DISCLAIMER: Neither DBZ or Sailor Moon are owned by me. Any characters in this story are the property of their original creators. (Example... Akira Toriyama owns Trunks, Naoko Takeuchi owns Ami, and I own Rosemary, Angelica, or Chamomile, though I'd be willing to trade. XD)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to Love In A Ruined World, my Mirai Trunks/Ami romance fic from last year. (The Trunks in this fanfic is Mirai Trunks, and the Bulma in this fic is from Mirai Trunks' future timeline.) If you haven't read Love In A Ruined World, you can still read this, but you might be confused, so if you want to read the first fic in the series, it's in my profile. In the continuity of both series, this fic takes place after Mirai Trunks goes back to the future after the Cell Saga, and after the SuperS season in the Sailor Moon continuum.
Reviewer Thanks-
GracedAngel1854: Hee... well, Ami's really nice... she wouldn't kill anyone. Except maybe a bad guy... she was about ready to kill Pandemonium, that's for sure. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Erica: Trust me, it'll be a very good round two...
Zyppora: Actually, Sunzeki's motives might not be exactly what you think... I promise a very interesting swerve!
---
"The control room... the control room... has to be around here somewhere..."
And once again, Trunks was searching the huge space station, navigating through mazes of hallways and corridors, assisted only by the occasional sign here and there. Trunks had figured that the control room would probably be close to Exeter's chambers, but after searching the entire surrounding area, Trunks hadn't come close to finding it.
"This is stupid..." Trunks said to himself, leaning against a solid white wall in one of the hallways as he took a short break from his search. "Sunzeki!!!"
"Yes, Trunks?" came Sunzeki's voice from a small speaker located just above Trunks' head. Trunks looked up and pointed his hand at the speaker, preparing to destroy it with a ki blast. "You're getting warmer, you know.""How in the world...?" Trunks said, briefly lowering his hand and taking another look around. "Of course... he's in the control room, where they probably have hundreds of cameras scanning all over this place..."
"It's right down the hallway you're in right now, Trunks... the door's unmarked, that's why you couldn't find it before. You thought you were at a dead end... typical stupid Saiyan."
Trunks flew down to the end of the hallway, an area he'd scanned just a minute before. There was a simple metallic door, silver in color, with no distinctive markings. The first time, Trunks had thought it just led to a quartering area for soldiers.
"How do I know if I can trust this door?" Trunks thought, staring at it for several seconds. "It's got to be some kind of trap..."
Trunks flew back several feet from the door and pointed his palm outward, blasting the door away with a burst of energy. The ki blast hit the door and exploded, creating a cloud of smoke that lasted for several seconds. When the smoke cleared, the door had been completely vaporized, as well as a large chunk of the wall around the door. Trunks floated into the opening and was suddenly face to face with a huge room, filled with hundreds of monitors, as well as chairs for the people assigned to view those monitors. The room was completely devoid of these people, however, and all that remained was the incredibly complex machinery and computers that controlled everything within the vast space station. Trunks ignored the technology and began stalking through the room, angrily searching for Sunzeki.
Trunks didn't have to search long, because instead of finding Sunzeki himself, Sunzeki found Trunks. As Trunks turned around a corner, Sunzeki tackled him, headbutting Trunks in the chest and slamming him through walls of monitors, which sparked and exploded as Trunks was rammed through all of them. Sunzeki tackled Trunks hard into the ground, causing him to skid along the floor of the room for several seconds before finally coming to a stop just next to the wall of the room. Sunzeki's knees pressed into Trunks' chest as the half-Saiyan tried to stand. Soon after, Sunzeki began assailing Trunks with a flurry of punches to the face, the blows quickly splitting Trunks' lip and bloodying his nose.
"A sneak attack... is just what I'd expect... from you bastards!" Trunks shouted, beginning to get angry. Suddenly, his ki aura exploded, and Sunzeki was thrown violently off of Trunks and into a pile of sparking, destroyed monitors. Trunks quickly stood up and wiped the blood from his face, then fired several ki blasts into the pile. The blasts converged on Sunzeki and engulfed him in a dome-shaped wave of ki as they detonated. Sunzeki flew out of the blasts, seemingly unharmed by them, and once more began to punch and kick at Trunks, who blocked every blow as it came in, his arms moving at a rapid speed to parry Sunzeki's attacks.
"It's called strategy, Trunks... maybe you should use it!" Sunzeki shouted, striking Trunks in the side of the head with a swift, sweeping kick. Sunzeki's foot crashed into Trunks' cheek, sending him hurtling out of the control room and into the wall just across the corridor, his body making a large dent in the metal as it impacted with tremendous force. Trunks grimaced in pain as he stood, his spine slightly bruised by the sudden impact. Sunzeki casually emerged from the control room, and for the first time, Trunks could see the extent of the damage his Final Flash had done to Sunzeki's body. Sunzeki was telling the truth. His trenchcoat and jumpsuit were marked with numerous holes, and his body had sustained several severe burns, including his left arm, which had been especially damaged by the attack, with several layers of skin and muscle burned cleanly off.
"You're hurt," said Trunks, noting Sunzeki's extensive injuries.
"You're not doing too hot yourself, Trunks," Sunzeki replied. Trunks' body wasn't holding up much better, with bruises and burns in several places, as well as a few minor cuts on his face. Trunks knew he'd probably feel the effects of this battle long after it had been completed.
"Less talking, more fighting, Sunzeki," Trunks said, floating up into the air and gathering ki energy in his hands.
Sunzeki nodded, and then seemed to disappear into thin air, his incredible speed allowing him to get behind Trunks in just a fraction of a second. Trunks tried to turn around, but it was too late as both of Sunzeki's fists crashed into Trunks' back, knocking him forward with a loud scream. Then, Sunzeki flew up and slammed his elbow into the back of Trunks' neck, knocking him down toward the ground. As Trunks hit the ground, he went into a rolling somersault, turning around to face Sunzeki and blasting him with two balls of ki energy as he rolled into a standing position. The blasts hit Sunzeki on his right arm and left leg respectively, causing him to stumble back as Trunks got to his feet.
"That was a very nice counter you just pulled off, Trunks," Sunzeki said, smiling as he pretended to compliment Trunks on his fighting skills. Trunks wouldn't have a word of it, lunging forward and punching Sunzeki again, his fist slamming into the side of Sunzeki's face and knocking him all the way back down the long hallway. Trunks flew after him, reaching Sunzeki as he neared a corner and kicking him in the side, sending Sunzeki flying in a completely different direction down another long hallway. Sunzeki righted himself in mid flight, blasting Trunks with several beams of magical energy as Trunks flew after him. The beams burned Trunks' skin as they made impact, but Trunks didn't care, fearlessly picking up speed and flying right through the attack, hovering over Sunzeki and charging up a blast of his own.
"Ka...me...ha...me..."
But before Trunks could finish, Sunzeki suddenly spun around, kicking Trunks hard in the chest with both of his feet and knocking the Saiyan crashing up through the ceiling and into a completely different part of the space station.
"Aaaaaaaaah!" Trunks screamed as he continued to fly upward, flaring up his ki aura and coming gently to a stop just a few feet below the ceiling of the mysterious new room. When he came to a stop, he took a quick, sweeping glance of the room in every direction, having to squint his eyes to adjust to the dim, blue glow that provided his only light.
"What... is this place?" Trunks asked himself. The room was almost completely empty, containing only a few couches over by the wall, with several vending machines nearby. The wall itself was a large window, made of some incredibly resilient material, where the room's occupants could glance out into space if they so wished. "This must be some kind of lounge for the workers here..."
"You've got it," said Sunzeki, floating into the room and up to Trunks' level, hovering just a few feet away from the bewildered half-Saiyan. "It's very nice, don't you think?"
"Where are all the workers now?" Trunks asked, taking another look around the room. "There's... no one here."
"Most of them were evacuated back to headquarters before your arrival," said Sunzeki. "Quite a few were deployed to Earth a few days ago and killed by you and your friends, the Sailor Senshi. Still others were sent out in small ships and are now hovering around your pathetic planet as we speak."
Trunks' blood ran cold. For a second, he could feel his heart stop in his chest. Of course... why hadn't he seen it before? Exeter and the others... now Trunks knew exactly where they were.
"Of course, none have landed on the planet yet," Sunzeki said in a reassuring tone. "Most of our men are quite scared of your little Sailor friends... so much that they've refused to land on Earth. This is quite understandable, and besides, if you're captured by me, they won't need to land anyway."
"Where's Exeter?" Trunks said angrily, his teeth and fists tightly clenched.Sunzeki smiled, and gave a slight chuckle, knowing exactly what Trunks was thinking.
"On one of those ships, of course, waiting for the perfect time to land," said Sunzeki. "He's hovering right over that disgusting little burg you like to call Nihimo Town. He could probably destroy it right now... maybe he's destroyed it already. It's really no concern to me."
"So Sunzeki was here to stall me..." Trunks thought, his eyes growing wide with terror. "Of course... I should have known... I won't let anything happen to my friends! I've got maybe a few minutes to beat this guy... he's dead meat!"
Trunks cried out in rage and flew at Sunzeki, his body renewed with a new sense of desperation. Trunks threw a punch at Sunzeki, which was countered when Sunzeki caught Trunks by the wrist and threw him into the back of one of the couches. Trunks hit the couch, causing it to fly back into the window, not making a dent against its transparent surface. As Trunks struggled to get up from the ground, Sunzeki fired a half-hearted energy blast, not looking surprised in the least when Trunks smacked it easily away with his hand.
"It's going to take a lot more than that to beat me," said Trunks, brushing himself off and glaring angrily at Sunzeki.
"I know," Sunzeki replied, the same smirk still on his face from before. Trunks leaned forward to strike at Sunzeki again, but was caught off-guard when a large, yellow energy blast struck him in the back, causing him to be thrust forward, where Sunzeki was waiting, his right fist glowing brightly with magical energy. He slammed his fist into Trunks' gut, and when Trunks doubled over, Sunzeki kicked him into one of the vending machines, shattering the glass and causing candy bars to spill out all over the floor as the humiliated half-Saiyan once again climbed to his feet.
"How did... how did that blast hit me like that?" Trunks thought. "I didn't even see it coming, unless... it was the same one I smacked away!"
"That blast that hit you just now.... was the same one you smacked away just a few seconds before," said Sunzeki, confirming Trunks' suspicions. "As you blocked it, it stole the ki energy from your body, making the blast stronger as it looped around and hit you right in the back, which was already badly damaged from the earlier abuse it had taken... like when I knocked you back into that wall. You remember that, don't you, Trunks?"
"I'm not amused," Trunks said, inspecting his body for cuts that might have been caused when he'd been slammed into the glass of the vending machine at such a high velocity. "I can't take anything for granted in this fight... I've got to end this as soon as I can!"
---
Bulma placed her final two cards down on the kitchen table. She had won her fourth consecutive hand, and now Patrick was starting to get very annoyed.
"You're not... cheating, are you?" Patrick asked.
"Of course not!" Bulma replied, gathering the cards and shuffling the deck in her hands. "You're just unlucky. Or maybe a bad guesser. Or both."
Before Patrick could reply, the door opened, and all five Sailor Senshi, as well as Tuxedo Mask, Rose, Angela, and Cammy stepped into the living room. Bulma smiled, stood up from the table, and walked out to greet them.
"Visitors, now?" Bulma asked, glancing over the group that had assembled in front of her. "What happened? Is Trunks alright?"
"He hasn't called me on my visor yet, which is a good sign," Sailor Mercury replied. "I hope, anyway..."
"That's good," said Bulma, her hand wiping over her brow. "For a second there, I was beginning to get a bit worried..."
Cammy walked past Bulma and stepped into the kitchen, where Patrick was sitting at the table, waiting to resume his card game. When he saw Cammy, he flashed her a brief smile before glancing back down at the table.
"Hi, Patrick!" Cammy said cheerfully, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to him. "How are you? You haven't been bored all cooped up in here like this, have you?"
"Not really..." Patrick said, shaking his head. "Bulma and I have just been playing a few card games... and yourself? How are you doing today?"
"Just waiting for the big fight to begin, I guess," Cammy said. "Well, actually, Trunks is the only one fighting right now... I guess that's good, but I'm kinda bored too... I wanna see some action!"
"Well, I don't," said Sailor Moon, walking into the kitchen and followed by the others, except for Tuxedo Mask and Bulma, who had struck up a conversation in the living room. "I can't believe I've never introduced Darien and Bulma to each other... looks like they're hitting it off pretty well!"
"Careful, Serena... Bulma might just steal Tuxedo Mask out from under your nose!" said Sailor Mars, her lips curved into a devilish smile. Sailor Moon sneered at her, turning to Tuxedo Mask and Bulma and letting out a quick giggle.
"I don't think Trunks would tolerate having Darien as a father," said Sailor Mercury, trying to stifle a giggle of her own. "I remember one time when Trunks said Tuxedo Mask was as weak as a wet noodle..."
"Wha?" Sailor Moon exclaimed, her mouth wide open in disbelief. "He... he said that?"
"I wouldn't try to start anything, you guys," said Sailor Venus, stepping inbetween Moon and Mercury. "You've still got a lot of years ahead of you... wouldn't want anything crazy to happen!"
Sailor Mercury smiled, and then walked back out into the living room to hear some of Bulma and Tuxedo Mask's conversation, curious as to what these two people could possibly be talking about.
"Your son is quite brave when it comes to Ami," Tuxedo Mask said, and Sailor Mercury immediately began to reminisce about all the times Trunks had defended her from danger. "It sounds like he's gotten into quite a lot of scrapes..."
"Oh, I'm sure you'd have done the same thing for Serena," Bulma said, pointing into the kitchen, where an argument had just been started between Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars. "She's a really sweet girl... well, not right now, she isn't... I wonder what they're fighting about now?"
"Bulma's brave, intelligent, and graceful, everything you're not, Serena!" Sailor Mars shouted. "She'd be a perfect match for Darien!"
"I can't believe you're saying that, Rei!" shouted Sailor Moon. "I'm brave... how many times have you fought alongside me, huh? And I'm intelligent, too! I've never seen Bulma graduate from middle school!"
"That's because there are no middle schools in this world," Sailor Mars replied. "And news flash, Serena... the apocalypse happened AFTER Bulma became an adult... didn't you see her college degree downstairs?"
"Well, it's worthless now," Bulma said casually, poking her head into the kitchen. "So I guess-"
"And graceful? I'm a wonderful dancer, Rei..."
"In the Moon Kingdom, maybe," Sailor Mars said. "But remember the last school dance? You tripped and sent Darien flying face-first into the punch bowl!"
"Girls," said Patrick, standing up and stepping between the two Senshi, "don't make me use my powers, because I will..."
"You mean freezing our mouths shut?" Sailor Mars asked arrogantly. "Go ahead... I'm the Senshi of fire, I can melt it. Serena, however..."
Sailor Mars began to laugh, and Sailor Moon growled again, her entire face turning red. She pointed in Sailor Mars' face and began another loud tirade, as the others simply shook their heads in despair.
"You tried, Patrick..." said Cammy softly, as Patrick returned to his feet. "Now I really hope Trunks wins his fight up there..."
"I know you're winning, Trunks..." thought Sailor Mercury, looking up to the ceiling of the living room. "You promised you'd have me come up there the second you started to lose... but you're so strong, Trunks... you're going to win, I know it..."
---
Trunks and Sunzeki were now hovering in the center of the room, throwing blow after blow at one another, their punches and kicks becoming more and more furious with every strike. Trunks, fueled by powerful ki energy from his surging Ascending Super Saiyan aura, was landing the most powerful strikes, but Sunzeki, with his complicated mix of magic and ki, was landing more strikes, and was managing to block nearly every punch and kick Trunks threw. One punch that Sunzeki couldn't block landed squarely in the center of Sunzeki's chest, tossing him backward, but allowing him enough room to fire a large, green blast, sparking with red lightning all around it. The blast slammed into Trunks' chest and then disappeared, leaving Trunks doubled over in the air, screaming in pain and clutching his midsection with both hands.
"Damn... that thing shocked me!" Trunks thought, painfully looking back up at Sunzeki. "You're dead!"
Trunks pointed his hand at Sunzeki and fired several blasts of ki. Sunzeki hovered in place, allowing the blasts to hit him and detonate in a fiery, blue explosion. Trunks didn't even stop to breathe, flaring up his ki and flying right through the cloud of smoke. He passed cleanly through the cloud, turning around and looking back when he realized that he hadn't been able to hit Sunzeki as he passed through.
"What the..."
"Don't you know by now that I'm always behind you?" Sunzeki shouted, pressing his palm against Trunks' back. "I think you'll enjoy this one!"
A huge wave of magical energy exploded from Sunzeki's palm, crushing into Trunks' spine and sending him crashing face first into the ground, tossing up a huge cloud of smoke in the impact. Sunzeki peered down into the cloud, smiling with his arms across his chest. When the smoke had faded, it revealed a large hole in the floor, where Trunks had apparently shattered it with his incredible fall.
"If you want to fight down there," said Sunzeki, hovering over the hole, "then I guess I'll come down and oblige you."
Suddenly, Sunzeki could see several large, glowing spots on the floor, which grew rapidly until soon, the entire floor began to shine with a bright, blue light. At that moment, dozens of beams of ki burst upward from the floor, combining to engulf Sunzeki in one gigantic blast, followed by a loud, brilliant explosion. Trunks hovered in the hallway just below, his palms fully extended as he fired a huge flurry of blasts into the room.
The blasts had left a huge, hollow column, engulfing several rooms above the corridor where Trunks stood. The lounge had been completely destroyed, its couches and vending machines obliterated, with only the window on the far wall remaining intact. Once again, Sunzeki was nowhere to be found, but this time, Trunks knew better. He floated up into the column, ignoring the debris of destroyed rooms that was now falling all around him. As he reached the center of the column, he could see several large, glowing points, emanating from the destroyed rooms. The points quickly grew into energy beams, which flew into the column and converged on Trunks. Trunks stretched out his arms and formed a bright, transparent shield of ki that encircled all around his body, with blue electricity circling all around it. The beams slammed into the ki shield, pressing into it as they tried to reach Trunks. Trunks gritted his teeth, his body wincing in pain as Sunzeki's blasts intensified, putting his ki shield under an immense amount of strain.
"Ami... I won't let... I won't let you down... I'm going to win this fight... I'm going to come back and protect you!!!"
Sunzeki hovered in front of Trunks' ki shield, and when Trunks looked up, their eyes immediately met. Sunzeki's blasts continued to press against Trunks' shield, and all Trunks could do was try to hold back the blasts as well as he could.
"Would you like to know how those blasts are out there, and I'm right here?" Sunzeki asked, showing Trunks his hands, which were glowing bright gold, the same color as the blasts. "It's magic."
Trunks' shield shattered, and the Saiyan screamed in pain as the blasts hit him, the huge explosion filling the entire column that Trunks' own blasts had hollowed out. Trunks could feel the immense heat and force of the blast shearing away at his skin, but he kept his ki aura fully flared, his energy pulsating brightly as Sunzeki's powerful energy blast threatened to overwhelm him. Sunzeki smiled as the energy from his own blast engulfed him, his energy aura canceling out the powerful explosion's effects."That didn't hurt," Trunks lied as he and Sunzeki hovered in the middle of the hollow column that would now evidently be their battlefield, created by the intense fury of the battle that had raged between them.
"And your last one was pathetic," Sunzeki replied. "Maybe you should... try a bit harder next time."
Trunks' eyes widened. Sunzeki's voice, once strong and confident, was beginning to waver and rasp. Trunks could sense Sunzeki's energy beginning to weaken. Was it fatigue from the battle? Trunks felt his own aura had shrunk slightly since the battle had started, and knew that the battle was probably beginning to take its toll on both warriors. But not only did Sunzeki sound weak... he sounded hurt, even if only slightly. Trunks looked up and down at Sunzeki's body, marked with burns and bruises from the blasts and punches that Trunks had been landing all through the fight.
"I'm tired of this," Trunks said. "It's going to end now."
Trunks flew at Sunzeki, a plan already formulating in his mind. He began to throw a punch, and could detect Sunzeki's arm moving up to block. Suddenly, he did a mid-air somersault, landing behind Sunzeki and beginning to launch a kick at the back of Sunzeki's head. Again, Sunzeki began to block, and again, Trunks changed his strategy, flying backward and preparing to fire an energy blast."I've got all day, Trunks... if you can't decide how to attack, I'll decide for you," said Sunzeki, flying at Trunks, his eyes shining brightly with a solid golden glow. Two large beams came at Trunks, one fired from each of Sunzeki's eyes. Trunks placed up his hand to block the blasts, firing a large, blue energy beam that disintegrated Sunzeki's blasts and slammed right into the unsuspecting warrior's face, knocking him backward with his hands tightly clenched over his eyes. "Urgh..."
"Now he's showing signs of weakness," thought Trunks, flying above Sunzeki and slamming his heel into the back of Sunzeki's head. Sunzeki was thrown downward by the impact, but quickly stopped himself and fired a round of blasts up at Trunks from below. Trunks smacked one of the blasts harmlessly away into an empty room, easily dodging the rest by flying back. The balls of magical energy flew upward into the top of the column, slamming into it and exploding in a bright flash of light. The blast sent debris plummeting into the column. Sunzeki dodged the debris as it came down, losing sight of Trunks, who was flying down toward him with a large piece of scrap metal held tightly in his hands. When Sunzeki looked up, Trunks slammed the blunt piece of metal into his face, knocking Sunzeki into the wall of an adjacent room. The metal shattered into pieces on impact, but as Sunzeki floated out of the room with blood streaming from his nose, mouth, and a large cut above his right eye, Trunks smiled, having done exactly what he had intended to do, which was immediate damage, and lots of it. Sunzeki wiped the blood from his face, a smile slowly appearing on his lips.
"I didn't think we'd be using weapons in this fight," said Sunzeki. "I guess I started it... I did knock you into that vending machine... and through those monitors."
"Why is he so happy?" Trunks thought. "He knows something I don't... all I know is that I have to finish him off, as quickly as I can!"
Trunks pointed his arms at Sunzeki and sent a flurry of ki blasts down toward him, hoping that Sunzeki would have to exert a great deal of the energy he had left to block the blasts. Sunzeki chuckled, forming a magical energy shield in front of him that provided a decoy for the blasts, as the explosion destroyed the shield, not damaging Sunzeki itself. Sunzeki flew around the explosion, and Trunks didn't back down, flying straight into Sunzeki and grasping his hands tightly, the two warriors now jockeying for position in the middle of the column. Trunks fired a burst of energy from his body, tossing Sunzeki off of him and once more into one of the rooms lining the huge column. Sunzeki flew out of the room and fired a magical energy blast that looped over and behind Trunks, causing Trunks to turn around and block the blast up against his palm.
"He's going to try and catch me from behind..." Trunks thought, sensing Sunzeki flying up close behind him. Trunks spun back around and threw a punch straight at Sunzeki's face, hoping to catch him off-guard. Instead, Sunzeki smiled and caught Trunks' fist, knowing exactly what Trunks would do before he even did it. Trunks didn't let his surprise show, not wanting to let himself be intimidated by his opponent.
"You thought you had the perfect strategy, didn't you?" Sunzeki mused, squeezing Trunks' fist tightly in his hand. "I'm smarter than you, Trunks... you should know that by now."
"And you should know by now that you're not going to win this fight," Trunks said, punching at Sunzeki with his other fist, which was easily caught before it could reach Sunzeki's face.
"Are you sure, Trunks?" Sunzeki replied, his fingernails pressing into Trunks' skin firmly enough to draw blood.
"I'm sure," Trunks said. A smile appeared on his face. Suddenly, his hands broke free from Sunzeki's grip, and he grabbed Sunzeki by the shoulders, flinging him downward. Then, he pointed his hands at Sunzeki and pulled back his arms, gathering a huge amount of ki energy. "Ka...me...ha...me....HA!!!"
The huge beam of blue ki slammed into Sunzeki's chest, causing the warrior to scream loudly as he was pushed all the way to the bottom of the column, hundreds of feet below. Sunzeki's body was smashed through several more rooms, before a gigantic explosion appeared, filling up the entire bottom half of the column, just below Trunks' feet. He looked down into the explosion, made up entirely of his own powerful ki. When the light from his blast had disappeared, all Trunks could see was a deep crater below, with a dim, faint red light shining in the middle.
"Sunzeki must be down there... but what's that light? Is it one of his attacks?" Trunks thought, floating slowly and cautiously down toward the light. "I guess I'll have to go down there to find out..."
---
Back on Earth, the Senshi, Bulma, Patrick, Rose, Angela, Cammy, and Tuxedo Mask continued to wait patiently for any word from Trunks, which would be transmitted through the blue VR visor over Sailor Mercury's eyes.
"You're sure he's alright, Ami?" Sailor Moon asked. Sailor Mercury nodded, knowing that Trunks would contact her at the first sign of danger.
"He's winning... and he's going to come back very soon," Sailor Mercury said. "And then this will all be over..."
"I'm glad," said Bulma, looking around at everyone else in the living room. "I'm... glad that this is all about to be over."
"Mm-hmm," agreed Sailor Jupiter, nodding her head. "But we should still be ready... for whatever happens."
Suddenly, Sailor Mars gave a loud gasp. Her hands flew to her forehead, and she began to tremble slightly. Immediately, the other Senshi rushed to her side.
"Sailor Mars, what's wrong?" asked Sailor Moon, looking into her friend's eyes, having already forgotten the argument that had taken place between the two earlier that day."I sense... something... something terrible... it's far away, but..."
"Where could it be?" asked Rose, looking over at Sailor Mars. "Can you sense where it's coming from?"
"I think I know where it might be coming from," said Sailor Mercury gravely, a worried look on her face. "We... we have to get to Nihimo Town... right away!"
"We can use the Sailor Teleport to get there," Sailor Venus said."How about just using the transportation wand?" Bulma asked. "I don't want you guys teleporting and messing up everything in the living room..."
Bulma giggled.
"Plus, it'll probably drain your energy, and you're going to need to be at full strength if Trunks calls," said Bulma, a serious look returning to her face. "Just go back to your world, and then go to the town from there."
"Good idea, Bulma," said Sailor Mercury, withdrawing the teleportation wand from its holster on her ankle and using it to create an energy gate. "Let's go, everyone..."---
Trunks floated down toward the red light, which became larger and larger the closer Trunks got.
"It's a long way to that light..." Trunks said to himself as he floated into a large, dark room, its only light coming from the huge, red orb below, as well as a small bit of light coming from the vast hole blown in the room's ceiling by Trunks. Finally, once Trunks reached a distance of about fifty feet above the light, he could see exactly what it was, not just a light, but a giant, red sphere hovering out over a vast pool of black liquid below. Sparks of black lightning were running from the sphere to the pool, and there was a long, metallic platform leading out to the sphere, with some sort of control mechanism at the end. Trunks floated down to the device and gazed at its various levers, buttons, and switches for several seconds with a look of pure puzzlement.
"That orb you see is the magical power source of this vessel," came Sunzeki's voice, causing Trunks to turn around. There, standing at the front of the platform, about one hundred feet away, was Sunzeki. "That liquid is used to channel the vast amounts of magical energy needed to control all of this station's functions."
"And what's this control panel for?" asked Trunks.
"That is to steer this station, my friend," said Sunzeki. "Right now, it's set to orbit the planet at a distance of about five hundred miles."
"This is the core of the station," Trunks thought as he looked around the room, and then once again at the giant red sphere at the room's epicenter. "And that's the source of this station's power... so where do these people get their power from?"
"Though I could fight dishonorably and try to crash the space station during the final rounds of our battle, I instead wish to finish it here, in this room... the perfect battlefield, wouldn't you say?"
Trunks stared across the walkway at Sunzeki, then slowly began to walk toward him. Sunzeki began walking as well, and soon, the two were on a collision course for the center of the walkway. They flew off of the ground and collided with one another exactly halfway across. Sunzeki was knocked to the front of the walkway, while Trunks was knocked back about thirty feet, almost back to the control panel, but not quite."I need to be careful not to touch that big red ball..." Trunks thought, again taking a quick look back at the glowing red sphere. "If that thing has magical powers like Sunzeki said, it could be very dangerous, even to the touch..."
Sunzeki flew at Trunks and fired several blasts of ki, a few of which hit Trunks and sent him flying further back toward the sphere. A few more blasts flew past Trunks, crashing into the sphere itself. As they collided, the sphere seemed to bulge out for a second before giving off a bright glow and returning to its normal shape.
"You fool!" shouted Trunks, pointing at Sunzeki. "If you destroy the-"
"It can't be destroyed," replied Sunzeki. "Not by my magical blasts, anyway. It will merely assimilate them. Trust me, Trunks, I know these devices like the back of my hand... there are more than one in existence, you know."
"There must be other vessels, just like this..." Trunks thought. Sunzeki flew at Trunks and kicked him right in the jaw, sending him flying back, almost into the sphere. He regained his balance just a few feet away, leaping off of a self-generated burst of ki and flying at Sunzeki, striking him in the neck with the back of his elbow. Sunzeki hit the metal walkway and skidded almost halfway down. Suddenly, the walkway became littered with explosions, as Trunks fired blast after blast, trying to hit Sunzeki. Sunzeki artfully dodged out of the way, but Trunks' blasts had had a completely unintended side effect: they had destroyed the walkway itself, sending the control panel at the end falling into the black liquid below. Trunks gasped in horror as the metallic frame hit the liquid with a large splash, and then slowly sunk to the bottom.
"Isn't that terrible, Trunks?" asked Sunzeki, floating up to the half-Saiyan with a taunting grin on his face. "You just destroyed this vessel's only control panel."
"I'm such an idiot..." Trunks thought, looking back and forth between Sunzeki and the pool of liquid below. "Wait... what's this thing going to do without a control panel, anyway?"
More red lights flashed, and more warning buzzers rang. The room Trunks and Sunzeki were in began to shake violently.
"Without a control panel, the power to the vessel is automatically shut off, Trunks," said Sunzeki. "Now this entire station will crash to Earth! This thing is over a mile wide, Trunks... that's a civilization-ending impact! Oh, wait, I forgot... your pathetic civilization already-"
With incredible force, Trunks tackled Sunzeki, flying down with him to the pool of liquid below. Sunzeki reached up and blasted Trunks' eyes, causing the Saiyan to release Sunzeki and clutch his face, screaming in pain. Now, Sunzeki was the one in control, tackling Trunks and lowering him slowly down toward the black liquid as the two warriors skimmed across its surface at an incredible speed.
"There's one thing I'm not sure about, Trunks..." Sunzeki said as he lowered Trunks' head back toward the liquid. "Is this stuff good to drink? I don't know... you tell me!"
Trunks' entire face was submerged beneath the liquid, which quickly filled Trunks' eyes and mouth. Trunks gasped for breath, taking in a large amount of the liquid into his lungs, causing him to gasp and sputter even more. It stung his eyes like acid, and as more of his body was dipped into the liquid, he could feel an incredible shock, as if billions of volts of electricity were coursing through his body at once. His screams of pain caused even more liquid to fill his lungs.
"I'm going to drown... this hurts so much..." Trunks thought, horrified once more by the prospect that he could die and never see Ami again. "I can't... I can't lose... I won't lose!"
A wave of ki rushed outward from Trunks' body, blasting Sunzeki away and knocking him into the liquid, his entire body quickly sinking below its depth. Trunks flew out of the black pool, the vile acid-like substance still stinging his body as it slowly dripped away. He coughed, gasped, and sputtered, trying to clear out every inch of the burning fluid from his lungs. As he did, Sunzeki slowly floated up out of the liquid as well, his body feeling the same burning, stinging, shocking effects as Trunks' was. Though he had been smiling before, he definitely wasn't now, his face contorted in a look of agonized pain.
"I guess... it's not good... for you..." said Sunzeki, his teeth tightly clenched. "And you're... going to pay for that!"
Sunzeki flew at Trunks and pummeled him with a series of blows, but Trunks was ready, blocking every punch with the palms of his open hands, feeling every quick, furious blow as it came, trying his best to ignore the growing pain not only in his hands, but in the rest of his body.Trunks caught Sunzeki's fists and quickly kicked him away. Sunzeki was undaunted, flying at Trunks again and striking with not only punches, but brutal kicks as well. Trunks tried to block most of the punches, but one particularly vicious kick caught Trunks right in the chin, and a follow-up blow to the chest sent Trunks flying upward, toward the glowing red sphere still ominously floating in the center of the room. A red warning light continued to flash, and the sirens were becoming louder and louder, a sign that the space station was quickly closing in on Earth.
"I've probably got just a few more minutes, tops..." Trunks thought. "The only way to stop this thing is to destroy it..."
A large blast slamming into Trunks' midsection drew his attention back to the fight, as a burning wave of pain swept quickly through his body. He looked down and saw Sunzeki, and then several more blasts. Trunks pointed his arm downward and fired several blasts of his own, and the two warriors' blasts met in the middle with a loud explosion that nullified them all.
"Now I have a few more seconds to think... how to destroy the-"
The answer was so simple, it was literally right in front of Trunks' face... or in this case, just a few feet behind. The giant red sphere, glowing above... the power source of the vessel... Sunzeki's magic couldn't destroy it, but maybe Trunks' ki could... but first, Sunzeki had to be dealt with.
"I have to throw as much as I can into this next blast..." Trunks thought, pulling his arms back and gathering up another large blast of ki energy, but making sure to leave enough to destroy the space station afterwards.
"Another one of those?" Sunzeki shouted, floating up enough to be just fifty feet away from Trunks. "I don't think so."
Trunks continued to gather energy, waiting until the absolute last moment to unleash his attack.
"I hope I've got enough energy..." Trunks thought as Sunzeki flew towards him. Finally, when Sunzeki was just inches away... "BIG BANG!"
"What?" Sunzeki shouted in disbelief, expecting Trunks to use a Kamehameha Wave. Instead, Trunks unleashed an entirely different attack, which hit Sunzeki at point blank range and exploded with tremendous force, engulfing Trunks' opponent in a brilliant red flash, almost as large as the orb rotating at the center of the room. The blast lasted for several seconds, and when it was over, Trunks' immediate thought was that he had destroyed Sunzeki. He hovered for a few seconds, gasping with exhaustion.
"That... did it..." Trunks gasped, clutching his chest in exhaustion and pain.
"No.... it didn't..."
"I don't believe it!" Trunks shouted, his eyes wide with shock. Sunzeki was floating just a few feet away, his body burned, his clothes nearly vaporized, but his life clearly intact. Sunzeki wore a broad smile on his face.
"You held... too much back, Trunks..." gasped Sunzeki, floating backward and smiling while clutching his chest. "But... I will admit one thing... you are a powerful warrior, Trunks..."
"You're dead!" Trunks shouted, pointing his arms at Sunzeki and beginning to charge another blast."No need for that... I have all I need," said Sunzeki, his body beginning to glow with a bright, white aura. "But I will promise you... we'll meet again, Trunks."
"No... no, he's going to escape?" Trunks thought, his exhaustion quickly turning into rage. "NO!"
"Goodbye."
And with that, Sunzeki disappeared, his body becoming nothing more than a single point of light that flashed for just a second, and then faded away. Trunks began to fire his blast regardless, as frustration began to sink in, but quickly regained his cool and conserved his energy, turning back toward the glowing sphere at the center of the room.
"No time for rage..." Trunks said to himself. "I can get Sunzeki later... he's too weak to try to go down to the planet... right now, I have to destroy this thing and stop this ship from hitting Earth! I can't let it be ravaged again... it's already experienced the androids, and I won't let-"
Suddenly, Trunks could hear a faint ringing coming from his right earlobe. His hand immediately flew up to his earring.
"Wait... Ami's trying to call me?" Trunks thought. "That's strange... I hope she's alright..."
With a bit of trepidation, Trunks pressed his earring, causing his VR visor to appear. Suddenly, he could hear Ami's voice, as clearly as if she was right in front of him.
"Trunks?" said Ami, her words also appearing on the visor in a small, clear font. "Are you alright?""Yes, I'm fine, Ami..." said Trunks, beginning to wonder if Ami had called him just to see if he was alright, in which case he was touched, but still a bit annoyed. "What's going on?"
"I think something very bad is about to happen on Earth, Trunks..."
Again, Trunks' blood ran cold. His heart, already beating quite fast from the big battle began to beat even quicker, and he began to sweat even more than he already was.
"It's... it's Exeter, isn't it?" Trunks asked, his voice beginning to tremble.
"Someone... someone's just hovering above Nihimo Town... we just got here twenty minutes ago... also, there's a big... big comet, or something, headed straight for-"
"Oh no, no!" Trunks thought, biting his lip. "Exeter's already there... I'm too late!"
"I'm going to come get you, alright?" Ami said, and Trunks nodded.
"I still have to blow this thing up... how am I going to destroy this ship with Ami on board? I guess I couldn't have destroyed it with myself on board either... her transportation wand is the only way we'll be able to leave... I'll have to destroy the ship, and then we'll both have to leap into the gate before it blows..."
"Alright, Ami..." Trunks said, his voice continuing to tremble. "You can..."
In just a few seconds, a glowing, black gate appeared. It appeared in the middle of the air, just a few feet away from Trunks, directly over the pool of black liquid. Trunks gasped, and dove toward the gate just as Sailor Mercury stepped in, catching her in the nick of time. He quickly flew her over to the balcony of the room and gently set her down, then quickly kissed her lips.
"Trunks, what's going on?" Sailor Mercury asked, pointing toward the giant red sphere. "And what's-"
"It's the power source of this space station... this station is headed for Earth, and I've only got probably a minute to destroy it."
"What?" Sailor Mercury shouted, her hands flying up to her lips. "Trunks... you're... you're hurt...""I fought some guy named Sunzeki, and he was really powerful," said Trunks, hugging Sailor Mercury as she gently ran her gloved fingers over one of his wounds. "I'm... I'm alright, though... Ami, you need to make another gate, alright? We'll go to your world, and then back to Nihimo Town. I think we'll have a few seconds once I destroy the power source."
Sailor Mercury simply nodded at everything Trunks said, trusting that he knew everything he had to do to keep both of their worlds, as well as the both of them, safe. Trunks kissed Sailor Mercury on the lips again, and then floated up to the sphere, quickly charging up a ki blast.
"Here goes nothing..." Trunks thought, pulling back his arms.
"Trunks... please... please don't get hurt..."
"Ka...me...ha...me...HA!!!" Trunks shouted, firing a gigantic ki blast into the huge red sphere. The blast pierced the center of the sphere, exploding and causing the sphere to bulge violently for several seconds, but then slowly return to its normal shape. Trunks gasped in disbelief, his mouth opened wide in shock. "I... I don't believe it... I thought-"
"Trunks!" Sailor Mercury shouted, scanning the sphere with her VR visor. "The sphere has to be destroyed from within, with a combination of magical and ki energy!"
"What?" Trunks shouted back, floating toward Sailor Mercury. "You mean..."
"We have to... we have to go in there... and use both of our energies at the same time," said Sailor Mercury, looking up into Trunks' eyes. "That's... that's what the readout said..."
"No... I can't take her in there... it'll destroy her as soon as she touches it!" Trunks thought, tears beginning to come to his eyes. "But if we don't destroy this thing... it will... it will... my world could be destroyed, again!"
"Trunks..." said Sailor Mercury, gently reaching up and wiping a tear from Trunks' eye, a sad expression on her face as well. "You're... crying..."
"Ami... I love you... and no matter what happens..."
"We have to do this..." Sailor Mercury whispered. "Together... I don't know what that thing will do to me... to either of us... but..."
Trunks nodded, and gently picked Sailor Mercury up in his arms, then slowly floated toward the sphere. The sirens in the room were now incredibly loud, and Trunks and Sailor Mercury had to shout just to be able to hear one another... if they had chosen to communicate verbally, that is.
"Trunks..." Sailor Mercury thought, transmitting her words directly into Trunks' mind, "no matter what happens..."
"I will always love you," Trunks thought back to her, just before the two lovers entered the glowing red sphere.
---
So... will Trunks and Ami be able to survive just BEING in the space station's power source? And will they be able to destroy it in time? And if so, will they return in time to engage Exeter, who could be destroying Trunks' world, not to mention his friends, as we speak? Only two chapters remain... and they're sure to be incredible!