Reminder one Saiyan year is 20 earthling lunar months, while one earthling year has 13 lunar months. Basically, whenever you see Saiyan years, multiply by 20 and divide by 13 to get earthling years ;)
The second year in the Room of Spirit and Time was very different from the first. On the plus side, Vegeta didn't have to worry about keeping tabs on whatever stupid predicaments plagued his heir's mind and could train at his own pace. On the downside, he had to cook for himself, which was a waste of precious time but something he could manage, but most importantly, he had a hard time calling it quits to eat or sleep. Vegeta knew he was the obsessive kind, and without the wench or his future spawn to force him out of it, the task was so much harder; his own pace was a double-edged sword. Despite his ability to train alone, it took him a few months to realize his progress wasn't as good as it had been with the brat, and the Prince reluctantly had to recognize training with a partner of similar strength was the wiser choice. He regretted antagonizing his spawn, if only for that sole drawback.
Vegeta wasn't the kind to doubt for long, nor was he the kind to live in the past, despite what others might think when it came to his pride in his title and elite status. The regrets didn't last past the initial observation. He would make the best out of the circumstances he created for himself, and he knew he wouldn't have acted any differently if he could have a redo.
The universe was cruel like that. First, entrusting the mission to kill Freeza to Kakarot, then finding out he'd failed, only for this brat to dispose of the tyrant and Cold like worthless flies. Self-loathing is what had pushed Vegeta to the breaking point, how he obtained super Saiyan. Rage against his own failures, shortcomings, in the face of third-class scum and a half-breed abomination. An abomination who dismissed the glory of having avenged the entire Saiyan race by whispering 'I killed him in your name' to him during their first encounter. This only fully confirmed that the brat was his child from the future. No pride, no honor, just an empty shell of a Saiyan, fighting and surviving by sheer spite.
Perhaps Vegeta hadn't been raised in a world dominated by terror and invincible enemies, but being Freeza's hostage and then his soldier for the better part of his twenty-ish years alive.. was somewhat comparable. To survive, Vegeta clinged to his pride and titles, and the deep desire to taste the sweet nectar of vengeance, one day. Of course, he hadn't been able to achieve that goal, at least not directly. Was the brat's goal to get rid of the washing machines fueled by vengeance as well? Vegeta doubted it, but he knew that at eleven, he was, too, an empty shell of a Saiyan. He had Raditz and Nappa, but Trunks? Trunks had no Saiyan to learn pride from. The situation had been dire enough that the wench invented a goddamn Time Machine to send their spawn to the past. The future version of the wench, who had been his future self's mate, mourning his loss for over ten years, did the impossible. Just how strong was she?
And that all implied he'd find a mate in the whole ordeal. When he first realized the brat was his and the woman's, he loathed it and decided against actually going along with all of that. Eventually he started to notice the wench's unique strengths, and before he knew it, he had gone along with what he saw as fate once his goal of achieving super Saiyan was met. Sure he had bedded the woman prior, but mating was something else. If he was to die to the washing machines liks his future self had, he'd leave a seed to grow and get rightful vengeance, and repeat the cycle. Just in case. Vegeta only wondered how and why his alternate self had decided to mate, without having known about the Cyborgs. That question would never be answered, alas. The blue-haired vixen ended up being a great choice of a mate; Vegeta trusted her, despite her screeching, her unbearable presence, she was alluring, beautiful even, incredibly resourceful, intelligent, and she understood him better than anyone else. While the first year without her was only bearable because the brat shared similar trust-worthy qualities, which allowed Vegeta to push himself beyond his limits, the second year was much, much harder without either of them. He had missed 'Bulma fucking Brief', flaws and all.
The brat had admirable qualities, the wench did well in his absence, despite seeing some of the worst weaknesses in a fighter. Doubts, worries, empathy, submission. They mostly didn't get in the way of the brat's raw talents and resourcefulness. Mostly. Which is why the moment the insufferable spawn confronted him after his loss to the blonde bitch, that kid became his heir.
Still, he underestimated his enemies, high on confidence of newfound power. Twice. That had been a hard blow. Both times, the brat had jumped to his rescue, so to speak, and that had been even harder to wrap his mind around. The second time, his heir had at least properly waited until his defeat was clear before fighting Cell, after being taught a lesson about Saiyan warrior pride and interfering in someone's fight. Vegeta fought alone and not dying in combat had peeved him. The humiliation had been hard to deal with, as valuing life over one's honor was the coward's (and the Truffles') way. The bald short weakling woke him with one of those beans away from battle, and flew off. The brat was fighting Cell, power surging. Vegeta stayed away. He knew he would be a distraction, he had felt Trunks' hatred when the blast connected. He still did not understand why the brat even intervened, after all, 'Trunks' had been born already, so why care about his survival now? Earthlings had such strange inhibitions. For Saiyans, killing someone they didn't like was the natural order of things.
By the end of the year in the Room of Spirit and Time, and unwilling to underestimate his enemies a third time, Vegeta wasn't as certain he'd grown strong enough to make Cell pay. 'Pride is worthless to the dead, and to those they leave behind!', the brat had told him when they shared a bath. Perhaps there was some truth in those words; pride had carried him so far, but the path simply wasn't as fruitful as Kakarot's or even the brat's. Their power gaps had been proof that they had something he didn't. Trunks had more raw talent and power despite not being able to access it willingly, while Kakarot got infuriatingly a step ahead, again.
Vegeta had hoped to use their second year in the Room of Spirit and Time together to grow stronger and make Cell pay for the mistake of letting them both live, but the brat had renounced the kinship. The Prince hadn't, even when Trunks tried to kill him to go and destroy Cell before it absorbed its missing Cyborg. Even when he had attacked first, Trunks was still his heir. Whether the brat liked it or not.
Perhaps there was salvation for Trunks' weaknesses, though; there was no submission when refusing to train with him for the second time. The brat, who had been waiting for him, matched his aggressive aura the moment Vegeta tried to be commanding, both of them disregarding the Namekians on the platform (Vegeta couldn't care less about why the kid-Namekian was there). His heir got assertive and refused to be intimidated, not even by himself, and Vegeta was proud. Of someone else.
The Prince stood firmly in front of his heir, still trying to intimidate, but Trunks stayed relaxed, confident, still unwilling to submit. Had the kid learnt Saiyan pride in the little time spent in there with the Namekian and the three-eyed weakling? There was more to it, Vegeta was certain of it. He scrutinized those ice eyes for a moment, reading whether the fortress was still there, appreciating the lack of chains, then he broke eye-contact and walked past.
"Let's go," the Prince ordered, and flew off.
Trunks couldn't read Vegeta's emotions at all, but she was happy he didn't fight her there and then. The inevitable was only delayed, most certainly, but she was happy to follow him wherever after giving a polite nod to say goodbye to Dende and Piccolo.
She followed him, he wasn't at full speed, if anything he was even a little on the slow side, so she caught up quickly and flew by his right side. Trunks noted they were going towards West City, and the closer they got, the stranger Vegeta's ki felt. It took a long time for Trunks to realize what she was feeling was hesitation. Vegeta looked ahead, but Trunks was sure something was up. She glanced his way a couple of times, trying to get his eyes, with a questioning look, and only a little twitch assured her he'd seen her silent communication. She wasn't about to press him for answers against his will, but the 'I see something is on your mind, I am at your disposal' olive branch was extended. It took more than a few minutes of uncomfortable silence for Vegeta to accept the proverbial branch.
"You said there's an Earthling way to apologize. Tell me how."
".. Oh you did some serious soul searching in there?" Trunks had to test, and held back a smile when the Prince threw her a dark, dangerous look. "Well the usual way would be flowers, some sweets and a romantic dinner to be able to tell her 'I'm sorry', but most of everything is closed." The idea of Vegeta serenading Bulma for forgiveness in one of those restaurants she heard about was far too funny to not keep in mind.
Vegeta grunted his disapproval of the ordeal, and at the answer as a whole. Whatever all of that was sounded like a hassle, but Trunks took pity and couldn't help a kinder smile. She had been the one to tell him he needed to apologize about the whole 'not saving Bulma and the baby from Dr Gero's attack' ordeal, after all.
"What do you need to apologize for?"
"Don't twist the knife, brat," Vegeta hissed. "You know damn well what I mean."
"There's no knife twisting, the answer is necessary. You need to acknowledge how you wronged Bulma-san, take responsibility for the mistake, and only then ask how you can make it right if the initial gift isn't enough. Strawberries and roses are her favorite."
Vegeta glanced back, something hadn't really clicked and there was clearly some misunderstanding, but he kept silent about it. It wasn't exactly what he wanted, but at least he got answers. He looked ahead and picked up speed, which Trunks matched easily.
"You and I will spar in the Gravity Room this evening," he simply announced.
Trunks acknowledged, and appreciated the use of 'spar' rather than 'fight'. Regardless, she was lucid enough to know the Prince was frustrated by a year of training alone: that spar was going to be brutal.
That same afternoon, while Bulma worked and Vegeta showered, ate properly cooked food, and changed, Trunks called the Son household, to properly thank Chichi for her hospitality the previous night and to apologize for leaving without manners. Chichi's pregnancy wasn't mentioned, but considering the panic-like situation of the world, now the army was obliterated, Trunks got Panchy's approval to send some more groceries to Mount Paozu through a drone.
She then called Kame-House to see if they needed something similar, but Krillin said they had it all under control. Yamcha was over, but not Tenshinhan and Chaozu, they had moved back to the mountains in order to prepare. Krillin sort-of roasted her about the whole 'Golden Defender of Central City' thing, and Trunks loathed the attention. She also apologized and agreed Sixteen was indeed 'not that bad', and told Krillin he could probably come and visit him if he wanted, if he called Bulma to arrange that at some point after she was done with the repairs. Krillin accepted the idea even if calling Bulma intimidated him.
Finally she called Mika and asked whether he could fit her sometime in the following days. She'd been wearing the fabric binders a little looser under her yellow hoodie, but she needed to be properly fitted again. Mika told her to come whenever at breakfast time. Trunks agreed not for the next day, but for the day after. Panchy told her she was 'silly for asking' and she could take whatever, when she asked whether she could pick some fruit from the greenhouse to bring to someone.
Before dinner, she worked with Dr Brief, or rather, asked him to explain to her the basics of space travel, and gave him the coordinates to New Namek. It took the Capsule Corp founder less than an hour to calculate all trajectories necessary, even creating a simulation in which Trunks could just enter the current date to know where the planet was at any given time. Dr Brief was shown the astrolabe, and found it fascinating, and told Trunks to adjust the equations once back home. Or get Future Bulma to do it, as the astrolabe was more accurate than his model. Trunks knew nothing about space ships, but Dr Brief stated that with 'the current technology', it would take between a month and six weeks to reach the destination, depending on 'when' the ship departed. The time traveler copied the data over to her computer, and took a moment to copy everything from her computer to a backup disk just in case. She hugged her would-be grandfather for a short instant as a way of thanks, even if he didn't seem to understand why, he'd 'barely done anything'. It wasn't the immediate actionable thing considering the future didn't have the infrastructure to make a spaceship, but it gave her hope to go beyond just saving her world from the menace. It was a matter of time.
After dinner, Trunks changed back into her reinforced binder, a gray tank top and loose pants to face Vegeta as he'd requested. He hadn't changed out of his armor after his stay in the Room of Spirit and Time, and there was a sense of familiarity in this face off. They didn't waste time to get to the meat of it all.
"Come on brat, I know you could have killed me but didn't," Vegeta spat between blows, and Trunks' golden aura flared at the memory of the betrayal he brought up. She did try to kill him, she just didn't know how to properly blast at the time, which is what saved Vegeta. Not that she'd let him know that. She wasn't ready to forgive him, but she was willing to put her grudge on the backburner.
"Or what, did you return to the comfort of your chains?" Vegeta added. He was doing everything he could to push her buttons, and Trunks knew it, and while she remained in control, she didn't hold back to punish him. He wasn't on the top of the list anymore, but that didn't mean she couldn't get satisfaction from beating him senseless. Or at least give it her best try, as Vegeta's technique and combat sense were still better than hers.
She threw a mean punch to Vegeta's jaw, but he managed to deviate enough to retaliate. She had learnt enough with her drills with Piccolo and Tenshinhan to actually do something other than soak. Vegeta looked surprised at the sudden leap of technique improvement as she dodged his counter, basically spinning around along his extended arm, and used the momentum to hit him hard enough to the side of the face with the back of her fist to send him out of range, ears ringing. She had even put some ki in her hand to make sure to hit hard. "Less talking," she warned afterwards with a guttural growl.
It was enough to prove she hadn't returned to 'the chains', as he had put it, and Vegeta built up more power to fight seriously, and silently. He was shy of matching her speed, too, which made him even more dangerous considering his advanced tactics and ability to anticipate her movements better than she could anticipate his. Trunks had improved enough in her weakest points to be at least a decent match, and oddly enough, she was still more resilient. The computer system tried to keep up with measuring what they could of the two super Saiyans while they ruthlessly went against one another at 300G.
She had expected it to be brutal, and it blew past her expectations. And past the Gravity Room's central computer.
The spaceship itself didn't explode on the pair, but everything else broke down in a cascade effect. The gravity suddenly stopped working, everything melting and overheating, quivering dangerously. The system had resisted for a couple of hours when they pushed super Saiyan, but it was too much. The structure eventually gave up on them with flair.
She forced the door open to get out and assess the damage, standing in the grass, speechless, while Vegeta grunted about the useless piece of tech that wasn't robust enough for a simple workout. She had been able to let her power flow freely without damaging anything, they both did so actually, but that evening, it had been easy to break it, and that only gave her a proper understanding of how much stronger she was compared to when she last used it. Vegeta had trained in the Gravity Room on his own after their stay in the Room of Spirit and Time. No, her power wasn't that superior to Vegeta's, he just hadn't gone all out in the GR, at least she didn't remember feeling his energy being as high as when he fought Cell. It broke because there were two super Saiyan powerhouses, and not just one, which must have been too much for the system to keep up with. Perhaps. Her sense of scale was completely broken, she was now certain of it.
The two Saiyans, barely worn down apart from a few light bruises, were scolded to oblivion by Bulma who 'already had enough work as is' and was quite displeased by these two 'doing everything in their power to make her life miserable'. Trunks just took it silently even if her eyes never left the structural damage made on the spaceship, her mind wondered about why and how it broke. Vegeta, on the other hand, stared at the blue-haired genius for a moment, and mid-scold, he decided he had enough and walked out, going back into the house to talk to Dr Brief. Bulma tried to stop him, but Trunks didn't see any of it, she was too busy observing the destruction.
A grab at her ear brought her back to an annoyed Bulma. "Are you even listening, Trunks?"
"No, not really," she admitted a little too easily, taking yet again the hand that had invaded her personal space and slowly pulling it away.
"What the hell is that reply? Don't let that jackass' rudeness rub on you." Bulma was seething by the sudden and unexpected disrespect.
"Bulma-san, Mother scolds me often enough for me to know it's more about 'her venting' than about 'me listening'. I stopped paying attention when I was ten." The tone and eyes were softer than when she rejected Bulma's motherly tones before, she made an effort to curb her aggressiveness and frustration due to the fight having been interrupted.
"Hey, don't be a smartass," Bulma grumbled, then gave a 'punishing' little flicker on Trunks' forehead with her left hand, since Trunks wasn't letting go of her right one.
"No, smartass me would be telling you something along the lines of: this is a blessing in disguise. A challenge to build something that would resist my and Vegeta-san's new power." Bulma's right eye twitched. Trunks knew she had her, so she went in even a little further, properly facing her with a telling smile. "What, are your skills not good enough for this challenge? We had barely warmed up, Bulma-san," she complained with a clearly fake whine.
Bulma humphed and grumbled, and Trunks released the hold on her hand with a smug smile. Vegeta would have been far more insulting, demanding and insufferable about the tech not keeping up with his royal highness, and considering he'd gone inside, the engineer was certain he was giving that exact speech to her father.
"Don't you dare use your experience of me against me like that again, young man," she stuck out her tongue, then gave a friendly pat on her would-be son's shoulder with her newly released hand. "Fine, I get it, but you better watch your back because I'll make you pay," she threatened with little conviction, which made Trunks chuckle.
"For what it's worth, I truly am sorry and I will take over caring for Trunks to lighten your load," she offered, but Bulma waved off and went back inside to finish her evening work and call it a night.
Over the following days, Vegeta was far more bearable than Trunks had anticipated, even if there was no real peace, he oddly spent more time in casual clothes than in his skin-tight blue suit and armor. And yet a detail didn't escape her: he still wore gloves, or at the very least, mitts. He still didn't eat with the Briefs, but he was more willing to be in the same room, only leaving when more than two people were in his presence. Trunks spotted him with Bulma and the baby on a couple of occasions as she was passing by either the living-room or the dining room; he looked irritated and nowhere near anything anyone would qualify as 'affectionate', but he was present in the same room as them. They were crumbs, but Trunks appreciated the minimal effort for what it was. Effort. Unfortunately, as soon as the baby tried to get his attention, or Bulma tried to get him to engage with her or with the baby ("look at Papa!" she'd say, and the baby tried to repeat and reach), the Prince was out of there. Bulma didn't look disappointed, however, and a wink directed at the alternate version of her son made Trunks realize she did it all on purpose.
Trunks kept her promise to take over her alternate self whenever he hadn't decided someone else was on baby-duty, napped with him in her (locked) bedroom when her chest demanded freedom, played the piano in the wee hours of the morning (unbeknownst to her, much to Bulma's delight), and slowly counted the hours. She found Vegeta wandering around the kitchen at night, and she shared coffee with him in silence, staying afar, in the dark, hidden in her pajamas, while he wore shorts and nothing else. Neither spoke, and neither was aggressive, but Trunks felt something was off. She didn't care to ask, however.
In the early afternoon of May 25th, each doing their own thing, Vegeta and Trunks perked up as enormous energies caught their senses. Trunks recognized one ki she was the most familiar with; Gohan's, while the other was undoubtedly Goku's, as she remembered his display in front of Korin. Out of the three days rest, three days training, and three days rest the Sons had planned, this was the first day of training. Vegeta walked from the dining area to the menagerie to find Trunks and dragged her to spar on the opposite side of the planet not a minute later, peeved by the display of power and displeased at the lack of a backup Gravity Room. Trunks' sense of scale was still off, and they were so far away she couldn't judge just how strong the pair truly was, but her blood wanted in. However, not having Senzu bread to recover, considering going against Cell injured or drained was a terrible idea, neither of them truly went all out. Vegeta won out of sheer spite and anger, he just wanted to win more than she did, but it wasn't an easy win. She went back to Capsule Corp to focus on the baby and on the menagerie when he went his own way. Trunks realized she really didn't resent her would-be father anymore for his betrayal, she just felt empty, as if Vegeta was just a shell, an empty doll, a placeholder. She realized as he flew away to let his energy explode on his own that she just didn't care anymore, and decided it was something positive, as it meant she could accept she was, and had always been, fatherless.
The population's panic settled down when the previous Tenkaichi winner, a certain Hercule Satan, claimed he'd participate in the Cell games and defeat the monster for the sake of the world (and of his fans). Trunks was eating an early breakfast with Syowa and Mika, before getting fitted, when the champion made his announcement on May 26th.
The time traveler looked in disbelief for a moment, staring through the screen as if the TV could give her answers. Ignoring all table manners, she used the remote to turn on the volume, as the news repeated his speech about not letting a monster take over people's happiness, and as 'the strongest man under the heavens', he would ensure everyone's safety.
"Can that be replayed? I need to hear it again." Trunks asked, having completely missed Syowa's attempt at getting her attention. The girl took the remote from her and rewinded, and Trunks closed her eyes to focus on the voice.
"Something's the matter, Tora-kun?" Mika attempted once there was a break in the speech.
"I know this man," Trunks whispered a realization. "Or at least I know his voice. I think."
"Well he's the winner of the latest Martial Arts Tournament after all. When the whole arena was destroyed a few years ago, it had to be rebuilt, and its reopening was the most anticipated event of the year." Mika added, he'd heard Mr Satan's adverts on the radio and seen him on TV a few times, but Trunks hadn't. She knew him from another world.
"There was one.. recently?" A week before the Cyborgs appeared! With Goku recently deceased in her world, no one had the heart to participate. Gohan had mentioned in passing that he had considered going as the prize money would have helped Chichi, but there was a Junior Division and he wouldn't have been allowed to compete with the adults; the prize for the Junior Division was not worth it. She guessed they were too busy in this world to participate.
"Yup, May 7th," Syowa noted, considering it was at the beginning of the month, then used the remote to find videos of the finals and show Trunks the highlights of the finals. Both finals.
"And that's the junior division champion."
Trunks stared at the girl who looked under ten, the black long hair in a braid, the blue eyes, the small frame, the loose white tunic, the mitts. If she didn't recognize her physically, she did recognize her voice and her eyes. And her spirit.
"Videl Satan, his daughter," Mika added. "I don't follow Martial Arts much, but she's pretty good for a kid." Trunks knew the girl, or at least an older version of her, but she didn't know her name.
"You think Mr Satan could beat Cell, dad?"
"I don't know, he won the Tournament, but Cell destroyed the entire army. " Mika looked back at Trunks, trying to get her opinion as she finished her piece of fruit, eyes glued on the now silent screen.
"Tora-kun?" Syowa had to nudge the older teenager to force her to snap out of it.
"Mh? My apologies, what was the question?"
"How did Cell destroy the Orange Star neighborhood and the army? It wasn't traps, was it?" Syowa doubted he had, considering she and Mika had seen it from the front rows, but Mr Satan had stated it was all tricks.
"No, it was just raw power. Cell used ki."
The look full of questions by the other two made her regret being truthful, after all, the 23rd Tenkaichi had stories about its events and the presence of the terrible Piccolo Daimao, but people often thought they were exaggerated to give the organizators more prestige for the come back eleven years later. Trunks sighed, she couldn't refuse to explain further, not after what they'd done for her, and not after opening Pandora's box like that. And she'd already told them about flying, considering they saw her do so...
"Ki is life essence, everyone has it, but great martial artists", as well as aliens, but that part better be kept quiet, "can control it to strengthen their muscles, meditate, fly, and do that," she gestured towards the balcony, implying the destruction beneath.
"And Mr Satan doesn't know about it?" Mika wondered with a raised eyebrow as he started clearing the table now everyone was done.
"Probably not, one can have good muscles and subconscious control of one's own ki in hand-to-hand combat, and not actually know how to use ki."
"But he still won the Tournament…" Syowa noted.
Trunks didn't know how to answer that without telling her why no martial artist she knew participated in this year's tournament: everyone was busy preparing for the Cyborgs' arrival. Instead she explained why Mr Satan probably didn't know ki.
"Learning the skill isn't easy, it requires a good mentor and a lot of time, but not mastering ki doesn't mean he isn't a good fighter." A good fighter, 'for a normal human being'. Her circumstances had been different, ki came more naturally to her due to her heritage and her living situation, including flying which she learnt on her own. On the other hand, Goku's introduction to ki, through the Kamehameha that destroyed her mother's car in the process, was a story she heard a couple of times. Considering Goku was an alien, in retrospect…
As they were talking, Trunks took out her wardrobe capsule to get fitted. While she covered her breasts and turned her back at them with pudor, she was fine with letting the two see her put on and take off the binders while Mika had her stand straight, still, and adjusted the item. After a minute of her hair getting in the way on her upper back, Trunks removed the hair tie and gave herself the high ponytail she used when cooking. It was far from as elegant as Syowa's, but it did the job at keeping the hair out of the way.
"And you can do that too? With the whole flying thing?" Syowa asked, now intrigued about the whole martial arts-ki thing.
Trunks extended her arm towards the younger teenager when she asked, palm up, to form a tiny blue orb, as her affirmative answer. "You can touch it, it's weak."
Syowa was brave and extended her finger to touch the ki ball, and it poofed. Mika observed with a healthy dose of suspicion, this was leagues above his pay grade, but he was interested nonetheless. He'd noticed Tora had grown taller and more muscular, too, compared to last time he fit her, so it wasn't just the hair. Let alone the fact that the binders he'd told her less than a week prior looked worn. That was.. strange.
"So Cell did the same, but with it is a little like fireworks, the more powder, or ki, the bigger the explosion."
"You could potentially destroy cities too," Syowa whispered, amazed and somewhat terrified.
"Each individual is capable of horrible things." Of course she could, but that didn't mean she would.
"And the whole flames thing?" Mika asked, walking back to face her to see if the binder was well fitted, and he gave the ok for her to remove it and put on the next one. He also noted the teenager didn't show any discomfort, and looked far more at ease than when she was over a few days earlier. The broken ribs must have healed too.
Trunks shook her head no, then turned to change. "That is something else entirely, related to my genetics. It's.. complicated."
"Like how your friend had three eyes?"
"Tenshinhan-san, yes. He won a past Tournament too, actually," Trunks only knew because her mother had said 'Son-kun almost won the previous one at fifteen, but a car got in the way!' when she told her about how Goku had won the 23rd, 'finally!' and got to marry Chichi.
"Oh!" Mika realized. "I remember now. It was the Tenshinhan that broke Yamcha's leg, wasn't it? He explained it in an interview a long time ago." While Mika wasn't that knowledgeable of the Tenkaichi Budokai, he knew about baseball and the players' lives, and Tenshinhan's name was unique enough to be recognizable once the context was shared.
"Yamcha? As in, the super handsome baseball player?" Syowa perked up, she, too, was big on baseball. "Wait, didn't you mention his name on the phone, Tora-kun?"
Trunks had a slight smile and a nod. "I know Yamcha-san as a martial artist, but I've been told he played baseball. Face scars here and here?" She used her index to draw on her face Yamcha's signature scars; over his right eye, on his left cheek. Syowa nodded and rushed to her bedroom and came back out with a baseball card representing the bandit.
"That's him?"
"That is him," Trunks confirmed, looking at the card and appreciating the goofy but warm personality of her ally irradiating from the picture. She gave the card back.
"He doesn't play a lot, but when he plays, it gets wild," Syowa was excited, but Trunks shrugged, ignorant of anything sports-related.
"He is a kind man," Trunks could only say. Yamcha was a little too pushy and friendly for her comfort, but she couldn't deny his humane qualities, and her mother spoke of him fondly despite some issues with their past relationship. She took a mental note to ask Yamcha later about whether he'd agree to meet a fan once the dust settled, considering how Syowa was speaking about the former bandit and his accomplishments in the field. Mika doubled down, baseball was their thing back when Syowa was younger.
"Is that blood?" Mika asked, alarmed when Trunks put on the next binder. Trunks had washed it, but some stains just didn't come out properly. This was the one she wore when Vegeta pushed her past super Saiyan, and fell unconscious wearing it.
"Oh, uh, yes." Trunks got a little red, flustered. "It had coagulated before I could wash it, so.." she loosely tried to explain, but got shy.
"It's not your blood is it, Tora-kun?" Syowa gave Trunks a poke on the sternum, but the other's silence confirmed it was indeed hers.
'The sword and muscles really aren't for show,' Mika silently observed, with a glance at the weapon Trunks had brought along, on the back of the chair with the jacket.
"You got into a fight?" Syowa was alarmed, and Trunks only nodded. "Wait, you're not a criminal, are you? You didn't kill someone, right?" Mika, immediately alarmed, tried to stop his daughter with a glance, and Trunks felt the man tense behind her, but she stayed calm and relaxed.
"It was just intensive but consensual fighting," Trunks tried to reassure. "My- uh.. Training partner isn't the type to hold back," she added as if it was a good thing. "You needn't worry, my only target is Cell. Our goal has always been to defend Earth against threats."
Mika thought about it a moment. Seemingly there were strange, powerful beings around, and it all sounded.. familiar. He then snapped his fingers after tightening the last straps, remembering what this situation reminded him of. A worldly threat... "The East City strike five years ago! The aliens disappeared without a trace, that was you guys' doing, wasn't it?"
Trunks checked the binder was well adjusted, then moved on to the last one. "Yes. Well, not me, but yes." Well, one of them ended up becoming her father and staying, but the 'threat' was dealt with at the time.
"Well, you were what, twelve at the time?" Syowa commented.
"Yamcha disappeared for two seasons around that time." Mika observed. "I remember well, it was a bad time to be a Taitans fan."
'Being dead meant he couldn't play,' Trunks couldn't help a quiet smile, the logistics of being a martial artist fighting and dying to defend the planet and a famous baseball player were curious. She could somewhat imagine Yamcha interviewing after his resurrection, saying 'sorry I was dead but now it's all good, let's go Taitans!' .
"He will appreciate your secrecy," she requested in his name. They'd put two and two together that Yamcha had fought the Saiyans, after all.
"Sure, we do keep secrets here, after all, right Syo-chan?" The girl confirmed with enthusiasm. "The King asked for the boy who defeated Piccolo Daimao, when he apologized about the army." Mika wondered while starting to work on the last binder. "I thought that was just a prayer, but it really did happen, didn't it?"
"Yes. He will be there," Trunks nodded and moved when asked.
"So you're actually with the government? Some sort of secret army?" Syowa added.
Trunks denied. "No, and they aren't paramilitary either. They are just individual martial artists and fighters who unite against threats and then return to their own devices. Yamcha-san seems like the kind to appreciate the celebrity that comes with playing sports, but everyone else prefers the quiet and anonymous life."
"That's why Yamcha's contract with the Taitans is match-based and not season-based, he shows up when he can.." Mika concluded.
"What about you? Are you friends with them, too?" Syowa asked, noticing how Trunks hadn't included herself.
The fighter stayed silent a moment, obeying Mika when he told her to breathe in and out so he could adjust. She took a moment to find a way to express her feelings without actually giving out facts that might be a problem down the line.
"My situation is different. I know a lot about them, but they know very little about me, and that's by design," she breathed out, then explained a little further. "I came to this world to find a way to put an end to the monsters destroying my homeworld, and that consisted in meeting them and learning from them. I have no intentions of staying, my world needs me, so becoming friends is a waste of time and a potential source of discord."
Trunks took a moment to look back at the other two, now the last binder was properly adjusted, then she turned to remove it and put back on the reinforced one, the 'armor', with a thin tank top underneath. Mika had observed how elastic it was when she first removed it, but seeing her putting it on only confirmed it was made of something else entirely. She grabbed a loose black tee from her wardrobe and put it on to finish dressing.
"As much as I value them as allies in combat, as individuals, we are just too different. It's one of the reasons they can't know I'm a woman." She untied her hair and tied it back down, remembering how Goku of all people thought she looked girly with her hair higher up. "It's been hard, so I appreciate your secrecy and your help in this matter, Syowa-chan, Mika-san," She bowed her head after she finished putting everything back into the chest that held her clean clothes.
"It's what I do," Mika answered with a smile. "Well, not with 'flying Golden Defenders from another world' , whatever that means, but without you we'd be dead," he added with an honest but somewhat wary laugh. This had been a little too much, after all. Syowa took in the praise and nodded. Perhaps it was all due to martial artists and them all being men?
"Will you tell them the truth before you go?" Syowa eventually asked as Trunks put back on her jacket and took her sword in her hand, ready to go.
"That's Tora-kun's private affairs, Syo-chan," Mika scolded gently.
"It's fine, we talked about my identity before, didn't we, Syowa-chan? But no, I will not," she shook her head no. It was best if they kept thinking she was a man, for the sake of this world's Trunks. Of course she could explain it as being from different universes, but she knew it would still affect him. And truth was she owed no one her true self. Even if she wasn't sure herself who she was, outside of a survivor and fighter. "Once everything is solved and after my world has been saved, perhaps I will give them the full story. And perhaps I'll tell you, too," she added with a smile full of mystery.
"You don't owe us your secrets, Tora-kun," Mika shrugged, even if Syowa was curious to find out more. What was Tora's world like? She hadn't heard about anywhere in the world being ravaged by monsters.
"I don't, but I do want to tell you more. On my own terms and when the time is right."
Trunks appreciated not being probed that much about it all, and a soft smile showed said gratitude. She still had questions, especially for Mika. After all, she still had the picture of Seventeen and Eighteen she snatched in their corridor, but she figured it could wait until after Cell was defeated, if she actually went ahead with her information probing. Since this world's Cyborgs were dead and the ones of her world deserved no mercy, finding out more about the human bases that Gero experimented on would only open the door for hesitation. Those humans died long ago, and only their images had remained, which is why Trunks had refused to look at Gero's experiments and 'diary'.
The pair walked her to the roof, and she poofed her car out of a capsule, jumped in, placed her sword loosely between her legs and went on her way. She promised, perhaps not that confident in her own abilities, but at least in Goku's, it would all surely be alright and that they'd meet again sometime in June.
She spent the rest of the morning appreciating some sort of return to peace in the world, stores reopening, as Mr Satan's announcement had really done well for the population's stress level.
This is what she remembered of Mr Satan. A rallying force on the radio, a uniting voice against despair and fate, just before the society collapsed when she was a little under ten.
His daughter had taken over survivors of Central City, she went by another code name, 'Devil', and she was one of the reason why Central City held for so long on its own, rebuilding and living no matter what. The Cyborgs targeted the city often enough, and Gohan fought them every time they showed up. The routine of fighting while earthlings evacuated and helped each other had been established, and Trunks had participated a few times, including using her own ki to shield them from Eighteen's blasting barrage.
Central City held until Gohan's death, in those very grounds. Afterwards, 'Devil' and her group of survivors went fully underground in the city. Trunks saw her go from a woman in her early twenties to a woman in her early thirties (probably? she already had white hairs, but who didn't?) when she last delivered supplies, right before her second trip in early 784. 'Devil' was tough as nails, showed great leadership qualities, took no shit from anyone, could decently defend herself and those under her care against some militia men, and it was probably one of the safest communities. Spite drove her, and Trunks related, even if they never really talked. After all, she was just the errand kid, but Trunks guessed 'Devil' probably heard how brutal 'Tora' could be when pushed. Tora didn't hesitate to bite after the warnings were ignored, and Videl was similar, albeit less violent as she had to play politics in her community, while Tora was a loner who didn't care mingle.
Trunks hoped this world's Videl would grow happier and safer than the version she knew. As soon as Cell was dealt with...
May 26th was the second of the three days of 'training' the Sons had given themselves, and Trunks wanted to test herself against the powers she'd felt the day prior. As much as she and Vegeta had been able to fight each other, it just didn't click, something was off. She needed to fight Goku or Gohan to solve that mystery.