"How did'ya know I'd arrive here?" Goku was curious as he landed close to his friends, sporting the Yardrite outfit he'd been given before his trip. Gohan didn't contain his excitement and jumped to his arms to hug him tight. He kept quiet while the adults talked, and Goku rubbed his hair to let his son he'd missed him as well.
"This kid told us," Bulma had a head tilt to indicate Trunks who stood near her. Their previous 'altercation' had been forgiven. "You don't know him? We thought you'd met in space or something, Son-kun."
Goku looked up and down the teenager, then shook his head no. "I mean Freeza discovered my ship and my destination, so he rushed over- by the way, who dealt with him and that other guy? Was pretty powerful, I felt it! Piccolo? Vegeta?"
Vegeta growled in displeasure, Kakarot had just arrived and he was already getting on his nerves by pointing out his weakness. Piccolo denied as well. "This kid did it, as a super Saiyan as well."
Goku let out a gasp, and he put down Gohan. "A super Saiyan? Really? Didn't know there were others left! Really?" Trunks felt somehow uncomfortable with the sheer excitement the man irradiated, she tensed as Goku approached her to have a closer look, and tried to keep cool when the other looked at her like she was some sort of exciting toy. "You're that strong? That's amazing! And you're so young too, ooh! Really?"
Vegeta snarled. "It's a lie, there's no other Saiyan left but you and me, and this brat doesn't even have black hair."
"But he did transform," Gohan protested Vegeta's observation once more. Goku let the whole ordeal roll off his back. "Eh who cares 'bout hair, he's a super Saiyan, that's so cool. And I gotta thank you for that then," Goku said and gave Trunks a firm pat on the shoulder which only made her acknowledge the gratitude with a stiff nod. History's greatest hero just acknowledged her and was way too close. She recognized elements of Gohan's face on the man, as well as his height. The wild Son mane was almost surreal.
"Geez Son-kun, so carefree."
"Son-san, if you don't mind, I would like.." Trunks eventually said while pointing elsewhere, matching his eyes a moment to show she meant business. Goku put on a serious face, and agreed. Trunks leaped on the other side of the crater created by the landing pod, figuring it was far enough, and Goku followed after saying it'd be a minute when the others protested about not being able to listen.
When Goku landed in front of her, he spoke first.
"Really thanks for that. I sorta should'va finished the job on Namek, bad call on my end," he scratched the ground with his foot.
"It's nothing, they arrived earlier than expected, so I more or less took your place. You would have won easily," Trunks smiled, a mask to hide how problematic Plan A's demise had been in her mind, but no use crying over it now.
"I din' catch your name by the way?"
"I haven't disclosed that information, I will explain the reason, but first- Tell me, Son-san, are you able to summon the super Saiyan transformation at will?"
"Yup! Took me a while to get a hang of it, but now I can." Goku grinned with confidence.
"Would you do me a favor and show me?" Seeing the other hesitate at the request with a serious face, Trunks insisted, "Please."
Goku accepted the request, closed his fists, tensed his muscles and with a low ossu, the power enveloped him, the gold settled on his hair, the green on his eyes, and she could taste his power up close. Trunks looked at this new Goku with mixed emotions; awe, because the man was truly something, nostalgia because she saw Gohan through his father, Gohan who had died over three years prior from her point of view, sorrow, as soon a simple thing as a virus would strike this man down.
"Is this what you expected?" Goku asked as he saw the other observing him, and Trunks acquiesced, closing her own fists slowly.
"It's uncanny how similar.." how similar he is to Gohan. Trunks didn't finish the trembling sentence, and instead summoned her own power with a frown at the painful memories the transformation needed.
"We really do look alike," Goku remarked with a surprised expression. "That's neat!"
Trunks whispered an apology, and the next instant her sword was in front of Goku's face, who didn't even move an inch.
"Why didn't you move?" Trunks looked straight at the older man, baffled.
"Knew you'd stop," came the matter-of-fact answer. Trunks let her sword down, then pulled it back behind her with a smile.
"Alright, I won't stop next then," The nerves of steel of this man. Goku charged his energy in his hand, ready to show what he was capable of, excited to test himself against another super Saiyan.
The others saw Goku transforming, then Trunks, and then Trunks suddenly attacked their friend.
"What the hell? Wait, why's he attacking Goku all of the sudden?" Yamcha frowned.
"It's a spar," Gohan added. He knew that's why Trunks had asked to talk to Goku far off. He wasn't worried, the teen seemed nice, and he pinky promised. Piccolo confirmed his pupil's words and narrowed his eyes on the exchange. He could hear them, but now he was interested in seeing how far ahead Goku truly was.
Vegeta now had a proper display of the super Saiyan power, so he was attentive as well. No wonder he was able to defeat Freeza on Namek. He fully ignored the other's comments about how indeed, the kid wasn't lying, and was a super Saiyan, which implied being Saiyan. Vegeta still didn't believe it, even despite the evidence, because this kid's eyes had no pride.
They all observed the short spar, Trunks trying to slice off Goku, and Goku deviating, blocking or controlling every hit with only one hand. He even stopped the blade between his index and thumb, and held still while Trunks hovered, aura flaming.
The teenager jumped back and sheathed her sword. She closed her eyes a moment to force the transformation to fade. Her instinct craved more, but this was neither the time nor the place.
"You are truly amazing, Son-san."
"I know you weren't really trying," Goku retorted while he let his own aura fade away.
"Thank you for humoring me. I now understand why your absence was such a strain... Vegeta-san is right, there aren't any Saiyans other than yourself, him, and Gohan-san, that I know of." Trunks explained and spared a glance in the group's direction. "If I am what I am, it is because he is my father."
Goku stared wide-eyed at the revelation. "Vegeta's a daddy? Wait, how old-?"
Trunks shook her head softly and put her hands in her pockets. "Or rather, he will be. I am not from this era, I arrived here abroad a Time Machine. From this day onward, I should be born in a little over two years. It may seem unbelievable but that is simply the truth."
Goku, lost at the implications, tried to rephrase and see if he got everything. "So, you're Vegeta's lil' baby, but that baby doesn't exist yet, cuz you're from the future…?"
Vegeta's lil baby, Trunks' soul left her body at the rephrasing considering what she witnessed of her father over the last three hours and what little information she had obtained from Gohan and Bulma in her own world. Goku had a way with words, and he expected her to confirm whether he understood correctly. She nodded to approve of the information, even if the wording was dicey. "Yes, that is correct. It is the reason I cannot disclose my name. My identity- my existence in this dimension is at stake. Please address me as Tora from now on, and please keep my heritage a secret, else I may not exist. I came to warn you- all of you, about the threat that has been spreading in my world, but this is best shared with everyone."
Goku agreed to keep the secret, and they came back to the team, who looked at them with a whole lot of questions and waited for the Saiyan duo to give an explanation.
Trunks had rehearsed the conversation a thousand times, memorized every piece of information her mother could cram into her.
"I would first like to apologize for my secrecy, but it is a necessity, and now that Son Goku-san is here and I've seen him for myself, I can explain. Please address me as Tora- with the tiger symbol. It's an honor to make your acquaintance," she added, bowing slightly her head to the group.
"My presence in this dimension is an unbelievable prowess," she started, crossing her arms. She closed her eyes a moment, remembering what she needed to say, and reopened them with a look of hard determination and no smile. "I come from a world that has succumbed to despair, death and blood. Desolate cities, bodies left to rot in the streets, civilians living in fear, armed militias claiming territories for their own survival, anarchy and crime rampant… all due to two unstoppable sadistic monsters. Vegeta-san, Yamcha-san, Krillin-san, Piccolo-san, Tenshinhan-san, Chaozu-san," She stated every name by looking at each individual. "In three years time, you die at their hands. And with Piccolo-san's death, the Dragon Balls disappear." Color drained from Yamcha's and Krillin's face first, Gohan realized why the teenager had a strange tone when they'd first spoken, and now understood: Trunks had actually learnt about them from history books. No wonder his hands were shaking, he was talking about dead people. "And Son Gohan-san, son of Son-Goku-san and Chichi-san, met a similar fate later." When she mentioned Gohan's name, her voice betrayed a little more sorrow. "That is the future as it was written for Earth- it is my world, and that is what I came here to change with a Time Machine."
The instant she took a moment to breathe, complaints and questions came flying. She lifted a hand to request silence to continue. "Son Goku-san here will die prior to these events, in about two years time he shall fall ill to a recently discovered deadly heart virus which will claim his life. As you know, the Dragon Balls do no work to bring back those who died of natural causes. My first mission is to prevent this untimely and dishonorable death." She reached into her jacket's front pocket, took out a small vial, and put it in Goku's hand. "The cure was found in my world long after your passing, Son-san, so please take it when the first symptoms appear. I have also sent the genome as well as a dose of this cure to several laboratories. Just in case." Goku looked at the little glass-like vial with a beaming face- he'd get to face these powerful foes, after all!
"So what are these monsters? Aliens?" Krillin asked, hastily. The news of his death, a permanent one, worried him. Trunks looked at him, perhaps a little too harshly, and he gulped and apologized for the interruption.
"These soulless killers are man-made creations, artificial humans designed by a scientist part of the Red Ribbon Army. The scientist survived Son-san's destruction of the Army and sought- or rather is currently seeking revenge. The cyborgs promptly disposed of him once activated. Whenever I found them, I faced them and only survived because they found me entertaining. They're just too strong! They never tire, never sleep!" She exclaimed with rage, fists closed tight, then breathed in and out to calm down. "May twelfth, 767, an island about ten kilometres southwest of South City, at ten in the morning… is the first documented carnage."
A pin could drop in a mile radius and it'd be heard. Goku held the cure firmly in his hand, and looked at the others. "Gotta train hard for three years then," he said, excited for the challenge.
"Wait wait- hear me out. I've got a better idea that will save us the trouble." Bulma clapped her hands. "So we gather the Dragon Balls, ask Shenron who this scientist is, have a talk with him, and save ourselves the trouble!" Krillin and Yamcha lit up from their gloom expression, agreeing with the idea. Trunks looked at the past version of her mother with kind eyes and felt sorry for the poor young woman, it was a good idea in theory.. A good Plan A.
"You do that and I'll kill you, woman! I, Prince Vegeta, will not take the coward's approach to this challenge, I will survive, kill these washing machines, and then I'll kill you, Kakarot!" Vegeta, further back, was the reality that shattered that plan, he cut her off holding his fist firm in front of him, determined and unwilling to concede to such tactics.
Bulma protested at the stupidity, but Goku stopped her. He, too, wanted to fight, and so did Tenshinhan and Piccolo. Krillin approached Bulma so he could talk to her without Vegeta listening; Trunks heard the monk explain that a common enemy turned them all into friends over the years, and without the threat, Vegeta might be a problem. The Capsule Corp heiress looked back at Trunks with a defeated expression.
"These guys will be the death of our planet, but fine, I don't have a choice, do I.." she lamented. Trunks sympathized, but she believed with Goku there, it would make enough of a difference, and getting Vegeta in their team was something necessary for her existence. Vegeta flew off immediately, he needed to ask the Brief patriarch to up the gravity of his training facility and he had the time and date, so there was no reason to stay any longer. Tenshinhan and Chaozu did the same, but they at least spoke their farewells.
"And what now, Tora-san?" Gohan wasn't too happy either about his dad and his friends risking the destruction Trunks had described for a good challenge, but a child had no voice in the matter.
"Actually I have another mission to accomplish. Then I intend to go back to my era, to confirm whether my intervention here changed my world or not."
"To confirm multiverse theory?" Bulma asked. Suddenly the physics implications of the existence of this kid distracted her from the grim future that was described to her. Civilians in harm's way be damned, this is far more important.
"The data will be valuable for my mother's research, I don't really understand the theory of it all. Too abstract," she wanted to avoid more questions from Bulma about the whole time travel situation, truth was she only knew how the machine worked on a practical sense, to repair it if needed. Why it worked was a whole other skillset out of her reach. Way too many equations. "Regardless of what happens, if I survive the time it takes for her to gather the fuel for the Time Machine, I will come back in three years to help you." Trunks' mind had a hard time managing to separate the two Bulmas; one was her mother, this one was not. Talking to one about the other was a disturbing exercise.
"What is your other mission, Tora?" Piccolo asked with a frown. Such an intervention didn't sit well with the Namekian.
"I have a wish to make to Shenron."
Alright, writing Goku in English is extra hard, because his OG speech pattern is very rural/country (and French and Spanish, which are my native languages, lost that in translation). So I tried to recreate the feel, without using AAVE.
By opposition, OG Trunks also uses more formal and metaphorical speech (at least in his private talk with Goku; the expression keeping a secret he uses is "locking in one's heart").