mon Akane, let's go," Videl grabbed her arm, pulling Akane after her sisters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Akane and Videl were in their room, getting ready for bed.
"But what about Ranma?" Videl pulled a T-shirt over her head.
"I guess he can go off with Ukyo or another one of his fiancées," Akane tightened the drawstring at the waist of her pajama pants.
"Akane, this doesn't sound like you."
"Yeah, so? All I know is that Trunks is gonna be mine."
"Hoboy…" Videl rolled her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning at the breakfast table…
Everyone sat in amazement as Gohan and Trunks scarfed down their multiple bowls of rice with lightning speed. Gohan had gotten used to eating slower, but Trunks had decided to have an eating contest. The deciding factors were both quickness and quantity in dispatching the rice.
"So… Trunks, where did you say you were from?" Soun, who wasn't paying attention, asked over his morning paper.
"The…Future…" Trunks gasped between mouthfuls.
"Future, where is that?"
"Nonono… Not place… Time."
"Time for what?" Trunks rolled his eyes as he slammed down another empty bowl.
"Oh my. I believe we're out of steamed rice," Kasumi said quietly. Both half-Saiyans brought their last completed bowls to rest on the table. Gohan's pile was larger than Trunks, but only by a half dozen dishes. Gohan patted his full stomach and sighed.
"Man, that was good," he stretched. Nabiki looked over the piles carefully.
"Gohan cleared more bowls, so he won, I guess." Trunks smiled and slapped Gohan on the back.
"You are Goku's son after all, and no one can eat more than Son Goku!" Genma, Soun, and Happosai froze.
"S-Son Goku's son!?" They stammered in unison.
"Um, yeah, I though you guys would've know that by now…" Gohan scratched his head nervously.
"This is amazing… the son of the grand champion of the Tenka'ichi Budokai," Genma said.
"Apprentice of the Turtle Master, Muten Roshi," Soun added.
"I gotta meet that guy one of these days, they say he has the largest collection of por-" Soun and Genma shut their master's mouth before he concluded.
"Largest collection of what?" Akane asked. Happosai broke free of his students.
"Magazines," he concluded.
"Oh." Happosai exchanged glances with his former pupils.
Nabiki scooted over to the other side of the table and sat by Trunks. Akane noticed her sister's movement and quickly followed her. Kasumi merely stood in place and smiled.
"You were saying something about… the future?" Nabiki leaned toward Trunks.
"Yeah… well, y'see that's a funny story…"
"Oh gosh! We're gonna be late for school!" Gohan exclaimed in a sheepish manner, failing to realize that it was, in fact, Saturday. "Trunks! We've uh, got to go!" He grabbed the collar of Trunks' jacket and the two flew out the door. In unison, they sprang off the ground, soaring through the air. The rose high above the lowest cloud level, past any point where prying eyes may notice them.
"What was that about, Gohan?" Trunks looked at Gohan. The two half-Saiyajins flew side-by-side.
"I really don't think it's a good idea to tell them the whole story," Gohan's expression was serious. "It'll be better this way. When its time for you to go back, we won't have any problem with the girls trying to go back with you."
"Wow… you're sounding more and more like the Gohan from my time. You've matured a heckuva lot these past 7 years Gohan," Trunks nodded in agreement. Gohan blushed.
"Speaking of you going back… where's your time machine?"
"I left it at grandpa's place to recharge, why?" Trunks raised his eyebrows.
"I'm not sure, I suddenly sensed something wrong…"
"Weird, I didn't feel anything."
"Let's go back and make sure everything's all right."
"Yeah…" The quickly made a U-turn, heading back toward the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the Tendo residence…
"Hey, that Trunks guy can fly too," Akane noted.
"Can all your friends do that, Videl?" Kasumi asked.
"I honestly doubt it…" Videl knew better, of course. "But I'm still puzzled about him."
"Aren't we all?" Nabiki said.
Inside…
All four martial artists leapt to their feet. Happosai's eyes widened, as did those of his former pupils. Ranma clenched his fists.
"Did anyone else just feel that?" The others simply nodded their heads in response to Ranma's query.
"A great explosion of ki… evil ki," Happosai crossed his arms, his brow furrowed in concentration. Akane ran into the kitchen.
"What was that?"
"Obviously something not good," Videl chimed over Akane's shoulder. "Come on! We've got to find Trunks and Gohan." They stop as soon as they enter the courtyard. Gohan and Trunks already stood there; staring in the general direction of West City, where the Capsule Corp. main building is located.
"Gohan we-"
"We're going to go stop whatever that was," Gohan cut Videl off. He and Trunks turned as one to face the others. Videl was taken aback slightly, she had never seen Gohan this intensely serious before.
"I'm coming with you," Ranma declared.
"No. You have no idea what we're dealing with," Trunks answered curtly.
"Well, I am going, and you can't stop me. I can fly if you'll recall," Videl stepped forward. Gohan and Trunks turned away from the group.
"She has a point, unless I knock her out, she will follow us," Gohan murmured to Trunks.
"If she goes, so do the others, I'm afraid."
"They can ride on Kinto'un… if their hearts are pure enough. But the second things get out of hand, I'll be forced to put Videl down, and Kinto'un will take her and the other two to safety."
"Alright, you can come," Trunks announced over his shoulder. Gohan looked into the sky and cried out.
"KINTO'UN!!!"
"What!?" Videl, Akane, and Ranma, blurt out in surprise. An orange cloud zoomed toward them, stopping next to Gohan.
"This is Kinto'un. Climb on, we haven't got much time," Gohan pointed at the hovering cloud.
"Ok, now this is nuts Gohan, no way I'm riding on some stupid cloud-"
"Then you don't go, Ranma," Trunks growled. Akane hopped up onto Kinto'un, bouncing a little as she landed. Gohan looked toward Ranma who sighed. He hopped just as Akane had, but instead of landing, fell straight through onto the ground.
"Sonuva-" he grumbled and rubbed his lower back.
"Get on!" Gohan lifted Ranma into the air by the back of his shirt. Ranma was incredibly surprised, and waggled his arms and legs in the air. "You're not gonna like this, but if you'd like to tag along, you need to wrap your arms and legs around Akane. Only the pure of heart have the ability to ride such a magical cloud, and apparently, Akane's heart is purer than yours." Ranma mumbled something unintelligible and clung to Akane.
Wow, Akane's heart pace quickened. This is the closest we've been in a while…She thought.
"Hey wait!" Nabiki shouted after them as the group flew off toward West City.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The creature exited its vehicle, making one precise leap to the ground. As soon as its feet hit the soft grass, the landing gear collapsed, and the hulking machine crashed down. Assorted gears, springs, and wires spontaneously broke, popping out all over the metal shell. The creature let out a long stream of curses in an alien tongue. No matter, it had come here for the other vehicle anyhow. Its own mechanical contraption had been damaged, and it figured that it was time to 'exchange' it for a newer, less beaten-up model. Its dark eyes focused on the other vehicle, the one the kid used. Now it belonged to the creature, or so it thought. A thick electrical cord connected his new possession to a power coupling on the wall of the nearby building. It must have needed recharging of some sort. The creature was just about to disengage the cord when it heard something behind and above it.
"Look, there!" Akane shouted.
"Touch that… and you die," Trunks declared as he landed. Beside him, Gohan floated to a standing position. Videl was slightly behind them, while Ranma and Akane glided to the ground on Kinto'un. Displaying his eagerness, Ranma pushed past both girls to join the half-Saiyajins.
"What the hell is that?" He gestured toward the greenish creature.
"Not this again…" Gohan muttered beneath his quickening breath.
"Wait… that looks a little like-" Videl began.
"Cell…" Trunks concluded.
Although the thing's appearance was similar to the villain from 7 years ago, it seemed abnormal, mutated. It had no wings, a single protrusion that began above its eyes and went straight back, at the end of each digit was a claw that seemed to be broken, and its tail was more rigid and possessed no needle-like barb at the end. In general, its limbs seemed lumpy and gnarled. Its skin, as opposed to being shades of interchanging shades of green, light green, was a sickly tan color. However, it had the same stare, the same devilish smile as the original. It suddenly let out an inhuman shriek and flung an enormous ball of ki energy at Trunks and Gohan. Caught off guard, both were thrown into the air, disappearing into the horizon. The remaining three teenagers turned around to watch the explosion from the attack form a great mushroom cloud.
"I-I-I can't feel their ki anymore!" Videl stammered, tears rolling down her cheeks. Full of rage and sorrow, she charged, but was quickly and easily hammered to the side. Videl crashed through the wall of the Capsule Corp. building. The creature's tail whipped around Akane's neck and drove her into the ground. Ranma sprang forward to protect his fiancée. He was kicked fiercely in the chest, and collapsed to the ground gasping for air.
It's over… they were right that I had no idea what this was…Ranma thought as darkness clouded his field of vision.
A bright flash lit up the area. The creature flew backward due to the blast, dropping Akane in the process. A golden warrior stood a few feet from Ranma, radiating a visible golden aura.
"This ends now…" he said in a low, steady tone.
TO BE CONTINUED...