"So all of that really happened? I know time travel is a whole can of worms, but you have to understand, that sounds totally crazy!" Trunks exclaimed. The other Trunks looked him in the eyes with a saddened expression. "No, it's the truth."
The two sat on the couch in the Capsule Corp. building. Bulma sat in a chair nearby, still speechless from earlier. Trunks and Mai had arrived from the past earlier that morning, confusing the timelines native Trunks and Bulma. Explaining what had happened to him wasn't easy for Trunks the first, but he knew he'd have to explain it all to make sure this timeline didn't go down the same path as his had.
"The past Whis made sure to inform your Beerus about Zamasu, so he won't be a problem here." he explained to himself. "But Babidi will still be a problem, or at least Dabura will. Gohan told me about the Kaioshin imprisoned in the Z-Sword, so we'll have to deal with that during your training."
The second Trunks stood up, his hands combing through his hair. "Slow down, this is a lot to take in! Babidi, Dabura, Majin Buu, Zamasu, Goku Black? I know you're speaking the truth, but this is so overwhelming. And what is a Kaioshin?!" The older Trunks stood up now, resting his hands on his counterpart's shoulders. "I get that, so we'll take this one step at a time. Sit back down, and we'll make a plan."
"So what will you do now?" Bulma asked, startling the two warriors. Before this, she had just been staring at her son and his twin for what felt like hours, not daring to say a word. The first Trunks gulped, before looking at her with a slightly pained expression. He had already told the two about his mother's death at the hands of Goku Black, and how he had met again with her younger counterpart in his father's reality, but it still pained him to see her alive again. He would never forget the sight of her body being disintegrated before his very eyes.
"Well, after Mai finds herself here, I'm gonna work to make sure this timeline doesn't end up like mine." he replied, now pacing back and forth. "Sure, the Earth survived against Babidi's forces, but Kibito, Shin and apparently the old Kai all died against them. I'd like to ensure their survival now that I know what will happen."
He suddenly rounded on his counterpart, pointing a finger in his face. "But don't get me wrong! I learned this lesson from dad, don't think I'll do this all for you! You have to be strong enough to fight for your world, because there's always someone out there stronger than you. I'm going to make sure you're more than prepared for the fight that awaits you in the future!"
The second Trunks held his hands up in defense. "Hey hey hey, I never even thought about doing that!, honest!" But his future self didn't let up. "I nearly gave up and let Goku and father do all the work for me, but now I know that's just the quitter's way out. If you wanna defend your world, you have to get stronger and be ready for anything. So I'm gonna make sure you're prepared for it all!"
While this was all still very confusing, Bulma couldn't help but smile at her sons' antics. It wasn't everyday someone argued with their alternate self, but in this world, this wasn't the strangest thing to happen on Earth.
Trunks 1 sat down on the ground, panting. After the pep talk, Bulma had decided on a naming scheme to help distinguish between the two saiyans. Trunks 1 was her son from this timeline, while Trunks 2 was the one from the future. The two were identical thanks to their saiyan genes, so this was the only way to really make sure you were talking to the right one.
Trunks 2 floated back down to the ground, not at all tired. While he didn't go all out against his "brother", he was still far above him. He thought that showing his counterpart what he could achieve would help his training. As it turned out, Trunks 1 had tried his hardest during this training, so his theory had turned out to be correct. He knelt down and placed his hands in front of the younger saiyan, healing his injuries.
"What the? How did you do that?" he asked, confused as his body returned to its peak. "In my timeline, before Babidi launched his offensive, the Supreme Kai took me in to train on his planet." the older of the two explained. "I didn't learn this until a whole year later, when the battle with Zamasu was nearly over, but training under him granted me healing powers. I can't do it too much, since I didn't get far with that training, but I can heal you well enough at my current power. Maybe you can become his student here, if you want."
Trunks 1 laughed. "Become a Supreme Kai? That means creating and protecting life, right? That might suit me." He stood back up, powering back up to Super Saiyan. "You've shown me that you've gotten a lot stronger because of everything that happened to you, but I know you're holding back. Let me see what you've achieved in the future, I need to become even stronger than that!"
Trunks 2 gave a smirk, before powering up to Super Saiyan 2, the younger of the two giving a smile, seeing that he could attain the same power Gohan did. "As you know, this is Super Saiyan 2, much better than the bulked up forms father and I took against Cell. With enough training, you can augment its power to become even greater than you could ever imagine. But that isn't the limit for us, at least not for me." the older of the two explained.
The younger Trunks gave a confused look, prompting the older one to explain further. "Whis explained that it's because I was exposed to so much godly energy for so long, combined with my training under Shin. Somehow, I managed to absorb some of that divine ki and add it to my own. And because of that…" His power began to rise, his muscles bulged to twice their usual size, and his eyes glowed a faint blue. With a loud growl, Trunks 2 burst into his new form, blowing his counterpart away with the sheer power he showed off.
"Woah, that's insane!" his younger self remarked, a hand held over his head to protect his eyes. With his showcase done, Trunks 2 relaxed, his eyes returning to their original state. He remained in his form, allowing the younger saiyan to observe his power. "This form allowed me to go toe-to-toe with Goku Black. It was only after he and Zamasu blamed me for everything that had happened that I finally awakened it." he explained in a stern manner, the transformation causing his rage to manifest..
"You can call this form Super Trunks. With time, I'm sure you'll be able to attain it, or something even better. I want you to become even stronger than me, so you can succeed where I failed!" he yelled. Trunks 1 nodded at him and charged, ready for more training.
A few days later, just as Trunks 2 remembered, Shin and Kibito appeared on Earth. They had already been informed about the time travel antics, due to Beerus and Whis informing them after disposing of Zamasu. While Shin reprimanded Trunks, he conceded that what he had done had been selfless and sympathized with him.
"So, will you help us against Babidi?" the kaioshin asked. Trunks 2 shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I won't. This is uh… Trunks 1's fight, not mine. He needs to be prepared for the future, so it's up to him to get stronger and deal with any threats to Earth. I'll help in his training though, if you'll allow me."
Shin looked disappointed, but nodded anyway. "I understand. Kibito and I will take him to the World of the Kais to prepare, you're welcome to join us. If you ever need to return to Earth, Kibito will bring you back in an instant." His attendant nodded at this, his opinion of mortals having changed upon hearing Trunks' story.
"Sure, that's fine with me. But there's something I need to do when we get there."
"What the hell did you just do?! That was the Z-Sword!" Shin yelled in shock, Trunks 2 having shattered the sword with his bare hands after his counterpart had pulled it from the ground. He looked at the kais with a blank expression, seemingly ignorant of what he had done. "Trust me, this is for the best. I'm sorry to offend, but there's someone you'll want to meet now that that's destroyed."
Sure enough, behind the shocked kais appeared an older one, stretching and smiling for the first time in many, many years. His old bones popped one by one, loudly. "I had the biggest crick in my neck, thank you so much, young man. That blasted cat, why I oughta…" he started ranting, before noticing the other Trunks. "But wait, aren't you over… Are you two twins?"
Trunks 2 knelt down in front of the old kai, his head looking down. "Please, Kaioshin, hear me. My name is Trunks, and that man over there is my younger counterpart from this timeline. I will personally explain all the details to you soon, but I humbly ask that you unlock his potential so that he can get stronger, in order to protect Universe 7 and the people who live in it." he beseeched.
The older kai looked between the two repeatedly, starting to connect the dots. "A time traveler huh? You know that's a great sin, right? Doing something like that could warrant more than a visit from a God of Destruction, you know that right?" Trunks continued to kneel, gulping audibly. "Well, you did just free me from that stupid sword after millions of years, so I guess I can overlook that. Come over here, boy." he said, gesturing to the younger saiyan.
"I thank you, my lord. Trust me when I say, my future self and I will do whatever it takes to protect, not only the Earth, but the entire universe. You won't be disappointed." Trunks 1 said in a bow, before sitting down as the kai told him to. Shin and Kibito finally regained their composure, and walked over to the older time traveler.
"How did you know there was a kaioshin trapped within the Z-Sword?" the Supreme Kai asked. Trunks laughed a bit too loud. "Gohan explained his training here in his timeline. When Whis told me I could come to a new timeline, I knew I had to fix this." he explained. "Sorry to scare you two, I should've explained my plan before I broke it. But as you can see, it was worth it."
The old kai began dancing around the younger Trunks, confusing him greatly. But the older one looked on, proud. He knew his other self could go on to become far stronger than him, he just had to take the right steps and become dedicated to training. He would never let this timeline go down the path his had, not if he still had life left in his body.
"Before I forget, would you like me to do the same for you when I'm done with your counterpart?" the old kai asked. "I can sense a lot more power in you, I bet the result would be extraordinary." Trunks smiled and gave another bow. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm going down a different path now. My younger self can become a great student of the kais if you allow him, I can assure you of that." The old kai shrugged, then continued his funny dance. As the kais and the two saiyans sat on the large, beautiful, green planet, Trunks knew that the universe would know peace once more.
So, hi again! This is my first chapter with a good person, haha. I noticed that all of the previous chapters focused on villains. I didn't expect that would happen honestly, but I guess I really like bad guys. I wanted to do a Trunks special because, despite its flaws, I really like the Future Trunks/Goku Black arc in Super, manga and anime versions. But him just disappearing into another timeline just felt like a lazy ending, there's a lot of potential to be had there. I'll write more chapters for this Past-Future timeline in the future (lol), with one being focused on Mai finding her younger self. And then the one after that will be something I've wanted to do since about 2017, exciting!
One last thing I should mention with this, this whole chapter was basically entirely rewritten! I had a version that was told entirely without dialogue and was basically a recap of what had happened since Trunks and Mai arrived, and was meant to skip over to the conclusion of this story. I decided against that since I wanted to really portray the interactions between these characters. And I think building up to the conclusion will be worth it, I've already partially written it. Anyway, thanks for reading, I'll see you next chapter, bye now!