"I don't know, Ranch," Trunks said uncertainly, as they faced each other in the open field. "Are you sure you're ready?"
Annoyed, Ranch said, "I've been a potato for months, Trunks! Come on, I need to get back in to fighting form." She raised her fists and bounced on the balls of her feet.
"But you just had a baby!"
"We had this exact same discussion after Gohan was born. I don't want to have it again." Ranch let off a few jabs that sent wind blowing in Trunks' face. "Bring it!"
Trunks sighed. He took a stance, they stared each other down, and they simultaneously went in for the attack. They were now a flurry of punches, kicks, and blocks. In next to no time all anxiety left Trunks, and he was left with just the thrill of the fight. After all these months he got his training partner back! It was the same exact feeling he had during their first sparring match after Gohan was born. Ranch was clearly out of practice, but with enough training it shouldn't take too long to get back where she was.
Off in the sidelines four-year-old Gohan cheered both his parents on, looking forward to the day that he'd just as strong as them. Blonde Launch was next to her grandson, also throwing out words of encouragement to her daughter. Bulma focused on feeding Bulla, who shared her hair that was adorned with a red ribbon.
Bulla then let out an uncomfortable sound. Bulma wondered what happened, when Chi-Chi said, "Her tail is pinched. Here." She held out her arms, and Bulma handed her over. "Hold her just like this and…there." Bulla went back to merrily sucking on her bottle.
"I suppose I'll get the picnic ready," Bulma said morosely, unhappy at being unable to properly hold Bulla. She went ahead and laid out the blanket and food, which was itself an important task seeing as Trunks and Ranch would soon be famished.
"They certainly are strong," a voice said.
Bulma looked up and shrieked as she scrambled backwards. Looming over her were a short guy with pointy ears and a Mohawk, and a tall guy with long hair.
"I'm sorry for startling you," the shorter stranger quickly said. He offered his hand, saying, "My name is Shin. And you are?"
"Um…Bulma," she replied, taking his hand and backing off.
Having heard her cry, Gohan had ran over and got in front of Bulma looking angry. "Who are you?"
"Greetings, young man," the short one said pleasantly. "I was hoping to speak with your parents."
"Is that so?" Trunks said suspiciously, having come over with Ranch when they heard the commotion.
"Alright, punks, who are ya and what do ya want?" asked Ranch, annoyed at having her training interrupted.
"I am Shin and this is my attendant Kibito," said Shin. "I am the Supreme Kai." Ranch and Trunks looked at each other in astonishment. A Kai? Like King Kai? "As for why we are here…" When the Supreme Kai finished giving them the rundown of Babidi and his plan to revive Majin Buu, he then gave them the opportunity to go with them to the Sacred World of the Kai.
"I'll go," Trunks immediately said. "Ranch, you should stay and watch things here."
She gave him a piercing glare. "You're actually suggesting that I should be left behind?"
"Yes!" he replied in earnest. "Look, you're rusty—that wasn't an insult, I'm just stating a fact," he quickly added before she could complain. "You even said so yourself earlier."
Ranch grit her teeth and looked away from him. "I don't care. You can't stop me."
"I know I can't," he said gently, putting his hands on her shoulders. "But be here for the kids. Please."
She balked, and blurted out angrily, "That was a low blow and you know it!"
"It was," he acknowledged. "So will you stay?"
Ranch crossed her arms and turned her back on him testily. "Fine."
As miffed as Ranch was she didn't forgo kissing him goodbye before he left with the Supreme Kai. After Trunks bid farewell to everyone else, he left with Shin and Kibito. Not the way today was supposed to go, Ranch thought irritably.
A couple of days passed. While Trunks trained by mastering the Z-Sword, Ranch was outside on the lawns of Capsule Corp with Gohan. Seeing as Ranch would be hard pressed to get a hard yet satisfying day of training without Trunks around, she decided that it was best to focus on something else that had been weighing on her mind. She and Trunks had decided that it was time to start Gohan's training, but since she was still unable to move much, Ranch had been relegated to the sidelines. But now it was Ranch that was exclusively training her son, and it was more satisfying than she imagined it'd be.
Gohan punched and kicked her mother with everything he could muster, trying whatever he could think of to get past her defenses. Nothing that he did, though, worked. When it got to the point where he focused so much on his offense that his defense lagged behind, Ranch grabbed Gohan's arm and twisted it around his back.
"What happened?" she asked her son sagely.
"Ouch! Ma! I lost focus, okay?" he whined, waving his free arm up and down.
Smiling, Ranch let him go and ruffled his head, saying, "Again?" she asked, taking a fighting stance. Gohan said nothing as he put on a serious face and took a stance, which filled her with immense pride. He rushed in once more, and this time Ranch decided to add in a few quick jabs every now and then. Each time she got a hit in it seemed to annoy Gohan more and more. It got more heated as they continued to go at it, and Ranch was looking forward to the day that he could become a serious training partner.
At one point Ranch got a little too into it, and sent a punch that was turned out to be too much for him. Recognizing this, Gohan put up both his arms to block the attack, and was blown backwards as a result.
"Oops, sorry about that, son," Ranch apologized. "Guess I'm still getting used to moving around. Nice block, though!"
"Uh huh," he grumbled, looking down at and rubbing his forearms.
"Also don't forget that dodging is also an option," she reminded him.
"Okay." He then looked back up at his mother, and cried, "Ma, look out!"
Ranch turned her head back to see a figure in her peripheral bearing down on her with some sort of object. The rest of her body then kept moving with her leg coming up to perform a sweeping kick. Whatever it was they were carrying was knocked away by her kick, and Ranch immediately followed that up by punching the figure to the ground.
The figure, which had an elongated head with large lips and white armor, was in shock as he tried to get back up on shaky arms. As he slowly got back on his feet, Ranch's gaze fell on to what he had been carrying and she frowned.
"Gohan," she began, "go back inside."
"What? But—"
"Good looking out—tell your granny you can have whatever dessert you want."
"Wow, really?" Gohan asked excitedly. "Thanks, ma!" He then ran back inside without a care in the world.
"Alright, bub, who are you and what's with the pointy teapot?" she demanded after he was standing again. The stranger said nothing, but attempted to punch her. Ranch dodged, which required almost no effort on her part, and countered with a punch of her own, causing the guy to eat dirt again. "I asked you a question."
"You…insolent…" The stranger looked up at her from all fours, his face swelling up where he had been previously hit. "How are you so strong? I would destroy you if we were on my home planet!"
"Yeah, but we aren't, are we?" Ranch said, bored of him already. She then got an idea. Pointing her palm at the teapot, she said, "Y'know, that thing looks pretty important. How about you tell me all I want to know, and I don't blow it up?"
"No! Wait!" the stranger cried in absolute terror. "You can't! We've spent ten years collecting energy."
"Energy?" Remembering what that Shin guy had told them, it suddenly clicked for Ranch, who wondered why she didn't realize sooner. "You're Babidi!"
"You fool!" he sneered. "I'm not Babidi. I am—"
"You aren't?" she cut in, grabbing him and hauling him to his feet. "In that case I don't care who you are." Ranch went over to the teapot, picked it up, and tossed it back to the guy, who looked at her in astonishment. "You're taking me to him."
"You…You want me to take you to him?" he asked in disbelief as he just barely caught it. "And why would I do that?"
She went up and flicked his forehead, causing his entire head to violently snap back. "Because I assume that you've got enough brains in that big dome of yours to know what happens if you don't."
Rubbing the spot she hit him, he said, "Fine, I'll do it."
"Then go!" Ranch said, turning him and kicking him in the rear to get him going. As the stranger took to the sky he suppressed a triumphant grin at how she just played herself right into their hands.
In their search for strong individuals whose energy they could absorb for Majin Buu's revival, Babidi and Dabura had come across a promising rumor. It seemed as if there were two people that were exceptionally strong that had taken down a threat that had been plaguing the world for years. So now they were outside of the entrance to the spaceship waiting for Pui-Pui to return, with an abundant amount of energy if they were lucky.
All of a sudden they spotted a speck in the sky. It was Pui-Pui, who was waiting until he got closer to them to warn them about Ranch. But Ranch, who was even higher than Pui-Pui, surveyed the scene below her. Two things were apparent: she couldn't let them get their hands on that teapot, and destroying that base should cripple them.
She thrust both arms out. "Double Sunday!" When Ranch fired the energy beam, Pui-Pui turned his head to see what the incoming light was, and screamed as he was overtaken by it and was blown down to the ship. The beam penetrated Babidi's ship, and before Babidi and Dabura knew what happened, the base exploded before them.
"What…what happened?" Babidi asked in horror, looking over the smoldering ruins of his ship.
Dabura looked up at where the beam came from, and said, "Pui-Pui was followed!"
Growling in anger, Babidi ordered, "Take care of them! Afterwards look through the damage for the siphon and Majin Buu's capsule."
But before Dabura could do anything, Ranch landed not too far from them.
"So, you're Babidi," Ranch said to the tall demon guy, glaring at him.
The short one piped up, "What? No, I am! And who are you?"
Ranch didn't answer, and instead aimed her palm at the small one, sending a blast his way. But the big one quickly intervened and got in front of the attack, knocking it out of the way.
Punching her fist into her palm, Ranch told him, "The faster I kill the shrimp the faster my husband gets home. So I advise you get out of my way."
Dabura grinned. "I don't think so."
"Dabura," Babidi said, "don't kill her. Her energy should make a dent in resurrecting Majin Buu."
"Yes, master." Dabura suddenly powered up before he charged at her.
At the very last second Ranch realized just how powerful he was, went Super Saiyan, and raised both her arms to block his attack. When the punch landed, Ranch was blown backwards was sent tumbling away. Dabura went in for another attack, but Ranch managed to deftly move her body to get out of the way so that all Dabura punched was the ground. Back on her feet, Ranch sprang forward at Dabura to counter attack.
The two began zipping around exchanging blow after blow. Dabura was strong and he was dealing a good amount of damage, but so was Ranch. They might have been going toe-to-toe, but Ranch could tell that her months spent not training was truly coming back to bite her in the ass. He hit her into the side of a large rock, and followed it up with a swipe that sent an energy blast at her. Ranch put her hands out to shoot a quick blast of her own, but the two attacks collided right in front of her. She shielded her eyes from the explosion, causing rocks to fall all around her.
Before she could get her wits back, Dabura came in and landed a spinning kick on Ranch. She hit the ground hard, but Ranch immediately got back up and launched herself back at Dabura. She hit him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him, and before he could recover she began to pummel him. But eventually all Ranch's first went through was an afterimage.
Dabura reappeared behind her and hammered her down to the ground. As she was getting back up, a sword materialized in his hands, and he launched himself down at her. Having had enough, Ranch suddenly powered up again, her hair spiked up even more, and she delivered a spinning kick that landed on the sword and shattered it. Dabura had a look of shock on his face, which Ranch promptly punched to send him tumbling away.
"Congrats," Ranch said, cracking her knuckles. "You're only the second bastard to force me into Super Saiyan 2."
On the Sacred World of the Kai, Shin was just about to test Trunks' mastery of the Z Sword by throwing a block of Katchin at him. But just as Trunks was getting ready he felt it. So did Shin and Kibito.
"That's Ranch!" Trunks said, dread filling him.
"She's fighting Babidi!"
"We have to go!"
Back on Earth Ranch was beating Dabura to a pulp. She had powered up to such an extent that he wasn't given time to adjust. Every time he attempted to counterattack, Ranch was able to turn it around on Dabura and make him pay. But despite her power up, Ranch was still severely out of practice, and Dabura was still reasonably strong. Because of that Ranch wasn't able to just finish him off in a single blow like she wanted, so she had to work on whittling down his strength. When Ranch landed a knee on that big chin of his, Dabura was sent tumbling again away until he slid to a stop.
"Dabura, what are you doing?" Babidi demanded angrily. "Subdue her already."
"Yeah, what're you waiting for?" Ranch asked with a menacing smile, as Dabura got back up with fear in his eyes. She raised a palm, now confident that she could just finish him off, causing Dabura to take a step backwards.
But right then Shin, Kibito, and Trunks already in his Super Saiyan form all appeared in the battlefield.
"Ranch, are you okay?" Trunks asked in panic.
She looked back at him in surprise. "Trunks?"
Shin exclaimed, "Its Dabura! When did he join Babidi?"
In his desperation, Dabura took advantage of the distraction that the newcomers provided, and fired spit at Ranch.
When the spit landed on the shoulder of the unsuspecting Ranch, she looked down at it and then at Dabura, and said in disgust, "Gross! What the hell is—? Wait…what's happening?" From the spot where the spit landed, her body began to turn to stone.
"Ranch!" Trunks cried.
"Trunks!" Ranch shouted, her voice cracking with fear. She reached out to him, but she turned completely into stone while in motion.
"No, Ranch!" Trunks ran to her side, dropped the Z-Sword, and fell to his knees as he looked up at his wife in disbelief.
"We need to take out Dabura!" Shin yelled as he and Kibito charged at him.
But Trunks only had eyes for Ranch, who stood petrified before him. While Shin and Kibito began to try and take on Dabura, they began pleading Trunks to get into the fight. Despite being thrashed by Ranch, Dabura was still able to take on the two of them as if it were child's play. Shin tried to tell him something but it fell on deaf ears, as Trunks just tentatively placed a shaky hand on her. The fact that Dabura was now beating on Kibito and Shin wasn't registering at all to Trunks.
"What did you do?" he asked out loud with a tremble in his voice, running his hand down her form. Anger and desperation began to well up inside in him, barely able to comprehend even the thought of losing her. "Give her back…" Trunks said as more and more rage built up inside him. "Give…me…back…MY RANCH!"
In an instant a reservoir of energy exploded outwards from Trunks, causing his aura to glow brighter and his hair to become spikier. Dabura had just finished beating down Kibito and Shin when Trunks transformed, and for a moment all he could do was stand and stare. Kibito and Shin painfully gazed over at Trunks, amazed at the sudden power that he began emitting.
Trunks grabbed the Z-Sword, stood back up, and turned to face Dabura with angry tears running down his face.
Dabura quickly spit.
"Watch it!" shouted Shin.
But Trunks had already evaded the spit by suddenly disappearing on the spot, and he reappeared right in front of Dabura. Trunks wasted no time in swinging the Z-Sword and taking off Dabura's head. The body collapsed and landed in a thud beside it.
"Trunks!" Shin cried again. "Babidi!"
Shifting his gaze, Trunks saw as the small one was now trying to fly away. Switching the grip on the sword, Trunks raised it over his head hurled it like a spear. The sword quickly caught up to Babidi, impaling him and sending him crashing to the ground. Blood pouring out of his mouth, Babidi twitched one final time before he stopped moving for good.
Trunks let off a grief laden cry, before he suddenly aimed his palm at Dabura's corpse. "BIG BANG ATTACK!" The energy beam engulfed the remains, completely obliterating it.
As Trunks was taking deep breaths, unsure of what should come next, he heard behind him, "Damn, was that was brutal." Turning around in shock, he saw Ranch helping up Shin and Kibito.
"R—Ranch?"
Shin explained as he stood up, "When you killed Dabura that lifted the effect of his attack."
"Yeah, it was freaky," added Ranch, now fully taking in his appearance. "Oh man! You're Super Saiyan 2! Awesome!" Then she began to snicker. "What's with that outfit? You look li—"
Trunks didn't let Ranch finish as he quickly moved in to hug and kiss her.
Unbeknownst to any of them, a dark figure loomed far above them. The figure had hoped for the Supreme Kai's death in the incident and thus the God of Destruction's, but no matter. The Supreme Kai here should be no problem for him to deal with down the line, much like the other Supreme Kai he was about to go pay a visit….