CHAPTER 9:
Needing a Senzu Bean

Dusk was beginning to fall upon the moon. The sky dimmed to a soft dark violet and the few clouds on the horizon turned a pale shade of dark green. The city lay far in the distance, windows in buildings beginning to wink on with the approaching evening. A soft breeze blew across the plains that stretched for miles in all directions. The only thing that existed out here other than vast landscape was the Capsule Corp. spacecraft. The two saiyans approached it in silence and landed on the soft grass.

Trunks reached over and grabbed Goku's blue backpack. He opened it, searching for the remote. Finding it, he clicked the button that would open the ship. "You wait here," Trunks looked impassively at Goku, who was smiling in return. When the ladder came down, Trunks flew into the ship.

Goku stood there for a minute not sure what to do. He began to circle the ship hoping to pass the time but tripped over something hard, and in the next moment found himself sprawled on the ground. "What the?" He blinked in eyes in confusion.

"Giru! Giru!" The robot emerged from the grass in a panic.

"Oh Giru! I was wondering where you went. You came back to the ship!" Goku laughed at the round robot who was flying in circles. "Oh wow, Giru, you missed quite a show. You should have seen it. Trunks and Pan actually got married."

"Married, Giru!" The robot stopped and hovered above Goku.

"Yeah," Goku leaned over cupped his mouth to the robot's sensors and whispered, "Don't tell anyone this, but I get the impression that Trunks isn't very happy."

"Trunks not happy, Giru?"

Goku whispered even softer. "Yeah, we came out here to help him let off some steam. If I were you, I'd go find Pan. She needs someone to watch over her, and, besides, we're going to do some really heavy sparring out here..."

"Sparring! Danger!" For a moment the small robot paused as if thinking. Suddenly, it began to blare a small siren, screaming "Danger Approaching! Giru, Giru!" before ducking behind Goku. Goku turned around and saw that Trunks was emerging from the ship, dressed in a black tank top and gi pants.

"Hey, Trunks, I found Giru! He came all the way back to the ship. You must have really scared him back there –"

"Just shut up and fight me." He scowled toward the boy. "Right now. You stall, you die." Trunks made a snarl, eyebrows fiercely frowning in an angry glare.

"Wow, you really are in a bad mood."

Before Goku could move, Trunks flashed out of sight. He reappeared right before Goku and punched him in the face, sending the saiyan flying two hundred yards. A great dust cloud tore up from the ground, flying dozens of meters in the air.

From amid the dust, Goku picked himself up, completely unscathed. Brushing himself off, he called out, "Trunks! Be careful. There's a lot less gravity here. You could end up sending debris into the city if you don't watch–"

Goku was interrupted by a fist ramming into stomach, doubling him over in shock. A quick roundhouse kick to the head sent Goku once again flying into the air, but the boy stopped his fall before he hit the ground. "Trunks! You're not playing fair. I haven't even stretched yet! I thought this was going to be a spar!"

"SHUT UP!" Trunks flashed out of sight and reappeared behind Goku, but the boy caught his arm and turned around to face him.

"Alright Trunks, I'll give you a real fight, but let's at least do this farther away from the ship. You aren't thinking straight, Trunks. What's wrong with you?"

Trunks brought his other hand to grab Goku's leg and kneed Goku in the side. Goku let go of his arm, and Trunks took this advantage to swing the kid in a circle. "You say you want to get away from the ship? Fine!" He tossed Goku like a sling south of the ship. On earth, Goku would have flown perhaps a mile, but on Kikaru, the gravity was so low, the saiyan went about two and a half miles before stopping himself in the air.

Trunks was right on top of him. He fisted Goku in the chest, sending him sprawling to ground. The entire moon shook from the impact. He readied a blue ki blast and aimed it where Goku was lying in the rubble. When he released it, he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head.

He felt himself losing control of his flight, but before he could fall, another fist rammed into his chin, sending him flying in the other direction. As he was soaring, a knee kicked him on his stomach, sending him toward the surface where he crashed into the ground faster than a meteor, causing a large crater.

Goku looked down toward the debris cloud with disappointment. Trunks was angry, but he wasn't channeling his energy right. "Hey Trunks!"

Trunks appeared beside him and threw a punch as hard as he could toward Goku's vulnerable ribs. The boy phased out fast enough to deliver a hard blow to Trunks' knees, causing him to scream out in pain. Goku was fuming at the demi-saiyan. "That was a cheap shot, Trunks. Don't do that again."

"You deserve the pain, you stupid third class piece of sh–"

A blow to the face shut Trunks up as bones cracked.

"You want to take it up to your father's level! You asked for it, Trunks." Goku suddenly released a dazzling aura, bright enough to light the entire surface of the darkening moon. In a second, his hair became a bright gold.

Trunks was in shock, holding his fractured jaw with his hands as he stared wide-eyed at the young saiyan shining before him. Then, his eyes narrowed and he let out a blood curling scream of both pain and anger as he, too, transformed into a Super Saiyan.

Goku looked at him, thousands of thoughts pouring through his mind. Mostly, the question of what was wrong with Trunks. He had never dared take on Goku before, and he hadn't even been training hard enough to give him a good fight. But a good fight is what Trunks wanted. Not a spar, but a bone-crushing, rib-breaking, blood-spilling fight to the death. This was not like the Trunks he knew. Even when he was little, Trunks always relied on Goten for battle support since most of his techniques dealt with attacking as a duo. Goku had never known Trunks to fight alone except in the gravity room with Vegeta.

This was a good opportunity to see what Trunks' abilities truly were. Vegeta had purposely kept Goku away from training Trunks, but from what Goku had seen so far, Trunks was making a lot of mistakes in combat and needed advice. Goku really wanted to help him become a better fighter. He had seen the potential that Mirai Trunks had achieved, and knew he could have gone even further. This Trunks could become more powerful than Vegeta if he wanted. The first step, though, would be to help Trunks achieve Super Saiyan 2. From what Goku was sensing, if Trunks were able to channel this pent up anger, he could come really close to achieving that. Transforming was not based on strength and power. It depended on spirit and the need to reach the new level. Hopefully Trunks might find a way to channel his anger into reaching higher potentials. Goku would have to wait to act on that one, but he might as well try to get him on the right path during this fight.

And what better way to knock Trunks onto track, than to kick up the notch a bit. Goku grinned to himself. Let's see how he handles this one. Trunks had been going all out, without any shame. If Trunks wanted to play dirty, he would be glad to know he'd be biting the dust after this.

Goku began to scream as he released his inner energy, charging up his ki as Trunks hovered in a conflicted state. Trunks was still tending to his jaw, seeing how badly it was injured, opening his mouth slightly to test the pain. His blazing eyes darkened with rage as he watched Goku begin to power up.

"Goku... You... bastard! That hurt!"

"You'll be feeling the pain after this, trust me."

"You aren't!" Trunks' eyes widened.

Lightning began to crackle around Goku. "Let's see how you can take on a third class' third level."

Trunks' eyes narrowed and he posed, charging up his own ki while watching Goku scream as his hair grew to an incredible length, flowing down to his ankles since he was so short.

Trunks didn't wait for Goku to finish his transformation. He rammed himself into Goku with all his weight in the blow.

Goku flew up and seemed like he was about to punch Trunks, but as he blocked, Goku phased out and reappeared behind Trunks, grabbing him in a headlock. He kneed Trunks in the back twice, sending a bone-chilling scream from the Super Saiyan, and threw him hurtling toward the ground. Trunks landed softly on his two feet, his furious glare centered on Goku who flew above him. He threw forth his hands and screamed "Buster Cannon!" A large ki blast emerged from his hands and headed straight for Goku.

Goku swatted the attack away as if it were a fruit fly.

As the blast went soaring away to space, Trunks flew at top speed and head-rammed Goku in the gut, but felt strong hands grab his arm and twist it back. Another hand grabbed his neck in another headlock. He was held immobile and in pain as Goku tsk tsked at him. "You let your guard down, Trunks! Now you're stuck in this position!"

"Get your hands off of me!"

"Only if you say 'Piccolo'."

"NEVER!"

Trunks' leg flew up to kick Goku in the groin, but the young saiyan was too small. His knee stopped short, earning a gasp from a now humored twelve year old, "Trunks! How shameless."

Trunks grabbed Goku's arms and flared his ki as high as he could to burn the pest that was pinning him helpless. The Super Saiyan 3 didn't flinch. He grinned stupidly as Trunks screamed out in anger, trying to squirm free. Trunks was fuming, red framing his eyes, growls roaring from him like a wild animal. He began to scream in a blood rage, raising his ki higher and higher till he felt he would explode.

Small sparks began to form around Trunks, stinging Goku in the process. Goku wanted to beam in pride, but found himself too carried up in trying to hold Trunks in a lock grip. He's doing it. He just needs to push a little more. Trunks formed a red ki shot and pounded it into Goku's stomach, causing the boy to loosen his grip on Trunks just enough so that Trunks slipped free and flew a good twenty feet away from Goku.

"You're going to pay for humiliating me..." The sparks were gone from Trunks, but his eyes held a green death sentence. "I'm going to do something that will make you regret ever fighting me."

"Let's see it," Goku crossed his arms, waiting.

"This is something that I've been working on for a while. Not even my dad has seen it. You're gonna be in a lot of pain, Goku."

"Just to humor you, I promise I won't block it. We'll see if I'm in pain."

Trunks practically bared fangs at the kid. "Don't mock my ultimate move."

Goku almost choked from holding in laughter. Wow, Trunks had a long way to go before reaching an ultimate move, but he'd play along just for humor's sake.

"Let's see it."

Trunks closed his eyes as a blue ki aura grew around his body.

"Just don't tell me you named it 'Burning Attack.' That'd be such a rip-off."

The enormous ki began to shake the ground, causing clumps of debris and grass to hover in the air.

"You know, you could name it something like 'Pan's Side-Kick.' She might like that name. It'd be an easy way to get on her good side." Goku grinned at his own teasing, hoping the words would strike home to Trunks, increasing the anger that could hopefully be channeled into the attack. Trunks snarled in warning, charging up even more.

Small sparks began to radiate from Trunks as the ki turned from blue to a bright green.

"You know, Trunks, I'm sure it's going to be a great light show, but if you were in a serious battle, you'd never have all this time to charge up."

The green great brighter and brighter until it became a sharp yellow.

"Listen! If you became a Super Saiyan 2, this would be a cinch. Really, Trunks. I could help you train to become a Super Saiyan 2. You're really close." Goku crossed his hands, patiently waiting for Trunks to finish charging up.

A large red ki formed at Trunks' hands. In one moment it was there. The next moment, it was triggered. "BUSTER FLARE!" A shockwave erupted from Trunks as the energy rammed itself into Goku. An enormous blinding ki flashed so bright, the entire side of the moon met a white daylight. It flew from Trunks' hands, ramming straight into Goku, enveloping him in smoke and red and yellow energy. The ki was a constant flow from Trunks as he poured every last ounce of his spirit into the attack. When Trunks was finished, his flight faltered for a moment, and he panted while putting his hands on his knees. His hair flickered for a moment, and then came to rest as a pale lavender.

When the dust cleared, Goku was still hovering in the same spot, arms crossed. A few scratches were etched into his face. Slight traces of blood were on his arms. But otherwise, the only thing that changed about him was the large smile on his face. Goku had sensed Trunks' attack would pack a solid punch, but it needed a lot of refinement. Goku's third ascension's ki alone blocked most of the blow. Goku didn't even need to raise his hands. But Trunks did his best.

"I'm proud of you, Trunks, but be glad I'm not the enemy, because you've just left yourself in an extremely weak state."

"I'm not done with you yet, Goku," Trunks panted, doubled over.

"Yes, you are. Now lets go back to the ship and get you a senzu bean." Goku reverted back to his normal form and began to fly toward the ship.

"Goku! You get back here!"

Goku continued to fly forward, but was met with a kick on his back, sending him down a hundred feet.

"Trunks, I don't want to fight anymore! Stop this."

"I have more than enough energy to take you on!"

"Trunks, I know you're frustrated. I knew you had a lot of energy to get out, but this is ridiculous. You're going to pass out from overworking your body."

A foot flew by Goku's face again, but he smacked Trunks's ribs in mid-blow, sending him flying with a sickening crack. A large crater formed where Trunks smacked into the ground head first. Debris flew up in a mushroom cloud. When it cleared, Trunks laid there, wheezing. Goku was angry with him. At this point, Trunks was only hurting himself. This had to stop right now.

"You asked for it, Trunks! You need to learn when to give up! Ka...me..."

Trunks sat up in bewilderment, his arms shaking from strain. Exhaustion flooded into him and he felt dizzy just trying to lift himself.

"Ha..." A blinding blue ball of ki formed in Goku's hands.

Trunks' eyes widened at Goku's act. Was Goku out of his mind! He tried to call out, but choked on his own blood. The world was tipping and turning shades of white.

"Me..." The ball grew in size and lit the whole sky above him.

"Go–" Trunks coughed, "G-Goku! Stop!"

The blue light dissipated and Goku paused for a moment in the air. He then flew down to where Trunks was struggling to breathe.

"You give up?" Goku crossed his arms nonchalantly, a small mischievous smile playing on his face.

"Ye... yes..."

"Say Piccolo!"

Trunks found it hard to even breathe. "Pic..." he struggled, "c-co...lahh..ahhhhh..." Trunks' eyes rolled back and his head fell to its side, where it lay still.

"Trunks?" There was no response. Goku tapped his face gently. "Trunks?" He heard soft struggled breaths from the demi-saiyan who was passed out cold. "Oh wow, Trunks, I didn't realize how hard I hit you. And I was trying to hold back, too. Poor guy, I'll get you back to the ship and get you fixed up in no time."

Goku took Trunks and hoisted him onto his back. He flew over to the ship as fast as he could and when he reached it, he set the injured demi-saiyan down on the grass. As he went inside, Giru popped out from inside the ship and hovered over Trunks' sleeping form.

"Trunks injured? Giru Giru."

Goku called out from inside the ship, "Don't disturb him, Giru! He needs to rest while I find those senzu beans." After a moment, he called out again, "Giru, what are you still doing here? Could you please go and find Pan? Go watch her until we arrive."

"Giru sensed danger outside. But danger is gone. Giru go to watch Pan, Giru Giru!" The little robot then took off toward the city, leaving the Capsule Corp. ship behind.

Goku hopped down from the ship, saw the robot was finally gone, and walked over to the demi-saiyan. He was lying still, in a cold sweat. "Hey Trunks? Wake up, Trunks." He shook Trunks slightly, but got no response.

"Trunks, I need you to swallow this for me." He placed the senzu bean in Trunks' mouth and waited for him to instinctively start chewing. A few seconds passed by in silence. He wasn't moving.

Goku felt a pang of guilt. He had gone a little too far with Trunks. He had purposely been toying with him so Trunks could perhaps reach a new level. He was so close today. It wouldn't take much to knock him over the edge. All he needed was the right motive. But Goku went too far trying to help him achieve it.

"For having so much ki, you sure don't hit very hard, Trunks. You need to work out more." Goku smiled at his sleeping form. "Go spar with Pan. She'd really enjoy it." He sat down next to Trunks, who still wasn't moving. He really was out cold. "Come on, Trunks, swallow it." He patted Trunks' face gently. "Trunks! Come on, wake up."

The older saiyan twitched and let out a small moan. Goku could see Trunks trying to chew the bean, but every time he tried to bite down, he groaned in pain.

"Hold on a moment." Goku climbed up to the ship for a moment, and returned with a glass of water. He held it out to a semi-conscious Trunks. "Drink this. It will help you swallow the bean."

As Goku held the water to Trunks' mouth, the demi-saiyan coughed a little while trying to swallow. After a hard effort, he managed to get the bean down, and lay his head back and waited for the senzu bean to work its effect.

"You had me worried there. Are you feeling better yet?"

Trunks coughed a little and turned his head to the side, expelling the rest of the blood he had in his lungs. After a moment, he slowly answered, "I... I think so." Several minutes passed with Trunks slowly regaining his strength.

"Goku..." Trunks' breathing began to become more regular, "what..." he coughed, "...what happened?"

"I guess the spar went a little overboard. I didn't mean to hit you so hard. Sorry."

Trunks slowly sat up and reached for the glass of water. He drank a few sips and closed his eyes. "Sorry, Goku. I just... I haven't been myself lately. I've had a lot on my mind."

"Don't worry. We'll be out of here tomorrow. Can you handle one more night of it?"

Trunks smiled weakly. "Yes, I can. How long has it been since we started sparring?" He looked around and noted how it was completely dark with only the rising planet light casting a ghostly green hue on the world.

"Not too long. Maybe half an hour. We should get back to Pan, though." Goku reached out his hand in order to help Trunks up.

Trunks took Goku's hand and stood on his feet, looking down on the young saiyan. "Goku..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry. I mean it. I didn't mean some of the things I said."

"Don't worry about it. I forgot what you said, anyway." Goku smiled warmly. There was no need to make Trunks feel worse by commenting on how one of his insults actually hit home. He looked over Trunks' tired form with disheveled hair and blood caked on his skin. "Hey, Trunks, you know... you look pretty battered. You should change into some decent clothes before we return. I'll change, too. Tonight is a special night, you know."

Trunks laughed softly. "Special for you, because you have the camera."

Goku beamed, "What better way to preserve memories?"

"I swear, Goku, I'm going to feed that camera to Giru, and then that'll be the end of the evidence."

They both laughed quietly. Trunks put an arm around Goku, "Thanks, Goku. I really needed that spar. I haven't had a good fight in a while."

"With a little more training, I'm quite positive I could teach you a few tricks that will help you survive against an enemy one day." Goku grinned toward him. "Hey, Trunks?"

"Yeah?"

"How about this? I can teach you the Kamehameha wave, and you can take Pan on a date."

Trunks sighed. Not this again. "First you ask me to rename my attack to 'Pan's Side-Kick,' and now you want me to take Pan on a date so I can learn the Kamehameha wave. I swear, Goku, what am I ever going to do with you. Next, you're going to want me to name our firstborn son after you." Trunks smiled warmly.

Goku laughed. "Your firstborn son named Goku? I'm sure Vegeta would love that."

Trunks internally shuddered at the thought, but retained a genuine smile on his face. "How about a mix of your names then? Let's see... Vegito is unoriginal. How about... Gogeta? That's a nice combination. I could name my son 'Gogeta.' How about that?"

"Gogeta, huh? It has a nice ring to it. I'll be sure to remember that in case your father and I do happen to fuse again. I like it."

Trunks thought for a moment, trying to picture a mini him running around with Vegeta's hair, but lavender, blue eyes, and Goku's silly grin. The thought didn't settle well in his stomach. But maybe the kid would look more like Goku's side of the family. Knowing how Goten looked just like his father, the look could potentially be carried on through Gohan's daughter's genes. Speaking of Goten...

"Oh yeah, and about the Kamehameha wave, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to decline." Trunks looked down and blushed a little bit.

Goku sat on the grass and watched Trunks. "What do you mean? I don't understand why you wouldn't want to learn. It's always nice to learn new techniques just in case."

"Oh no, it's not that. It's just that... well... it's a little embarrassing to say."

"Oh come on! You can't do that to me!" Goku grinned widely.

"Well..." Trunks ran a hand through his hair. "You see... Goten already taught it to me several years ago..."

"He did!"

"Yeah, but... but don't ever tell my father, okay?" Trunks suddenly had a pleading face, with eyes gone wide with worry. "It's just... he just wouldn't understand. He'd think that I'm shaming my family. I know he'd take it personally, and it would hurt his pride. I don't want him to feel that way."

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." Goku winked at Trunks, who was still bright red from blushing. "You should practice it sometime, though. I'd love to see you do it."

Goku looked at Trunks, who had once again reverted to his calm and reserved self. He remembered when Trunks was younger, he had quite a temper. His father had infused him with the thought that he should be treated as a royal prince, and he stopped at nothing to boss people around and let loose his fury if someone disobeyed him. It didn't help that he had a mother that spoiled him rotten on top of it. There were times when Goku, himself, could not fathom the thought of Trunks ever growing up to be a nice guy. However, when Bra was born and Trunks wasn't receiving all the attention anymore, everyone could see a noticeable change. He actually had to try harder to win affection, and in the process, learned to hold in a lot of his anger. Perhaps his job in Capsule Corp. also lead to his personality shift. He was forced to mature, to get over his stubbornness.

However, the internal brat was definitely not gone from Trunks. When he got angry, like these past few days, he exploded to an extreme. It was good that Goku could knock some sense into him. Trunks seriously could have had a tantrum back there, destroying their ability to be invited into the Temple to get the dragonball. It really was such a nice place, Goku wanted to do everything possible to avoid force. Especially when taking a holy relic. He, Trunks, and Pan would have an entire army to deal with if they took that road.

"Hey, Trunks?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell me what the Temple is like, when you get back from there. I'm curious."

"Assuming that Pan won't remember it, I'd be glad to." Trunks smiled warmly toward Goku. Then, something struck him. "Pan... she's still back there. Let's hurry up and get changed so we can get this over with."

Goku nodded in agreement, and they both entered the ship with Trunks leading. Trunks smiled to himself. Only one night of this and then it would all be over. They'd have the dragonball within the hour if everything went according to plan.

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–10/6/04–