Yeah, im still not getting emails from FFN but i dont want to delay this anymore so hopefully you guys see this. I'll try to make a note in the next chapter too just to be safe

JCINNABAR: Tapion's just got those vibes, y'know? and of course, same to you

arkon3321: ok look, i love Obito, but i dont know if I'd remember his name like, 20 years later with no access to Naruto content. He was one of the primary villains so I'd say he has some respect to his name

thewittywhy: outside perspectives are so fun man. There should be more normal people in this franchise. The funniest joke in Super is when the Pilaf Gang are casually on the side, commenting on the normality they've gained as outside person freaks out over shenanigans
As for Jaco, thats gonna be an interesting aspect of Super to have. Frankly, I dont think anything can top Vegeta being Bulma's husband for him though lol.

MiharuTousaka: Yep lol

ArguableReader: SIGohan was still dealing with the revelations of the prior chapter lol things will be moving foreword soon, though not quit to Super yet

OnTheTidesOfEvermore: ah, who knows what the future may hold

Qinlongfei: lol yeah, i agree. And while i do think its probably not a priority I also wouldn't out it past Bulma to have like, contingency plans or something. A "just in case" tracker y'know?
And yeah, Gero was a silly. Gotta qualify as one of those technical geniuses with no common sense, lol


Bulma smiled to herself as she once again saw extra dishes in the sink.

Though she assumed this game Trunks was playing would be over soon enough as she'd heard Trunks excitedly whispering to someone as if he couldn't be heard.

It's not like she minded having another guest. She could hardly call Tapion suspicious when she'd let Vegeta and Nappa stay all those years ago.

It would have been nice if he'd asked first though.

Oh well. She'll just have to talk to Tapion in the morning.

Or, that's what she'd thought at least until she saw him still up in the hall.

"Hey, what are you doing up?" She asked, not bothering to pretend to be surprised.

"I can't sleep," he stated.

"Oh, well I've got some sleep aids if you want. Or melatonin if that's more your speed. Would melatonin work for you? Or does your body use some different hormone to sleep?"

"No- I don't know. But I meant that I cannot sleep. At all."

"Oh? Do you not need to or something?" She asked, but that couldn't be right, he looked exhausted.

The man averted his gaze. How old was he anyway? It looked like he couldn't be much older than Gohan.

"Why don't we talk in the kitchen? I'll make some coffee. It looks like you need it."

With coffee made she settled across from him at the dining room table. She was rather well versed in backstories by this point, but even she had to admit that "I have a monster sealed inside me" was a new one. One that would break free if he lets himself fall asleep too. She couldn't imagine.

It's been, what, four days now since they freed him? She got irritable after one or two all nighters, tops.

"Say, if the bottom half of Hirudegarn was sealed inside your brother, who was sealed and sent to the opposite end of the universe- If that's here then-"

She hated asking but his glare at his cup of coffee was all the confirmation she needed.

"I had already resigned myself to never seeing him again. And after being sealed for so long, death was likely a mercy at least."

Bulma couldn't help but feel bad. And with how long it might have been, even the Dragon Balls might be incapable of bringing him back, even if they did wait for the next six months to try.

"Hey, I bet I could make you a room that you could sleep in. Like that music box."

Tapion looked up at her, startled. "But that box was specifically crafted in order to contain Hirudegarn."

"Yeah, I have the pieces of it back in my lab. Wouldn't be the first time I've reversed-engineered another planet's tech. I could have it done in a day and a half, tops."

"Only stipulation being that you hang out with Trunks sometimes," she winked at him.

"Deal!" He half laughed, still sounding astonished at the concept.

It was only as she was working on it that she considered that the box may have been reinforced with magic. In which case, she would have no way of replicating that.

She held her concerns to herself though. One way or another, Tapion would need to sleep eventually. There was no reason to stress him out over something inevitable. Either the room would work, or it wouldn't. Simple as that.

It did not work.

She wasn't sure exactly what went wrong, but something certainly did. Of course, Vegeta reacted too quickly for her to get any information. He had her out of the city before she'd even fully woken up. Then he turned around and left her there! Without even her capsule case! How was she supposed to get back now?

Oh, she never gets to see the fights.

Trunks

Trunks didn't understand what was going on. They were having a sleepover, he, Goten, and Clover. He had finally become friends with Tapion! He just wanted to show off a little. And they had a great time. Because obviously they did, Tapion was super cool. Even if he was kinda starting to think that he wasn't all that strong, he was still really cool.

As it got later though, Tapion had to go to bed. Mom made him a special room that he had to sleep in. Trunks didn't really know the whole reason why, but it had something to do with that monster or something.

But that was fine, they could just hang out again in the morning! The three of them just played video games until they got tired.

There were only two controllers so they had to take turns. He could just ask Mom to get more controllers, but what was the point when all he had was two-player games?

Maybe he should get that party game…and that way Tapion could play too!

Clover was the first to fall asleep, 'cause she's boring. (Which he totally wasn't glad because she was really good at this game) And eventually, he and Goten went to bed too. Well, not to bed bed. They just scattered a bunch of pillows and blankets on the floor since it's a bit cramped to sleep in a bed with three people. He could have just taken the bed for himself, but that'd be no fun, what's the point of a sleepover then?

They were woken up again in the middle of the night. He didn't know what was going on at first, just that it was loud and the ground was shaking and just really loud.

He ran outside to see a huge monster stomping away! Like, monster movie huge, the kind that step on buildings and things.

Their dads were fighting it, and it was kinda weird to see Nappa in an actual fight. Like, sparring with his dad sometimes sure. He also trained Clover a lot, but he was pretty sure the only time he'd seen him in a real fight was against Buu, which didn't really work out for anyone.

He also didn't know when Goku got here. It was super quick so it must have been his teleportation thingy.

Trunks gasped and ran around the building. Tapion's new room was totally smashed!

Tapion wasn't still in there right? He couldn't sense anything so he must have left.

Unless he-

Trunks shook his head at the possibility. There was no way someone as cool as Tapion could be killed that easily! That was just dumb!

Besides, there was a giant monster to fight! And no one to stop them! Mom wasn't around after all. When would they ever get that chance again?

"Come on!" He shouted to Clover and Goten and flew towards the monster.

He charged a Gallic Gun up and fired at the monster, but it didn't even seem to hit it! It'd be one thing if it didn't hurt it all that much, their dads seemed to be having difficulties after all, but it just looked like it went through it!

He looked back at Clover and Goten, "Let's all hit it at once!" They nodded and he charged up another Gallic Gun.

"Ok! One! Two! THREE!" The three took the place of the attack declaration as he fired once again as the thing swung at Goku, this time with two additional beams on either side of it.

They still did nothing. That was so lame! It would have been super cool if they were able to beat it, but it's not like he was expecting that. But they should have at least gotten it's atten-

It turned towards them.

He no longer wanted its attention.

Dodging its arms should have been a lot easier considering how big they were. But it was also way too fast for its size, and it was hard to quickly change directions in the air.

But they did still keep dodging them. In fact, it got easier the more it tried to hit them since it got easier to tell its attack patterns. Like a video game.

Trunks smirked and was about to shout something insulting at the thing or something, when he saw it out of the corner of his eye.

Clover didn't fully dodge one. The arm barely grazed her, but it sent her back down to the ground, crashing into the pavement.

"CLOVER!" He shrieked. He dove down to the ground, pulling away debris that had partially fallen on her.

She almost looked asleep.

"Hey, Hey! Wake up!" He shook her shoulders first, and then when that didn't work he tried lifting her up himself. He placed a hand around the back of her head to support it- only to move it again when it felt damp.

He couldn't see color all that well with so little lighting. But his hand looked way too dark. Why was it so dark?

He heard someone land. He looked up to see Nappa standing over them.

He crouched down and took Clover in his own arms. He must have noticed the weird damp part of her head cause he looked at his hand too.

He put his hand by her neck, and a few seconds later his shoulder fell a little bit.

"She's ok." He said. "Her pulse is just fine. Just- just take her back to Capsule Corp. Yell at Raditz to fix up the healing tank or something."

Trunks stared. He could hear Nappa talking. He could! He just- the words didn't seem to mean anything for some reason.

And he wasn't shaking! He wasn't! It- he just-

Nappa frowned. He looked behind him instead. "You got that?" Nappa asked, but he wasn't talking to Trunks anymore.

"Uh- ok. I mean, Yes!" Goten ran past him and flew away with Clover. Trunks stared in their direction.

This was stupid! Goten was clearly fine! So why was he so- so-

Trunks started when Nappa put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. You get out of here too, ok? Stay away from that thing, got it?"

He didn't wait for a confirmation this time. He just took off back to the monster.

Trunks didn't even know when it got so far away.

Trunks stared. He- he couldn't just leave. What was he supposed to do? Go back home and stare at Clover floating in a pod of goop? Assuming Raditz even knew how to work those dumb things.

He didn't want to go anywhere near that thing either.

It was supposed to be fun. Why wasn't it fun?

Trunks wasn't really sure when he managed to climb back to his feet. He just started wandering.

He didn't want to get too far from the monster. He didn't want to be anywhere near it, but if something happened he wanted to- to-

He didn't know what he wanted.

So, he wandered.

He didn't know for how long. The fight couldn't last too long right?

It was loud.

He heard music.

It sounded like a flute, but not quite. Maybe more like a-

Tapion?

He didn't quite run, but he did go faster in that direction. Maybe like a jog kinda.

It was Tapion. He was playing his ocarina. He almost asked why, but noticed it was way too quiet aside from the song.

He looked up. The monster was gone.

"…what..?"

He was hoping for an explanation, but instead, Tapion fell over.

"Hey! Are you ok?" He asked, running over to look at him. Was he hurt too? He didn't look hurt.

He helped Tapion back up so that he was kneeling instead.

He looked like he was in pain, but he didn't seem injured.

"What's wrong?" Trunks asked. If he knew what was wrong, he could help! He had to. He couldn't let another friend be hurt.

Tapion drew his sword.

He held it out to Trunks.

"Please Trunks. I need you to kill me."

"…what?" Trunks wasn't even sure he said that out loud.

"I know it's not fair to ask. But- quickly! Please! I need you to kill me before Hirudegarn escapes again!"

Tapion really did look like he was in pain. And he was talking crazy too.

But Trunks couldn't explain where the monster went either.

That didn't matter though! He needed to find help for Tapion! And- he needed to calm down a bit for him to do that.

He took the sword to appease him. It looked a lot sharper at this angle. Gohan's old swords never looked this sharp.

"Thank you," Tapion said.

But Trunks couldn't in real life kill someone! In a video game, sure. Or maybe if it was a super evil person. But Tapion wasn't evil. He was his friend.

And even if if were to try, the sword was shaking way too much. Was something wrong with it?

Or was it his hands shaking?

Tapion had his head bowed to him, expecting.

Trunks didn't- he didn't know what to do.

He tried to hold his hands steady! He did! He tried! He-

"Yeah, no. We're not playing this game."

Trunks looked up. It was Gohan. She was wearing pajamas.

So was he though.

She fiddled with her watch until her outfit switched over to the hero fit.

She took the sword from his hands effortlessly. Not that Trunks put up any fight. She tossed it to the ground away from any of them.

"Hold these for me?" She asked, pulling her goggles off her head and handing them to Trunks instead.

"You don't understand! Hirudegarn will break free any moment now! The only way is-"

Gohan cut Tapion off. "This is the one that gets set free if you fall asleep or get knocked out, right?"

Tapion blinked but nodded. "Yes! But that was with only half! I cannot contain the whole beast for much longer!"

"Got it. Hey Trunks. Can you fly?"

Trunks hesitated, but nodded. Of course he could! Flying was baby stuff. Even if he still felt super shaky.

"Great, I'm gonna need you to get him out of here super quick, alright?" She asked, nodding towards Tapion.

Trunks blinked, but before Tapion could say two whole words Gohan blasted him.

Tapion fell to the ground. Trunks assumed he was unconscious. Cause Gohan wouldn't kill someone like that, right?

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then a portal-like thing opened and he could see one of the monster's arms and it was coming out of it and-

He pulled one of Tapion's arms over his shoulder and flew away as fast as he could. Even though he was tired, and shaky, and it was kinda awkward carrying someone so much bigger than he was.

He flew away as fast as he could.

Which wasn't nearly as fast as he could normally fly.

But he flew away from there as fast as he could.

"Oh hey, the monster's back," I heard Goku say as I floated up to meet him. "Hey, what took you so long?" He asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "I woke up and could sense you teleporting away. I had to fly here, normally."

"Huh…maybe you should learn Instant Transmission too!"

I rolled my eyes and refocused on the monster. "Having difficulties?" I asked.

Goku laughed, "a bit. We noticed that you can only hit it when it's attacking. But it is really durable."

I nodded. Well, obviously if Goku was having difficulty as I'd, I wasn't gonna be much help in any normal super Sayain form.

So I tossed up a Power Ball. No reason to waste time and energy delaying it.

The thing's intangibility did not change with the boost in power, but a quick blast did get its attention towards me.

I landed on the ground for more leverage as it swung at me. I caught the fist, my foot shifting back at the impact.

I blinked. I looked down at my foot. It did, in fact, shift backwards by the force of the monster's punch. There was a groove carved into the street from it.

"…huh."

I shook the thought and refocused on the monster, blasting it back in its moment of vulnerability.

As it crashed to the ground I flew up into the air. I charged up a Masenko. It wasn't the strongest attack I had, but it was the widest, and this thing certainly had a lot of surface area.

I waited until it was swinging at me again and fired. This time when it crashed to the ground it didn't get back up.

That didn't quite guarantee it was dead though. After all, it could survive being cut in half. So, I went by piece by piece. Blasting each limb until nothing remained of it.

When it was done, I couldn't help but look back to where I was originally standing.

Oh well. Just another reminder that my time of being the strongest wouldn't last forever. It was still intact for the moment though.

Trunks

Trunks sniffed. His face and arms stung because of the medicine mom put on his scratches.

He sat against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest. He stared at Clover floating in a pod of goop.

Trunks didn't like those things. They were weird and he didn't like how people looked when they were inside them. They hardly ever used them though. They didn't need to much.

Tapion didn't need one. Mom said he just needed normal rest.

Clover did though. She got hurt real bad.

It wasn't his fault though! He didn't tell her to follow him! It wasn't his fault!

…right?

She wasn't hurt because of him?

She couldn't be.

Trunks must have been sitting there for a long time because he didn't remember moving, yet he woke up on the couch in that room with a blanket on top of him.

He could still hear the machine running. Were they supposed to take this long?

He shifted on his feet for a minute before going back to sitting against the wall.

He heard someone walking but he didn't turn to look. He didn't really care all that much.

"Hey." Someone greeted softly.

He glanced over to see Tapion sitting next to him.

"I'm sorry for asking you to do that. It wasn't right of me."

Trunks shrugged. It didn't really matter now. Everyone was fine, or was going to be fine.

"I was scared. Of Hirudegarn. Of it destroying everything I know yet again. I didn't want it to hurt you, or your mother or friends."

Trunks shrugged again. He still didn't really know the whole story. He didn't really care enough to ask right then. Maybe he never would.

"…I don't think I like swords anymore," Trunks muttered.

"…sorry." Tapion said. He kept saying that. It was only kinda his fault. It was more that monster's fault. It ruined everything.

He didn't like monsters anymore either.

"I understand if you don't want to be friends anymore."

Trunks started. He looked up at Tapion, confused. Why wouldn't he want to be friends? That was dumb.

He didn't know how to say that though. It should have just been obvious!

Why would he be upset if they weren't friends?

"I wanna be friends," is all he said in the end.

Tapion almost smiled at him but not really.

He pat Trunks's shoulder. "I'll let you be alone for a bit." He said.

He walked away. Trunks didn't know if he should be glad or not. He felt too tired to talk with people. But it was really quiet now. Except for that machine. It kept making noise.

A buzzer went off in it. Trunks shot to his feet, about ready to find help if something was wrong-

Clover's eyes were open.

She was looking around looking all confused. Trunks heard the goop start to drain away. She pulled the mask thingy off when it had drained enough that she could breathe, and the door opened itself when it was gone.

"Ew, gross. I feel all sticky," was the first thing she said. She was shaking off her wrists and arms to try to get rid of some of the goop.

"You're ok!" He exclaimed. He hugged her, not really caring if he got some of the goop on him.

"What? Yeah. Of course I am. What happened anyway? I thought it was nighttime." He felt her head turn towards the window, which showed the bright blue sky.

"Ick. I need a shower. You do too, you smell." She pushed him away from her. He didn't give a retort. She could have this free one.