It was a familiar setting. A young man from the future was speaking mostly of out earshot of the friends and family of the man that just returned from space. Trunks warned Goku of the impending calamity that was to befall them in three years' time, and that he, Goku, would have his life ended by a virus before being given the chance to meet it. But as familiar as this all was, it was not all the same. Among the group that watched the two speak from afar, there was a man with a long mane of hair that many thought to have died years before. Here, though, Raditz lives and now looked on in suspicion as his brother and the stranger spoke.
After their conversation came to an end, Trunks flew off and Goku's friends and family quickly approached to see what that was all about. As he began to explain as best he could without revealing Trunks' secret, another figure that had been watching the events transpire out of sight from everyone flew off to follow Trunks.
"Hey, how did it go?" the young woman asked upon catching up with him. She had a scar that ran up her left cheek, and long, black hair much like her father's, tied up with a red ribbon. And wrapped around her waist as if it were a belt was her brown tail, also inherited from her father.
"As well as we could've hoped I guess," Trunks answered, as they flew along.
"By the way, did you ask your dad where he got the pink shirt?" Ranch asked with a chuckle. "I honestly wouldn't mind one of my own."
"We, uh, didn't talk all that much," he told her in an uneasy manner that caused her arch an eyebrow.
Once far enough away, they touched down on the ground, and Trunks took out of his pocket a capsule. He pressed the button on it and tossed it away from them. In a puff of smoke the time machine appeared. He turned back to her, saying, "Look, Ranch, I'm sorry—"
"Oh would you stop," Ranch interrupted, smacking him on the shoulder but giving him a smile. She really did wish she could've spoken to her dad and Uncle Goku, but there was no point in letting that bother her now. "My mom and dad are already together, so they all might put two and two together if I was there, blah, blah, blah. I get it." Her smile changed to a particularly nasty smirk. "The only thing I'm jealous of is that you got to have some fun toying around with Frieza and his old man."
"Don't see why," said Trunks. "They weren't much of a challenge."
"I saw. You probably didn't even need to go Super to finish them."
"Probably not," he admitted. Returning her smirk, Trunks admitted, "Alright, maybe I sort of had fun messing with them."
Trunks opened the hatch, climbed in, and took the only seat in the cramped vessel. He was about to scoot over to give Ranch a little room just like their initial trip back in time, but she already leaped inside and landed sitting on his lap.
"R-Ranch!" Trunks said, flustered. "What are you doing?"
"Wha—what?" she asked, blushing slightly and looking away from him. All the bravado she had just a second ago had swiftly vanished. "You have a problem with this?"
Trunks went red, and replied as firmly as he could, "No! Uh…no, I don't have a problem with this."
Ranch gave him a sideways glance, and said shyly, "Look…do you think maybe we're moving a bit too…slow? It's been years, and—and you know how I feel…."
"Yeah, and you know how I feel," he replied, relaxing a bit. "Ranch, how fast we move is our own business."
"True, but think about it, Trunks—your mom figured out time travel before even kissed or anything!"
Neither said anything for a few seconds, and then Trunks asked, "Then how about we fix that?"
The embarrassment of the situation seemed to fade away, as they looked into each other's eyes. Trunks put his hands on her waist, and Ranch caressed his face. Without thinking about it, they closed the gap between them and their lips connected. As if a fire ignited between them, their kiss became more passionate as they poured their years of attraction and longing for one another into it. They lost themselves and track of time in their embrace. Neither wanted the wonderful moment that had sprung up to end, because it meant going back to the harsh reality of their situation. But all good things must eventually come to an end.
When they finally broke apart, Trunks said, "Um…maybe we should go."
"Yeah, good idea," she agreed, feeling flushed.
As he started the vessel up, it was a bit more difficult pressing the buttons and switches with her still on his lap. Eventually the time machine powered up, and rose into the air. "I'd really like to do a flyby over them to see them one more time…but, you know."
"Yeah, I know," Ranch said sadly. "They'll see me and it'll raise even more questions." The time machine rose higher into the air. Just before they disappeared from this point in the timeline, Ranch gave Trunks a look, grinned mischievously, and asked, "What's that I feel down there?"
"Nothing!" Trunks exclaimed, turning redder than before, just as the time machine faded from view.