Trunks knew how to pack and leave fast, but she wasn't sure she ever did it this fast. Capsule case in pocket, sword on her back, Bulma had knocked when she was dressing up after a little afternoon nap. The time traveler almost tripped on the way down the stairs because she didn't secure her boot's straps properly and was doing that while skipping on the stairs. The blue-haired woman waited for her by the open door, and the teenager barely stopped by her, she was ready to go right fucking now. Trunks may have had loose pants with men's pockets, but a bag was still better to collect the precious spheres, which is why Bulma put on the teenager's shoulder a thick beige messenger bag with some snacks and a large capsule case the other would notice later.
"Haven't forgotten any-?"
"Nothing important."
"Know the phr-"
"'Come forth, Shenron! And grant my wish.' There's seven, they're about this size, they're yellow with orange stars." She was worse than a child on Christmas day who hasn't been authorized to open her gifts, but who could blame her? Bulma put the Dragon Radar in her hand, but held said hand between hers so the teenager wouldn't instantly bolt.
"I'll want that ba-."
"I'll give it back. I'm off. And thank you."
With a kid's smile, she couldn't resist giving a quick peck on the cheek to the younger version of her mother, and took off without caring that she was in the middle of the city. She stopped mid way through, flew back to the GR, and caught Vegeta's attention with a brief salute. He spared her a look from the ship's window, and went back to his training. Dr Brief and Panchy waved her off from the balcony, and she returned the gesture before disappearing in the horizon.
Bulma promptly called the Son household to let them know what their time traveler guest was up to; Chichi would relay the message to Goku at dinner time when he and Gohan came back from training. The engineering genius was filled with nostalgia, remembering the day of her own departure during that summer holiday, and how her own mom had given her a bag and a bunch of capsules before she went on her adventure.
The Dragon Radar wasn't hard to manipulate, especially as her mother had given her hers (with instructions on how to use it) before she left. She wasn't going to tell this timeline's Bulma she already had a Dragon Radar in her possession. A few bips later, and Trunks could see directions, overall distances, and the soft flickering LED indicating the precious sphere locations. Combined with the topographical map integrated in her watch, she more or less planned a semi efficient route, and flew off as if she tried to set a world record for fastest person to collect the Dragon Balls.
Finding the precious wishing orbs wasn't exactly complicated; they'd just reactivated so people hadn't found them as pretty objects yet, it was a matter of where they'd landed. Trunks didn't expect nor find any tangible resistance from the terrain or nature. This wasn't the initiatory journey it had been for her mother, the circumstances were so different, and yet they had something in common. They were the same age for their first Dragon Ball hunt.
By dusk and with three of the precious spheres secured, the time traveler needed to take a break. Her sword had sliced through the roots of the rotten woods of some swamp, but she still needed to walk through the terrain to find the precious five-starred sphere deep in the stagnant black waters. Once back on firm land, she popped the capsule home to clean up and change into a warmer set of clothes with a windbreaker, and took a moment to snack as well. It was then she saw Bulma's large capsule case. While eating she opened it up to check what it was. First, a note: 'Put them to good use!' and a little drawing by Bulma of herself with victory fingers. Then the labels corresponding to each number, written by hand. A few different rides (including a little submarine-plane combo), a couple of houses, a disaster relief hospital, a solid amount of military rations, and most importantly, a dozen power generators. Trunks held back her tears at the kindness, it may have not been from her mother, but she could see the similar foresight and kind heart the two Bulmas shared. There was no way something so insignificant as sleep or night time would keep her far apart from her mother any longer.
The fifth ball was deep under a ton of sand. A whole lot of ki (and probably a decent shake on the planet's crust) later, she held the four-starred one, and she gave it a content smile, remembering from the stories her mother told her how important this one in particular was for Goku, and how Gohan wore it on his hat as a toddler. She checked the direction for the next one and started to fly when Gohan and Goku popped out of goddamn nowhere near her. Startled, she gasped and moved back in the air, then calmed down when she realized who it was. The both of them were still in their training gi for the day.
"Hey, whatcha doin?" Goku knew, and radar in one hand, ball in another, the answer was obvious, and the man was just about as jovial as she was for some reason.
"Flying around? Doing a little landscape?" Trunks laughed, putting her recent acquisition in her bag.
"Yeah figures, that's how I tracked you," Goku pointed at the crater underneath. "Chi told me Bulma told her ya'd be leaving after your wish?"
"Yes. I did all I could to change the course of history for the better for you, without either erasing myself out of existence nor deleting the universe." She started flying, slower than before, in the direction of the sixth ball, fully expecting the two to follow. They did after checking their presence was accepted.
"Tora-san, why don't you stay and train with us until they arrive?" Gohan had to ask, he sounded sad . She'd considered it on a practical level, of course, but the logistics of it would be too much of a pain to handle.
"The short answer is that I miss my mother, Gohan-san, and she only has me to protect her," she apologized. Gohan understood, he loved his mom too. The longer answer was that she didn't want to influence anyone's life any further, and she knew her presence affected Vegeta somehow, and she feared she may not be born because of it. Her parents should still find each other in their stubbornness and respective pride. With or without the impending threat, Vegeta trained to surpass Goku in her timeline after all.
Seeing the radar indicate proximity, she landed in rocky dusty terrain with the other two in tow. She zoomed in the radar and walked. "It should be around here somewhere.."
Gohan and Goku searched as well, the older saying it brought back so many memories. They turned a few of the bigger boulders. A few minutes in, Gohan caught the starlight bouncing off the precious ball hidden in a bush, making it shine from an angle he only could see. He quickly came back holding it up for the teenager, beaming. She took it and put it in the bag with a thankful smile. "Good eyes, Gohan-san."
The trio came together to look at the radar to find the last one. Trunks compared the radar with her watch, and looked ahead. Probably the mountain formation in the distance.
"Ya got six already?!" Goku was shocked the teen had been so quick. They took off in the direction of the missing wishing orb.
"Yes, the sooner I can leave, the sooner I can come back." Relatively speaking.
They traveled the few hundred kilometres separating them from the last ball, and Goku used the opportunity to probe for something that was itching.
"How was it with Vegeta? I felt you two spar a coupla times."
"Oh, no, we didn't spar. He tried to kill me." Trunks snickered, and zoomed on the radar to adjust her path. Gohan gasped at the worrying revelation, but the teen shook her head to show it was ok. "I learnt a lot," she admitted with a pleased smile. Not only she forced herself to maintain the transformation for hours, but she also saw some of his movements and tried on her own to replicate some stances and hits. It wasn't formal, teacher-student training, but she believed it was useful in the end, even if the man was beyond frustrating to be around.
"Do you think he will become a super Saiyan too?" Gohan was somewhat worried about the prospect. Trunks looked at the boy, then at his father, but his father was the one who answered.
"Of course he'll get there! I can't wait to face him again." And he said so with trembling enthusiasm.
"But dad, he wants to kill you.." Gohan wasn't happy with how excited his father was at the prospect.
"Then I gotta be stronger and keep training!"
Trunks observed and listened to the exchange with a certain attention. Her mother told her what she knew and what she understood of her close friend, but she wasn't a fighter nor a martial artist, so she couldn't explain to her daughter some fundamental aspects of his personality. Her Gohan rarely talked of his father.
"Stupid Saiyan genes," the teenager concluded with a smirk.
They landed by the mountains, and the radar indicated down, so down the snowy pine forest they went, and zoomed on the radar for a more precise location. Like they did for the previous ball, they separated and started looking, but the snow and absence of night light was a bother. The three eventually agreed to melt the snow by expanding their ki, and this time, it was Trunks who saw the flicker of light stuck between two branches. She flew up to grab it and exclaimed 'Found it!' to the other two so they didn't need to keep looking.
Summoning the dragon in the middle of the night had a certain ambiance to it. The middle of the forest wouldn't do, so they relocated further south to grassy plains instead. All balls were placed on the grass, and Trunks counted them, just in case. The orbs glowed in the dark, pulsing gently. The three Saiyans stepped away, Trunks putting back the Dragon Radar in the messenger bag. Goku asked if the teenager knew the phrase, and Trunks said it looking at the spheres with intense anticipation.
The stars disappeared and thunder roared, wind blew, and lighting struck the wishing orbs, out of which came out the giant, somewhat snake-like dragon.
The three watched in awe as Shenron's shape twisted out of the spheres. Goku because it was always an amazing experience and he never grew tired of it. Gohan because it was the first time he saw Earth's dragon. Trunks because it was a tangible chance at fixing her world for good. The eternal dragon's shape formed and its head looked down at the three creatures, whiskers waving, large pointy teeth, immense claws.
"I AM THE ETERNAL DRAGON, STATE YOUR WISH AND I SHALL GRANT IT." The dragon roared. Trunks was quick on her feet.
"Eternal Dragon! Two monsters plague my world, they've killed many. I wish you to revive all the good people that died because of those cyborgs!" Trunks and her mother had discussed the wishes Trunks could make if the opportunity came to gather the Dragon Balls. They both knew asking the dragon to kill the two androids wouldn't work. They also both knew that words mattered. Not everyone died because of the cyborgs; some were collateral casualties. The Sons stayed back, letting the teenager state the wish. The Dragon's eyes glowed red an instant, in silence.
"THAT IS BEYOND MY POWER." Trunks closed her fists in anger. Of course Wish A wouldn't work.
"Why?" Gohan asked, genuine interest and sadness in his voice.
"THAT UNIVERSE IS BEYOND MY REACH. STATE YOUR WISH."
And multiverse theory it is. Damn it. Wish B? Wish B to E were out too. Wish F?
Trunks quickly reached in her pockets for her capsule case to find an unlabeled capsule, which she pressed and dropped to the side. The Time Machine. She ran to it, and opened a clap underneath, to pull out something akin to a large cylinder containing some sort of liquid, a little over half full. She held it to the Dragon.
"I wish for this machine to never run out of fuel!"
"THAT IS BEYOND MY POWER. THAT UNIVERSE IS BEYOND MY REACH. HURRY AND STATE YOUR WISH."
Trunks lowered her arm, and glanced at the other two. The almighty dragon wasn't omnipotent after all. Wish G.
"There's a plant in this world that grows Senzu beans. I wish for a sprout that will not wither and that can grow in my world." The plant had died a while ago in her world; it was something Gohan had lamented when he lost his arm.
"A SIMPLE MATTER."
The Dragon's eyes glowed again. A tiny sprout appeared floating in front of Trunks. She reached with her left hand to take it and observe it. A couple of leaves and some roots.
"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED. FAREWELL."
The Dragon rose with the Dragon Balls in the air, and dispersed with thunder. The skies cleared, revealing the night stars once more.