It Never Ends
C-14 - The Match.
Trunks found himself in a very good mood as he got home. The morning had looked extra bleak. The morning meeting that he had was turning into a nightmare and he had stormed out of the meeting, not really intending to come back to talk to them.
He had been late for lunch. Only by ten minutes, but he was greeted by a perturbed looking Pan.
"You know, I do have other things to do, than wait for you," she had narrowed her eyes and was glaring right at him.
He apologized and that is all that she seemed to need. She really wasn't in that argumentative of a mood, for which he was extremely grateful. The bad vibes of that meeting quickly melted away and he was able to enjoy his lunch.
"You look very pretty today. Is there a special occasion?" he asked. She was wearing makeup and her hair was done up nice. She usually didn't got to school like that.
"My afternoon lab got cancelled. I don't have to worry about putting holes in my clothes," She said. "And Bra and I are going to go to a movie and probably some shopping. She has been dying to get out in the last while."
He didn't notice that she was wearing a skirt, until it was time to leave. It just touched the top of her knees, but he didn't think that he ever saw her in a dress before.
Such a simple thing can make such a huge difference in how you look at things.
He had to turn his head away so that she wouldn't see him blush as he paid the bill. He even convinced her to let him drive her back to Bra's.
"Don't you have work?" she said looking at her watch. "It is nearly 2 o'clock."
He shrugged thinking about how horrible the meeting went. "It won't go anywhere."
He threw his briefcase down on the floor and had no intention of opening it up tonight. The house seemed abnormally quiet. The boys must be over at Gohan's. He didn't hear his mom around anywhere, or even if his dad was home.
Didn't matter.
He walked into the kitchen and was shocked to see Soyna sitting there, mulling over a newspaper and nibbling on fruit. She looked better than last time he saw her, but she still looked tired.
"Hi," he said. He was still nervous about her. He didn't want to do anything to get her upset at him, yet again. "How are you feeling today?"
"Fine," she said, without looking up.
"Do you know where everyone is?"
She looked up. "Bulma dragged Vegeta off somewhere. He wasn't too happy about it. Benot is still trying to hide that black eye from me, so they are over terrorized Videl and Gohan." She looked back down and took a piece of pineapple.
He just nodded and went to get himself something to eat. Obviously, there was not going to be a meal prepared, so it was up to him to get his own food.
"I have never tested your strength."
He turned to see Soyna looking at him intensely.
"What?"
"We have never sparred yet, have we?" she said as she folded the paper.
Sparing with Soyna? He looked at her stunned. He never really thought of it, even when Goten was getting his butt kicked by her with an injured arm the other day. She wasn't injured anymore, but he didn't know if he really wanted to fight her.
"I would like to see how you compare," she said standing.
"Compare to what?" he said a little nervously. He didn't know if he could fight her. He knew that she was strong.
"My father," she said. "What do you say?" She had on a crooked smile that was so much like his fathers. "I'll go easy on you."
"I won't be as easy to defeat as Goten," he said.
"I am counting on that," She took another piece of her fruit plate and looked at him. "So. Are you going to change or do I have to wreck that nice suit of yours."
............
Gohan kept looking at his watch. "She's late," he said and paced the kitchen.
Videl just shook her head. She sometimes wondered about her husband. "You know she is going to a movie with Bra and that means shopping too. Relax. Eat your supper and then go play with the boys. They will take you mind off what ever is eating at you."
He stopped and sighed. "I have nothing to worry about."
............
She certainly seemed to wake up. She had changed too, as he had got into his training clothes. She also tied her hair up in a snug braid.
"Ready," he said.
She nodded and that gold aura surrounded her.
He followed her example and powered up.
She made the first move. He had watched her fight so many times before with his father. He knew some of her moves. He wasn't going to let her win that easy. He was going to make her work for it.
Her fist just missed his jaw, he moved out of the way and tried to land his own fist in her side, but he missed.
They chased each other for awhile. She was throwing a whole barrage of kicks and punches at him. She was leaving openings, but he knew better than to take them. She was quicker than he was. Those were traps. If he took them, he would be down. He had to wait for an opening that she didn't leave for him to take.
Then her approach changed. She threw a small energy blast at him. He didn't see her even get the energy ready. It distracted him enough that she gave him a sharp uppercut, but then he was able to grab her arm.
"Got ya," he laughed.
She just smirked.
................
"Why is you dad acting so weird?" Legen said as he watched Gohan pace the kitchen.
"He is worrying about Pan and her boyfriend," Fry said.
"I didn't know she had a boyfriend," Benot said.
"She doesn't. Dad is just being paranoid," Fry said. "He thinks that Pan and Trunks are secretly seeing each other behind his back."
"Trunks?" Legen said.
"Yeah."
"I thought they were dating," Legen said. "There always going for lunch and the other day, they were sitting so close together."
"Na," Fry said. "At least, they haven't announced anything yet. I think they should soon before dad has a nervous breakdown."
..............
He started spin her around. She wasn't trying to stop the spin as he let go of her hand and expected to see her go flying as was surprised when she turned the momentum on him. She had grabbed his leg and flung him into the nearest tree.
He shook himself and looked up at her. "That was a dirty trick," he growled.
"I know," she smiled and then began her next barrage of attacks.
................
Gohan looked at his watch again.
It was nearly nine. She was always home by nine.
The house was quiet and he was just waiting for her. The twins were sent home a half an hour ago, and Fry was watching a cartoon on TV. He looked like he was going to fall asleep. He normally would have shuffled him off to bed but he was waiting for Pan to get home.
Where was she?
The door opened. He looked to see Pan walk in with a wide grin on her face and grass stains on her knees! Grass stains.
"Where were you?" he demanded.
"Huh? I told you. I was with Bra." She said and threw her bag down. "I need to go have a shower and then I am going to get a good nights rest." Before he could even protest, she gave him a peck on the cheek and bounded up the stairs. "'Night Daddy."
"'Night Pan."
He stood there for a second.
Where did she get those grass stains?
..............
Legen was stunned to see his mother battling with Trunks! They both looked like they had been going at it awhile and neither of them looked as if they were going to give up.
Benot was just wide eyed and looked on in awe. "I thought they weren't fighting anymore. You said that they were friends now."
"I thought so too," Legen said as Trunks let out a scream and a large blast towards his mother who blocked it and then sent her own at him.
...............
"So how do I compare?" he said as he dodged a punch.
"I'm not done testing you yet," she said with a smirk. "Let's see if you can avoid this."
She moved quickly away from him, he noticed that her tail had unwound itself from the hiding spot around her waist and was twitching behind her. She crossed her arms and he felt a sudden burst of strength and her scream. "Stellar Bind!"
"What?"
He saw what the attack was as a broad band of energy came at him. It wrapped itself around him, forcing him to crash into the earth. He couldn't move his arms and felt the power drain out of him.
The next thing he knew was that he was looking at the faces of Benot and Legen who were looking down at him.
"Did mom kill him," Benot said and nudged his leg.
"I didn't kill him," she said.
"Why were you two fighting?" Legen asked.
"We weren't fighting. We were sparing." She said. "Can you get up?"
He sat up. His arms still felt numb. That was defiantly a new attack. He had never heard or seen that attack before. "What the hell was that? I have never seen you use that on dad."
"It uses up a lot of energy," she said. "I don't like to use it very often. It is one of those attacks that seldom actually hit there target, but once it does, it is very devastating. I have never used it on your father yet."
She reached a hand down to him to help him up. He took it. "So. How did I do over all as compared to your father?"
"He wasn't able to avoid my Stellar Bind either," she said and then looked down at the boys. "And you two. You two should be getting for bed. You have school tomorrow."
.................
After a long shower, he decided to phone Pan to tell her the good news.
Gohan answered the phone.
"Is Pan there?" he asked.
"She's sleeping already. Call back later," Gohan said tensely and then hung up.
What was up with Gohan?
Oh well, he called up his sister instead and told him what she had said. Bra laughed at him.
"What is so funny?" he said.
"I knew that you two would get it out of your systems sooner or later," she said.
"She was the one that wanted to see if I was a comparable fighter. I think she meant that I was comparable to her father." Trunks said.
"I know that. I just mean... Okay. There are two ways our family resolves its arguments. One is to yell and scream until you win. That is what mom and I do best. Two is to beat the daylights out of the person and then everything seems to be better, you and dad to that best. That also seems to be the way Soyna handles things." She took a breath. "You already yelled at her, so now, it was her turn to beat you up. She probably thought you couldn't hold your own. I am glad that you were able to finally get that out of your systems."
He smiled. Sometimes, his little sister could be insightful.
He hung up the phone and felt the exhaustion taking over his limbs. That was quite a workout. He hadn't sparred with anyone but his father, and that was usually a punishment of some sort.
"No more questions! Get to bed!" He heard Soyna commanding her boys.
He smirked as he mounted the stairs to head to his own room.
"Did you take it easy on him?"
"How long did you two fight?"
"Enough! Bed." She said. She was trying to sound angry but it didn't work.
"Can we call him grandpa now?"
"Vegeta hates it when we call him that."
"No. You will call him Trunks. Bed."
"But mom..."
"Do you want me to start asking questions about that black eye of yours?"
He heard the boys scamper to their rooms and call goodnight to their mother.
Grandpa. He hadn't thought about that for awhile. He was so busy struggling with the idea that Soyna was his OTHER selves daughter, that he never really thought that he was a grandfather too.
It didn't bother him as much anymore.
..............
Gohan looked at his brother who looked as if he had rolled down a hill. "What the hell were you up too?"
He rubbed the back of his head and shuffled his feet. "Nothing."
"Yeah, right. What did you do?"
"Well. Pan was standing right there and I thought that I could scare her and then... well, she tossed me," he said with a whisper. "It was partly Junior's idea too. He only got kicked in the stomach but she threw me down the hill!"
He squinted at his brother.
"It was supposed to be a joke. You know. I was bugging her earlier about wearing the dress and people mistaking her as a girl for a change," he said.
He crossed his arms.
"She must train more than she lets on! There is no way she should have got me so bad."
That explained the grass stains. At least it had nothing to do with Trunks.
"You really should teach her some manners," Goten said and limped up to his room.
Then why was Trunks phoning her?
.............
Bulma was in a great mood. She had to bribe Vegeta to get him to eat in a restaurant, but it worked. She enjoyed the night even though Vegeta was getting grumpy now. He still did not like spending time with other humans. He was a hell of a lot more tolerant that he used to be, but still it sometimes was a chore.
She looked over at her husband who was in his usual pouting poise.
"It wasn't that bad was it?" she said.
"At least the food was good," he mumbled.
She turned her attention back to the road as they turned into the Capsule Corporation compound.
There was something wrong.
She got out of the car and looked around.
"What the hell happened to my lawn!"
............
Well,
AN- it seems that my writers block has been lifted... I did have a hard time struggling through the last two chapters, but I think I am back on track... I hope I haven't spoken too soon. Anyway.... I thought Trunks and Soyna were due for a sparing. Will Goten ever win at anything again? When will Trunks and Pan realize what Gohan is so upset about?
Soyna