A/N: The first anniversary of the story, and the perfect chapter for such an occasion! I'm not writing this to appeal to everyone, but I'm grateful for the support and interest I've received so far.

Pan: "Blow out the candle, Trunks!"
Trunks: "Why do I have to do it?"
Pan: "You're the main character! You're supposed to do it!"
Trunks: "You're a main character too! You should to it."
Pan /looking steamed/ "You're impossible! Just blow the stupid candle out before it melts!"
Trunks: "Why don't you just do it. It seems important to you."
Pan: "Urg! Don't you know anything? The writer gave us this cake, and asked us to blow out the candle."
Trunks /ponders/ "Ah! He said 'us,' as in, 'we'...let's blow it out together."
Pan /grumbles/ "Ok, one...two...three!"

/Puff/

Pan /cheers/ "Yay!"
Trunks /kisses Pan/
Pan /blushes/ "Not in front of the audience!"
Trunks: "Sorry. Author! Fade out, please!"

/fades out/

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball/DBZ/GT and this is not for profit.

Chapter 14
What a perfect day to compliment a perfect night, Trunks thought sarcastically. He'd been up most of the night, dreading the coming day. He'd finally given up in disgust at around five in the morning, and an hour later he had showered and dressed in loose-fitting clothes. He was having breakfast when his Father arrived.

"Are you ready?" Vegeta asked quietly. It was still not quite sunrise, and it seemed Vegeta didn't wanted to wake anyone by speaking too loudly.

"I checked the ship. It's ready to go," Trunks said, tossing a capsule to Vegeta as he finished a bite of toast. He noticed that his father was also wearing unencumbering clothing. "Care for something to eat?" He was proud that his voice was steady and seemingly emotionless. His apprehension was almost enough to choke him.

Vegeta shook his head. "We shouldn't waste any time. I'd rather no one knows that we were gone at all."

Trunks raised an eyebrow. "You know people are going to notice us missing, so why bother hiding it?"

Vegeta scowled at him. "The only one who will know is your mother. I told Pan to stay away, and everyone will be visiting Kakkarot, anyway. Let's go before anyone has a chance to stumble over us."

Trunks nodded and rose to follow the older Saiyan, mystified by the need for secrecy. This isn't like my father...he usually couldn't care less who knows what he's doing. Even so, it made Trunks more hopeful about what was going to happen. If he was merely going to beat up his eldest child, he wouldn't have cared about an audience…he might even have insisted on one.

An hour later, Trunks was piloting the sleek prototype through earth's atmosphere. Because of the mishap with the Para-Para Brothers, Trunks had ordered Marron to make the ship as fast as possible. The cumbersome modified pod they had flown at the time was a snail compared to black-metal fighter Marron had designed.

Vegeta was sitting next to him, eyes closed and radiating patience. Trunks had been told it was a habit from flying in a space pod for so many years. "So, where shall I set the course for, Father?" Trunks asked hesitantly.

The older Saiyan pulled out an optical chip, and tossed it to Trunks. "We're going to find some answers," Vegeta said cryptically.

Trunks inserted the chip into an access junction and downloaded the data. An autopilot program was contained within, guiding them to a desolate area of a nearby star system. The computer gave an estimate of three hours until they reached their destination.

"The last time I traveled there, it took 3 months to reach it. Who would have thought Cue-ball's child could have come up with ship like this?" Vegeta said as he absently stroked one of the bracing beams.

Trunks activated the autopilot program. "Well, not much to do until we arrive." Trunks said as he rose, stretching. "I'm getting coffee, do you want some?"

Vegeta shook his head, but he reached into a duffel bag that he'd brought along. "Put these on before we arrive."

Trunks' eyes widened at what he saw. It was the same type of combat suit and armor that Vegeta had favored before he'd become a higher level Super-Saiyan. "Umm...sure."

Trunks was enjoying a hot cup of coffee and relaxing when the twenty minute warning sounded. He grabbed the armor and suit that his father had given him, and quickly changed in one of the bedrooms. As much as he disliked wearing gloves when he fought, they were likely to be in an inhospitable planet soon, so he bit the bullet and switched out his shoes and put the gloves on.

Trunks re-entered the control room to find his father dressed in similar armor and suit. They were approaching a dark planet that looked scarred from meteor impacts and volcanic eruptions. "What sort of answers are we going to find here?" Trunks asked, puzzled.

"Important ones," Vegeta replied, making it clear he wasn't going to say more.

As they approached, it became apparent that the planet was mostly dead, although it still had some breathable atmosphere. "Miserable place to train," Trunks commented.

"Nothing breakable," Vegeta replied bluntly.

Trunks set the prototype down gently on the uneven ground. As they disembarked, Vegeta gestured to Trunks. "Return the ship to capsule form. I'll hold it."

Trunks was beginning to get a inkling of an idea of what Vegeta was up to, but it didn't bode well for him. He'll probably make me fight him until I can get the capsule back from him. Fighting his father in a place like this made him shiver. There was nothing in the way that would give either cause to hold back. Whatever it takes... He reminded himself.

Trunks handed to capsule to Vegeta, knowing that he was giving away his only means of escape unless he used instant transmission. He was hesitant to give that secret away, though. Only Dende and Goku knew he could use the technique.

Vegeta took the capsule and put it into a pocket in the armor. He sat down, looking around with almost a nostalgic air. Trunks sat down soon after.

"I trained here for days," Vegeta said unexpectedly. He ran a gloved hand through the fine black silt that covered the ground. "Some of this dust might even be the remains of one of the meteors I destroyed at the time."

"Why did you come here, father?" Trunks asked, bewildered. "And when?"

The older Saiyan chuckled. "A great irony, indeed. You were probably just born when I arrived here. I was training to become a Super-Saiyan, and I was at the final stages. I could almost taste it...but it was still out of reach. It was here that I found the final answer, and claimed my birthright...almost by accident, it seemed."

"Today, we're going to see the truth of our heritage..." Vegeta said, reaching into his armor again. Instead of the capsule Trunks had handed to him, he pulled out a thin box and flipped open the top. "Swallow this," he commanded as he handed Trunks something that looked like a medicinal capsule.

As Trunks looked at the gray capsule doubtfully, his father took another one out and swallowed it. "Well, don't be all day about it!" Vegeta said irritably. Trunks mentally shrugged and popped it in his mouth before he could think better of the notion.

Just as Trunks was going to ask what the capsule was supposed to do, he noticed something strange happening to his father. Then he felt a tingling in his skin, his hair and along his spine.

What is this...? Trunks thought dimly as he felt bizarre sensations sweeping through him. Rage, fear, euphoria and a dozen other sensations came and went in the blink of an eye, gone almost before they registered. He could feel his nails changing inside his gloves, hotspots in places where he had been scarred, and most disturbingly, he could feel waves of tingling through his nerves all the way to the base of his skull.

Vegeta looked no less disturbed by what the pill was doing to him. He seemed to be trying to reach under his armor to scratch at his chest, and he was hunched over as if his stomach was bothering him. As Trunks looked on, he saw the most amazing thing, though.

His father was growing a tail.

Trunks reflexively felt at the base of his spine, and sure enough, a tail was growing there, too.

The strange sensations continued, and Trunks' tail was getting longer. After a short time, though, Trunks' body was rebalancing itself, and the sensory overload relented. He felt better than he had in years...more vital, flushed with a chemical mix that heightened his awareness and made him feel like moving. The tail made him feel unbalanced, but he could feel his body adapting to the new parameters.

Vegeta rose, looking his son over. "Are you recovered?" He asked in semi-politeness, shaking his head as if clearing a ringing from his ears.

Trunks hopped up, and promptly staggered a step. He closed his eyes, and attempted to find his balance. "Yeah...what was that?"

"I had your mother create them after the battle with Li Shenron. Nanotechnology designed to repair a body to perfect condition based on genetic structure. More importantly, it means tails for us."

Trunks was feeling off-kilter still, so things weren't registering correctly. "What do we need tails for?"

Vegeta looked him in the eyes, apparently trying to gage his disorientation. "The point is," He said slowly, enunciating each word, "it's the key to the final transformation."

Trunks just stared, feeling as if his jaw had dropped open. "But you said only pure-bloods could become Super-Saiyan 4!"

Vegeta's eyes were haunted. "We're going to find out, but I'm sure I was wrong...about a lot of things."

The Saiyan Prince tilted his head back, and suddenly Trunks felt an enormous energy surge coming from his father. Unleashed power raged around Vegeta as he rapidly transformed into a Super-Saiyan, and then higher to the next level and even higher as his hair began to lengthen and his body began to twist and expand as he reached the third level.

"Ahhhh!" Vegeta roared as his body changed yet again and his hair changed back to black and instead of his usual dark eyes, they were an unnerving blue. The raw power Trunks sensed was far beyond what they had both generated during the previous day's duel.

Vegeta took what looked to be a steadying breath, and then looked at Trunks. "We had your tail removed at birth, so you have no experience with the transformation thatSaiyansgo through when we are exposed to a full moon. I will do my best to keep you from hurting yourself as you try to gain control. We are of royal blood, and our birthright is to be in fullcontrol of ourselves when we transform."

Trunks frowned. "This place doesn't have a moon...how are you planning on triggering a transformation?"

Vegeta's eyes glinted with ironic humor. "Kakarrot may be a blockhead, but his father was a brilliant scientist. When he and my father were trapped on a planet, surrounded by superior forces, he came up with a daring move- an energy attack that had similar properties to moonlight. It was successful, and thus Kakarrot and I are both here today." The older Saiyan looked toward the sky. "Your mother added to that. She analyzed the data from the battle on Planet Tuffle, and with that information, I've altered the flare to act like flux waves. If you are able to transform, this will be the birthright of all other Saiyans born from now on."

Trunks breathed an inward sigh of relief. I don't have to fight my father...and if this works, this may be the edge I need. "I'm ready."

Vegeta looked at him approvingly. He jumped back and pointed his right hand straight up, powering up and glowing with a strange greenish glow. A blast flew up, and stayed stationary in the air, radiating the strange light. Trunks felt his hackles rise as a primal consciousness rose within him, stronger than when he'd become a Super-Saiyan 3. He could feel the blood within him boil, but it still wasn't enough. Nothing was happening.

"Raise your power as high as it will go!" Trunks heard his father say through the haze of the blood rage he was experiencing. He tried with all his might to focus on his energy and release it.

At first it was hard, but then the floodgates seemed to open, and the young Saiyan began to power up faster and harder than he ever had before. He dimly heard himself screaming incoherently, sounding bestial and savage, but he didn't remember even opening his mouth. He quickly went beyond the limit he pushed himself to the previous day, and with a sense of disconnection noticed that everything around him was getting smaller. No...that's not right...I must be getting bigger...

The sense of disconnection was getting stronger, and it seemed to Trunks that he was losing control to the more savage and primitive part of his mind. The urge to destroy everything around him was quickly becoming his only desire, and his attempts to stay focused seemed to be wasted as his thoughts were quickly replaced by instincts.

Panic began to set in as he realized that he was only slightly in control of his body now, and his consciousness was sinking fast into the dark void in the back of his mind. I may never come back if I don't get control! I could be stuck like this permanently!

Through the haze of the berserker rage, Trunks could see that he was lashing out indiscriminately at everything around him. Roaring at nothing, pounding the ground in feral fury...he was an undirected force of nature, with the power to destroy entire worlds. Perversely, he remembered the legend his father often repeated.

"Three thousand years ago, one of our people became a Super-Saiyan, and no being could challenge him. He could only tap his power in his ape form, and eventually he destroyed himself...too primitive to control such a power."

Trunks was sure this was what happened. Goku might have ended up the same way, if not for Pan. Pan had brought Goku to his senses with a familiar smell. I'm not in the same straights as either of them. I'm still partially conscious, so I should be able to gain control somehow...

A solid hit to Trunks' oversized head cut through most of the fog caused by the transformation. The young Saiyan felt a killing rage surge through him as he saw his father staring down at him in contempt, but Trunks used the pain to focus and regain control, and as he did, he felt his body changing again, growing lighter, and the objects around him seemed larger by the second. YES! It worked!

After a moment, Trunks felt about the right size, but found himself in a deep crater, lying on his back. "Sorry about that," Vegeta said insincerely as he pulled one of his gloves on tighter. "I assume you feel more rational, now?"

Trunks rubbed his head, but found no bruise. He felt exhilarated by the power he felt in his body, but he felt calm, too. "I'm all right. Thanks for knocking some sense into me," he added wryly.

"My pleasure," Vegeta said in dark humor. "So at last we have the answer. To think that I spent all my life fearing that clown Kakarrot was the Legendary Super-Saiyan. What an idiot I was."

Trunks was checking himself over to see the changes caused by his new transformation. He could feel his hair being much longer than the shorter cut he preferred, and his arms and legs were massively muscled now. "What are you talking about?" He asked absently.

Vegeta looked upset. "You take all of this for granted, don't you? You shouldn't have been a Super-Saiyan at all, let alone able to reach the final level!"

Trunks looked back, levelly. "Why not? Normal genetics states that half of each parent's traits are passed on. Not half of the power...half of the traits. I might have had no talent for fighting, but that's not how the dice were thrown. I got all of your fighting potential, and I got mom's technical genius. I don't ascribe my abilities to anything more than luck, but I do value them."

Vegeta huffed. "It figures that my son would see the basic problem." He sighed as he sat back down against a fragmented rock. "Our people always assumed our unnaturally high power was part of being a Saiyan. The fact that you can transform to the final level, not being pure-blooded, tells me that we were wrong."

Trunks was intrigued. "What are you getting at?"

Vegeta scowled. "Long did I ponder the meaning of our home world's destruction. No pure-blooded Saiyan females exist. Our race will disappear except in history, and even then, our race will fade away soon enough." His eyes looked distant, as if trying to see that not-so-distant future.

Trunks frowned. "What about our children? Surely the strong ones will be known to be of Saiyan lineage."

"That's the greatest irony of all. In a few generations, the word 'Saiyan' will be forgotten." Vegeta's tone was bitter, cynical. "The power of the Super-Saiyan isn't really Saiyan at all."

Trunks tried to fathom what his father was telling him, but it was still out of reach. "Didn't you say that all of the legends spoke of a 'Super-Saiyan'? Even on other planets?"

Vegeta laughed harshly. "That's because whatever species that intermarried with the Saiyan race was forgotten. It's likely that what Kakarrot and I did was not isolated. Just as we will infuse the Humans with a power beyond most of their race's comprehension, so did the legendary warriors that were undoubtedly our ancestors."

Trunks tried hard to keep from showing how stunned he was. His father, the "Prince of all Saiyans," was basically saying that everything he stood for previously had been a lie. "How does this relate to Goku, and the legendary Super-Saiyan?"

Vegeta spat angrily. "Frieza knew something was happening to our species. He sent us on the toughest assignments, but the Saiyans he sent just came back stronger. Each new Saiyan-child born was stronger than the last. I was born was a power greater than most of our elite forces. With a few rare exceptions like Kakarrot, there was a clear pattern of power gain that was leading to something. We always assumed that the legendary Super-Saiyan would be born soon, or that he had and his true power had not revealed itself."

"We were fools…I see that now. The Legendary Super-Saiyan had been the result of a simple roll of the dice, as you put it so well. His ascendancy had been a fluke, and we based our entire racial pride on that one instant of glorious supremacy. In a strange way, he doomed us all. Frieza wouldn't have destroyed our planet if that hapless fool hadn't transformed and scared the wits out of most of the creatures in the galaxy…so much so that we speak of him today, three thousand years later."

Trunks scratched his head. "I don't get it…if he wasn't a 'Super-Saiyan,' what was he?"

Vegeta's eyes flashed fire. "He was a throwback! None of us 'advance' to become a 'Super-Saiyan.' We regress! We return to the power that those nameless warriors, likely more than ten-thousand years dead, had!"

"What about the naturals, then?" Trunks asked curiously.

"The 'naturals,' as you call them, are the result of the change that comes over us. They are the children of those who have changed already. When we regress back to the power of the ancients, our bodies change, permanently. That change is at a genetic level." Vegeta was fuming. "It wouldn't be so bad, but our more recent ancestors choose to ignore the truth of what we are, and overstated our position in the evolutionary chain. The same thing will happen here. Someone like Hurcule will be named the true hero, a 'pure-blooded human,' even though he'll really be a Super-Saiyan…or whatever we really are."

"Our power will live on, and our children will be safe. What's more important than that, father?" Trunks asked, cautiously.

Vegeta's eyes focused alarmingly. "That reminds me…you and I are overdue for a chat about your girlfriend," he said in a deadly whisper.

Trunks' jaw really did drop this time. "What girlfriend?"

"That…" Vegeta's seemed to draw the word out like the blade of a knife, "would be part of the problem."

Trunks flushed in embarrassment. "I don't know what your talking about."

"Oh, really…I take it you fall asleep with girls like Pan in your lap often, then?"

Trunks turned beet red. "That was an accident…"

Vegeta smirked, interrupting his son's defense. "I'm sure it was on your part, but not hers. She was still awake, and dragged your sorry hide inside after you passed out. You're lucky your mother didn't check on you."

Trunks was flabbergasted. "You diverted her, didn't you?"

"Of course I did, or you would have woken up alone." Vegeta sighed, looking up at the stars. "Why are you putting her off? You've used every excuse in the book to stay away from her."

"She's too young…"

Vegeta unexpectedly backhanded him with surprising force. Trunks felt his lip, expecting to find blood there. "Don't lie to me," his father said menacingly. "I know you don't subscribe to the normal morals of humans. I raised you too well for that. You are a prince…act accordingly. Now do me the respect of an honest answer."

Trunks suddenly tasted bile. How did he figure me out? Even Bra bought that one! Trunks spent a long time deciding whether to tell the truth, but eventually decided that his father would know if he was lying again, and would make it painful for him.

"It's unworkable," Trunks said bitterly. "Pan doesn't have the temperament to rule, and soon enough, that's what it's going to come to. Capsule Corp. is the only source of order on the Western Continent, and soon the Eastern Continent will be begging us to take over there, too."

"On top of that, she's not strong enough to come on this mission with us. That means at least two years of separation. If that weren't enough, Videl is openly opposing my attempts to court Pan." Trunks threw his hands up in frustration. "In every way, shape or form, it's unworkable. Why I was ever cursed with her presence in such a tantalizing fashion, I'll never know."

Vegeta chuckled. "Problems of the past. Pan has found her power, and I think you'll be surprised at the change in her disposition. You should take her with you."

Trunks looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you encouraging me with this? I'd get nothing but flak if I asked mom for help."

"Trunks, do you know how much time I've wasted in my life?" Trunks shook his head. Vegeta's eyes grew soft and angry at the same time. "I spent more than ten years ignoring your mother, and almost as much time ignoring you. That time is lost to me. TEN WASTED YEARS!" He shouted, chastising himself.

Vegeta stared up at the uncaring stars. "Don't make the same mistake I made," The older Saiyan said. "Tomorrow waits for us, but only for so long. Tomorrow becomes Today…Today becomes Yesterday. At that point, it's gone forever."

"Don't wake up ten years from now in an empty bed, in an empty house, wondering why you never paid attention to her. Seize the moment!"