The Three Legendary Saiyans

Chapter 20: Recovery After Tragedy

Author's Note: Deepest apologies for how long it took to bring out this chapter; I have been extremely busy with my real job and family over the Christmas and New Year's season as well as taking a break to write my Classic Broly Spin-off, I've been quite eager to write the Goku Black storyline and I'm back onto it now.

The wreckage of The Time Machine lay in ruins once Pilaf and Shu had finally snapped out of their shocked daze at the two Goku's, the two Trunks' and extinguished the flames; the machine lay in a useless pile of burnt and melted glass and metal though the significance of the machine was not lost an anyone present, Future-Trunks sat on his knees with his face in his hands; wrought with grief at the loss of the one path back to his Timeline.

Before anyone could step towards and console a grief-stricken Future-Trunks; Beerus radiated with an ominously dark purple aura, an energy that Goku, Vegeta and Raijin all knew to be Divine Destroyer Energy.

"It is a good thing this Goku Black destroyed that confounded machine! If he hadn't I'd have to destroy all of you along with this world before Omni King Zeno could find out that you humans have been tampering with Time" Beerus spoke in a deep but threatening voice; his right hand reaching out and making a open hand, preparing to destroy the Planet if anyone dared to challenge him

"But we didn't build it! the me in the Future did" Bulma immediately looked up from the book she held in her hands; shouting at Beerus after being accused on building something and this version of her didn't even build.

"Maybe so Miss Bulma; however we cannot ignore this Goku Black… I ask you all; did anyone notice what he was wearing on his right index finger?" Whis interjected; standing directly in-between Bulma and Beerus, Whis stared down at Bulma with a look of stern look on his normally-calm face; his pale blue eyes leering down on the woman he was usually so polite towards.

Raijin, Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Mai, Shu, Pilaf and both versions of Trunks from the present and future Timelines looked towards Whis and Beerus; all sharing the exact same look of confusion and interest in the Time Rings.

"I thought so; this Goku Black fellow was wearing a relic known only as a Time Ring" Whis sighed; feeling that The Supreme Kai's should at least have divulged this information to the saviours of their Universe after the hard-earned defeat of Kid Buu.

"And what is a Time Ring exactly?" Bulma enquired; crossing her arms and partly obscuring the book from the eyes of the divine beings.

"A Time Ring is a physical manifestation of when the flow of Time has been altered; currently the holder of these rings is Gowasu: The Supreme Kai of The Tenth Universe" Whis explained; tapping his staff on the ground and projecting two images, one of Goku Black's right hand showing a silver ring around his right index finger; and the other image showing the identity of Gowasu.

"I'd like to go meet with Gowasu! Maybe I can get back to my Timeline with his help" Future-Trunks finally rose to his feet; a glimmer of hope flickered in his eyes with the knowledge of the Time Rings becoming known.

"No you shall not! Only Whis and Myself shall be going" Beerus spoke out once more in his divine and commanding tone of voice; the Destroyer Energy Aura dissipating from his body as visiting Gowasu was a greater matter to attend to than destroying the Earth.

"My Lord; I believe we should take Goku along too… there is somebody else in The Tenth Universe of whom has energy that strangely matches that of Goku Black" Whis spoke with a renewed and perfectly calm demeanour; a smile that gave nothing away crossed his pale blue lips.

"Wow! Really? I'd love to go meet another Supreme Kai! I've met practically all the other Kai's" Goku responded with his usual cheery and happy attitude; walking over and joining Whis and Beerus just before they departed for another Universe.

"Whis wait… about that invitation to train in using my own God Ki; I humbly accept" Raijin reached out to Whis with his right hand moments before Whis could initiate travel; catching the attention of both Beerus and Whis when Raijin spoke while bowing his head.

Whis gave a soft yet satisfied smile upon hearing Raijin's actions and given answer; a glimmer of light sparkled in his eyes as if he'd been waiting a long time for Raijin to say those words, tapping his staff on the ground just as Goku had walked over and joined the sides of Beerus and Whis; the three vanished into the depths of the Universe within a pure white orb.

Raijin let out a sigh of relief at having been able to give his answer to Whis just before they left; turning around to face Future-Trunks and his own son, "Trunks… the Time Machine may be gone… but hope is not lost yet".

Both versions of Trunks turned around when hearing Raijin speak; Future-Trunks wore a pained expression at the destruction of his time machine, teas budding in the corners of his eyes; the sight pained Mai most of all as she immediately passed by Present-Trunks and took the hands of Future-Trunks into her own.

But before Mai could say a single word to comfort Future-Trunks; Bulma came bursting back out from her Lab with a white and yellow Capsule in hand, "I finally found it… I really need to clean out all those junk drawers".

"Yeah; you really do… it's a trial just to find anything in those drawers" Raijin concurred; looking towards Bulma out of the corners of his eyes.

"What was that?" Bulma shouted; a vein popping in her forehead in frustration aimed directly towards Raijin.

"Nothing" Raijin corrected himself; realising that by now he should know better than to point out a flaw to Bulma.

"Good; hope is not lost as you left this behind last time to travelled back to your own Timeline" Bulma shouted with a voice full of confidence; the strange book in one hand and tossing the capsule into the grass with the other.

The Capsule instantly created an explosion of smoke; the smoke fading away almost instantly to reveal an old mossy and rust-covered version of Future-Trunks' Time Machine.

"Isn't this the machine that brought Cell here?" Raijin spoke up; unable to believe what he was seeing, though Vegeta's eyes widened just at the mention of Cell's name.

"Yes indeed it is; and thanks to this book we'll be able to repair it and use it to return to Future-Trunks' Timeline!" Bulma announced with glee; holding the book out for all to see, the scribbled writings and confusing diagrams written over every page was unmistakably Bulma's handwriting.

Is that… my mother's?" Future-Trunks stuttered; unable to believe the book's contents when held aloft in Bulma's hands.

"Yes! A literal gift from beyond the grave; Future-Bulma's Notebook! It contains everything we need to know about repairing and refuelling your Time Capsule!" Bulma skipped through page after page of the book; showing off all the diagrams and handwritten instructions on building and maintaining the Time Machine.

"It can be rebuilt inside a few days; or as quickly as tomorrow if we call on Ewan though refuelling it will take some work" Raijin took a look at the pages over Bulma's shoulder; having been married to her for so many years he'd learnt to read her messy and disjointed writing.

"I'll get on it as quickly as possible; and good call Raijin… Ewan will be essential in this task; and he'll love the opportunity to repair a real Time Machine" Bulma noted; shutting the book, reducing the Time Machine back down into a Capsule and dashing back into the Lab.

Vegeta, Pilaf, Shu and Present-Trunks all stood as bystanders; unable to get a word in, though Vegeta kept scowling at the sheer memory of Cell; Mai remained obviously infatuated with Future-Trunks while Present-Trunks remained oblivious.

"What a relief… I thought I might never see my home or my comrades again" Future-Trunks spoke with a gasp of emotion; tears beaded in the corners of his eyes

"Why don't you go and visit Gohan? Or Krillin? They'd be overjoyed to see you and I think they'd have a few surprises for you too" Raijin smiled a sly smile; knowing full well that Gohan and Videl had recently given birth to their daughter: Pan, and Krillin was married to 18; though Future-Trunks would not be aware of their union.

"Thanks Raijin; I think I'll do just that" Future-Trunks snapped out of his emotional daze; having not even thought about Gohan or Krillin since crash-landing in Capsule Corp's Gardens.

Just as Future-Trunks crouched down and launch himself into flight; he caught the sight of Mai running back into the building after Pilaf and Shu, Future-Trunks' eyes sparkled upon catching sight of her flowing black hair as if she reminded him of somebody; a soft smile crossing his face just as Future-Trunks finally flew off into the direction of Satan City and Kame House.

"Vegeta… you've been rather quiet this whole time; what's on your mind?" Raijin finally turned his attention towards Vegeta; wearing a confident smile after his recent victory over his Copy.

"That doppelganger of Kakarot's; he was identical in every conceivable way" Vegeta spat on the ground as he spoke; his intentions and wishes obviously clear to Raijin and Trunks.

"Totally unlike your Copy; he was an imitation in every sense" Trunks spoke up; nudging Vegeta in his armour with his elbow while he spoke.

"Don't remind me of that nuisance!" Vegeta glared at Trunks; his black eyes changing to the eyes of a Super Saiyan without completing a transformation.

"Let me guess… you want to go to The Future to fight Black yourself; right?" Raijin spoke up and diverted Vegeta's frustration from his son to himself.

Vegeta shot Raijin a look so full of anger and rage that it sent a shiver down Raijin's spine; the look in Vegeta's eyes reminded him strongly of the evil look that Majin Vegeta gave him before beating him down into a coma, Raijin wore a smile; standing strong in the face of Vegeta's anger.

"I knew it… Goku will want to go too; I'm also going" Raijin immediately replied; the light of resolve lighting up his black eyes.

"No you won't!" Vegeta barked violently; dark blue flames igniting around his body in a fit of frustration when Vegeta desired to face and defeat Black alone, Vegeta's dark blue aura flaring up in his violently charged shout.

"And since when have you managed to stop me? You owe me for saving your existence" Raijin smiled a wide smile; his own gold aura flaring up upon showing his defiance towards Vegeta.

Vegeta grimaced at that fact; he did owe Raijin for saving his very existence only an hour ago, turning and tearing his sight away from Raijin before launching off the ground and hurtling down into the West City skyline and out of Raijin's sight.

"Just like that; he flies off… so predictable" Raijin spoke through a slight chuckle; turning around to glance at the wreckage, finding that Trunks was still present, "How come you are still here son?".

"Took you long enough! How is that guy me when his father is Vegeta?" Trunks posed his question that had been plaguing his mind since meeting his future-self.

"Let's not go into that again… it was too confusing the first time" Raijin scratched at the back of his head while he spoke; not wanting to even try explaining the other Timeline.

Trunks pouted at Raijin's unsatisfying answer, "Fine… what's going to happen when that so-called Time Machine is fixed?".

"It's a real Time Machine son; though it's not surprising that you don't remember when you were barely a year old back then" Raijin smiled; unable to hide his excitement at the prospect of travelling to another Timeline alongside his friends and rivals.

Trunks turned away and looked at the blackened remains of the first Time Machine; having a vague and blurry memory of somebody who looked a lot like Future-Trunks but only with longer hair.

Raijin looked down at his son; watching as Trunks walked away from him after finally having gotten past his rebellious phase, Raijin turned his attention to the exact spot where Black had emerged from a rift in time; a foe who was identical to Goku in almost every way.

The idea of fighting that foe made Raijin excited and eager to put his powers as a Super Saiyan 4 and his newfound God Ki to the ultimate test.