"What's happening to him...?" Lavender whispered, a little frightened.
"I don't know..." Trunks replied.
"Aaaaaaaaaargh!!!" Mokoto's eyes rolled to the back of his skull. He started to grow bigger. His clothes started to rip, and his screams became a monstrous roar. His skin seemed to split, revealing a bit of bone underneath. Lavender turned away.
"Gross..."
"Look!" Trunks, not taking his eyes off Mokoto, tapped Lavender's shoulder.
"Huh?" Lavender turned back round to look at Mokoto. He was... shrinking. Mokoto still screamed as he shrank, and became so small his coat covered him. He was soon under a pile of clothes on the floor.
Silence.
Trunks and Lavender looked at each other.
"What was that?" Trunks thought aloud.
"Do you think he died? Maybe the transformation killed him?" Lavender suggested.
"Well..." Trunks approached the pile of clothes. He crouched down to reach them. "There's only one way to find out."
"Trunks, no!"
Trunks pulled away the clothes. Lavender gasped as he did so, afraid of what would jump out at him. She frowned in confusion when nothing happened.
"What is it?" she asked, unable to see past Trunks.
"He..." Trunks said in a puzzled way. "He's gone..."
"Gone?" Lavender repeated.
"Yeah." Trunks stood up and stepped away, allowing her to see for herself. "See?"
"But..." Lavender walked over to the clothes. She rummaged through them, but found nothing. "It doesn't make sense."
"His ki isn't around anymore." Trunks realized. "I can't feel it, anyway."
"Me neither..." Lavender mumbled.
"Eh." Trunks shrugged. "Might as well go home. He's gone."
"..... Yeah..." Lavender said. "I guess."
~~~
Trunks and Lavender walked down the long corridor that lead to the basement. For some reason, this corridor was just put on the back of the house. There was a door leading to it in the kitchen. Why the basement couldn't just be below another room without this corridor, neither of them knew. This place was like the basement. No light, just torches running along the walls.
"Hey..." Trunks began. He turned his head to look at Lavender as he walked. "Thanks for saving me."
"Well... you saved me at school. So I guess we're even ^_^" Lavender replied. Trunks laughed.
"Yeah, I guess so."
The carried on walking in silence for a little while longer. Lavender was the one that spoke next.
".... Thanks for letting me stay at yours..." she said. Although she knew he didn't want her there.
"Oh..." Trunks mumbled. "Don't mention it..."
"I'll be gone soon." Lavender promised.
"... Listen, you're probably better off staying with us for a while. Just in case Mokoto comes back." Trunks said.
Lavender stopped, and looked at him. Trunks carried on walking.
"Really?" Lavender asked, surprised.
"Sure." Trunks said. He turned around so he was walking backwards, and shrugged. "Might as well. We've got enough room." he turned back round.
"Trunks..." Lavender smiled. She jogged after him, and started walking beside him again. "Thank you."
"Like I said. Don't mention it." Trunks replied. "Wow, you've changed your tune. Now you're inviting her round?" he was surprising himself. But on the other hand, he'd never really known her before. He'd just thought she was weird because she was a black mage. But as it had turned out, she was okay. She put up a pretty good fight against Mokoto. "And her personality isn't too bad, I guess...."
"Hey, Trunks..." Lavender just had to ask this next question.
"Yeah?" Trunks asked.
"... You've changed since this afternoon... um... why?"
"Huh?!" Trunks stopped, and looked at her. "What do you mean, "why" ?"
"Well this afternoon you really didn't want me to stay with you. I just wondered what made you change your mind?" Lavender had stopped too.
"... I... guess I just think you're okay now. You're not that bad, I suppose. I've just never really known a black mage before." Trunks told her.
"You didn't like me because I was a black mage?!" Lavender folded her arms.
"... Sorry. I guess it was a little shallow..." Trunks said, thinking he'd offended her.
Lavender just smirked.
"It's okay." she said, unfolding her arms. "I think they're kinda freaky, too. But the spells are handy." she continued walking. Trunks followed. "Although, kung fu is good, too..."
"You do martial arts?!" Trunks was surprised. Lavender nodded.
"Mm hm. As well as being a black mage, my mother was a black belt, and she was also a swordswoman. She taught me martial arts."
"Can you use a sword?" Trunks asked.
".... She was gonna start teaching me that day..." Lavender said sadly.
"Oh.... sorry." Trunks looked at the ground.
"It's okay."
"Hm?" Trunks froze on the spot. Lavender looked at him.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Do you sense that?"
"Huh?" Lavender tried to sense anything unusual. "... Yeah..." she said. "It's huge!"
"What could it be?" Trunks looked around.
"Mokoto." Lavender said. "It must be him!"
"Wait..." Trunks frowned. "It's gone..."
"That's weird." Lavender mumbled.
"Yeah..." Trunks stepped forward, still looking around. Lavender looked around, too. Nothing. They couldn't feel, see or hear anything.
"Well, I guess it's gone." Trunks said, taking another step forward.
Suddenly, something leapt up from the ground beneath him, knocking him upwards with incredible force.
"Aah!" Trunks cried out.
"Trunks!!" Lavender screamed. She gasped, and cast a spell before Trunks slammed his head against the concrete ceiling. Trunks stopped in mid - air, and Lavender gently lowered him to the ground. Still a little shocked, Trunks shook his head.
"T - Thanks..." he said to her. They turned to face their opponent.
"What is that?!" Lavender gasped.
It was like nothing they'd ever seen before. It was a... monster. There was no other word for it. It was so tall its large, sharp yellowish horns touched the ceiling (about 10 feet) It had hard, scale - like skin that was a dark brown. The creature was coated with muscles, making it wide enough to block the corridor. On its chest was a red, circular plate. that glowed brightly. It looked a little like armor. On its arms and legs were armor and its underwear seemed to be armor, too. Behind it was a large tail with a sharp, pointed tip. Yellow stripes ran down its tail. On its hands and feet were long, sharp claws. Unlike the rest of its body, the pale green skin on its face looked soft like human skin.
Its face....
"M - Mokoto?!" Lavender stammered. The creature smirked, showing sharp, ice - white teeth.
"Right." he snarled.
"Where were you before?!" Trunks demanded. "What the hell happened to you?!"
"I decided I'd surprise you, so I shrunk and dug." Mokoto told him.
"There was no hope in the ground." Trunks argued. "Tell me the real answer!"
"Alright... I went through the floor. Something that to years to master." Mokoto told him. He laughed at the shocked looks on Trunks and Lavender's faces.
"Now... shall we?" he smirked evilly, and swung his tail at them.
"Crap!" Trunks cried out as he and Lavender jumped out of the way.
Trunks turned super saiyan, and started attacking Mokoto. Lavender used her best black magic against him. Mokoto laughed mockingly as he blocked their attacks using his arms and tail. Trunks growled, and started to build up his energy. Lavender ran up and sent an electric current through Mokoto. Mokoto, however, didn't seem affected. Instead, he started scratching at her. Lavender cried out as pain shot through her. She fell to the floor.
"Lavender?!" Trunks gasped when he saw her. She was bleeding like anything. Mokoto's claws had sliced across her face and stomach. He'd just missed slashing her throat open.
"Can you get up?" he crouched down beside her.
"S... Sure..." Lavender tired to get up, but Trunks could see that she couldn't. He held her down.
"Stay." he ordered. Trunks looked at her. He even had her blood on his hand. "Shit..." he mumbled. He had to get rid of Mokoto and get help right now!
"She's still alive?" Mokoto asked. "Oh, my mistake." he raised his tail to finished both Lavender and Trunks off.
"No!" Trunks released all his remaining energy, giving Mokoto all he had. Mokoto's eyes widened, and he screamed as a powerful ki ball threw itself into him. Trunks threw himself to the ground to avoid being caught up in the explosion. Smoke was everywhere.
"What's happening...?" Lavender asked weakly.
"Stay down." Trunks told her. He waited for the smoke to clear, and raised his head to look at his defeated opponent. What he actually saw made his eyes widen with horror.
Mokoto stood there, very burned. Wounds all over him. His armor was shattered and on some parts of his body, mainly on his chest, the skin had started to peel away. But he still breathed. He glared down at Trunks.
"That.... HURT!!" he roared as he threw his tail towards Trunks and Lavender.
"No!" Trunks closed his eyes, but was greeted by the sound of another explosion. "Huh...?" he opened his eyes, to find that Mokoto had been attacked from behind.
"What the...?" he mumbled.
"Trunks! What the hell is this thing?!" a familiar voice demanded.
"Dad?" Trunks frowned in confusion.
"Your mom got kinda worried and asked us to come." a second voice explained.
"Goku!" Trunks stood up, and smiled when he saw the two of them. Goku and Vegeta ran through Mokoto's legs, and turned to face his front.
"Oh, for -" Mokoto didn't seem too pleased. He let out a roar, and started swiping at the frantically. Goku and Vegeta darted around, dodging his huge hands and sharp tail. They started to strike back with ki. Mokoto tried desperately to block all of their attacks but the were too powerful. He became weaker.
"N... NO!!" he cried out, and leapt upwards with such force he smashed through the roof.
"Trunks, get the fuck out of here!" Vegeta ordered. He and Goku followed Mokoto.
"Hey!" Trunks called after them. "Just watch out!"
"GO!!"
Trunks picked up Lavender, and flew off down the corridor.
"Hold on, okay?" he said to her.