The Three Legendary Saiyans

Chapter 24: A Moment to Recover

Only two hours had passed since The Time Machine had left Capsule Corp for Future-Trunks' Timeline and Trunks had not stopped staring up at the sky; waiting for his father: Raijin to return triumphant alongside Goku and Vegeta, witnessing him fight The Bio-Warriors and Copy-Vegeta had made him see how his rebelliousness was causing a rift between himself and his father and Trunks wanted nothing more than to repair their relationship.

A brilliant flash lit up in the skies just as The Time Machine returned from crossing the timestreams; crash-landing on its side instead of on the standing pylons that surrounded the machine, just as the canopy opened up; both Goku and Vegeta rolled out from the cockpit and only half-conscious.

Future-Trunks and Raijin got out from the cockpit last; both stained in dirt; blood and only slight burns from Black's last attack, Raijin slightly grunting as his knees buckled out from under him just as his feet touched the grass.

"Dad! Are you alright?" Trunks yelled; dashing from the deckchair and running to Raijin's side, immediately helping his father to his feet.

"I'm fine Trunks… but get Bulma; we need to get Goku and Vegeta in Recovery Units as fast as possible" Raijin spoke through heaving breaths; the battle having been so fast he'd forgotten to even breath in-between vicious exchanges and dodging lethal attacks.

Trunks didn't dare question why after turning his gaze to the pair and being horrified at what he saw; Vegeta's stab wound was bleeding heavily while Goku was barely breathing through all the gashes and burns he'd suffered, Trunks turned on his heels

"He's gotten better behaved… did you hear about the talk he and I had?" Future-Trunks commented while kneeling down besides Vegeta; looking in bad shape but he was nowhere near as badly wounded as Goku or Vegeta.

"You two had a talk?" Raijin's line of sight immediately turned to Future-Trunks; his right eye flinching slightly after turning his head too fast.

"I'll tell you later; the medics are coming" Future-Trunks bowed his head; worn out from the battle as well as the journey across timestreams, his fingers pointing to the group rushing towards them.

Raijin chuckled to himself after seeing Goten, Mai, Pilaf and Shu come running out from Bulma's Lab in matching medic uniforms; only Mai's came with a knee-length skirt while the boys were all in shorts, Goten and Mai took Goku away on one stretcher while Pilaf and Shu took Vegeta on another stretcher; rushing the two battle-weary and badly wounded Saiyans into The Lab for treatment.

Raijin sighed heavily and sat himself down in a chair besides the swimming pool while staring at the exact spot where the Time Machine stood; his thoughts on how all those civilians, soldiers and Future-Mai must be handling themselves against the nigh-unstoppable might of Zamasu and Black, though the people now had clean water and plenty of food but that alone wouldn't bring peace to their Timeline.

"What are you thinking about? It's my people isn't it" Future-Trunks spoke; his expression one of stern focus though his eyes constantly looked like they'd fill up with tears at any moment.

"Yeah… I can't stop thinking about how they'll survive" Raijin spoke while giving a brief shake of his head; his black hair again falling over his eyes and casting his face in a shadow that gave his expression a darker side to his thoughtfulness.

"They will… they survived so much already" Future-Trunks spoke though he looked away; a remorseful look filling his eyes as if he regretted leaving them or Future-Mai behind once again.

"So… what did my Trunks say to you?" Raijin spoke and breaking his line of sight from The Time Machine to Future-Trunks; his eyes staring as if demanding to know.

Future-Trunks smirked as he sank into the chair beside Raijin; the very same chair and Bulma would sit in on pool-days, "Ok; I'll tell you now".

*Flashback Begins*

The sun was already beginning to set after the long day Future-Trunks had had; narrowly escaping death at the hands of Black by the skin of his teeth, traveling down the timestreams once again after many years, reuniting with Goku, Vegeta and Vegeta only to be faced with Black once again, and then there was reuniting with Android 18 of all people; of whom had married Krillin and given birth to a daughter, but Gohan's changes had shocked him the most; having stayed with Gohan, Videl, Pan, Hercule And Buu for dinner and learning about everything that had happened in-between the defeat of Perfect Cell until the present day.

Future-Trunks had slumped down into a clean pair of jeans and a green army sweater that Bulma had left for him in leu of his torn and tattered resistance outfit; his eyes gazing out over the sunset skyline of West City, a thriving metropolis while his own home is a crumbling ruin; a shell of the hard work and efforts to restore their home after the defeat of The Androids.

"What's with you? You just show up and everyone is so concerned about you but you're just a big baby… crying like that" Trunks shouted; the Trunks on this timeline and son of Raijin floated in mid-air with his arms crossed, but dressed in a pair of sky-blue pyjamas.

Future-Trunks touched his cheeks as he hadn't realised that he'd shed a couple of tears while thinking of his home and those he'd left behind, "I'm sorry… do you know where Father or Raijin went?".

"Yeah; Vegeta is off training in the wasteland ds like he always does; and Dad was left someplace by Beerus and Whis… most likely training too" Trunks floated down onto the balcony floor; seating himself, "tell me something… why did you come running here instead of fighting Black".

"Because here… I can enlist the support of Vegeta and Raijin; I thought Goku would still be dead and Gohan would still be as powerful as he was against Cell, but it seems that I was mistaken and I have been left behind by their levels of strength when we were all pretty much equal back then" Future-Trunks spoke with a look and tone of melancholy.

"Speaking of… I've seen the recordings of The Cell Games but my dad isn't in any of the shots; where was he?" Trunks asked; having watched the feature in full multiple times but not seen so much as a glimpse of Raijin amongst the other Z Fighters.

"Raijin never told you about Cooler? That's odd" Future-Trunks felt stunned by this revelation.

"Who the hell is Cooler?" Trunks suddenly shouted in a demanding tone of voice; the tone instantly reminded Future-Trunks of Vegeta's demanding tone when he got impatient.

"Days before The Cell Games began a spaceship arrived carrying Frieza's Brother: Cooler… Raijin went to face him alone while the rest of us dealt with Perfect Cell in a selfless action that meant that we could save the Earth in two places all at once, thankfully Raijin did arrive in time to help win the day… though I was dead at the time" Future-Trunks recounted from his experience; tapping off the points on his fingers while he spoke.

Trunks barely even flinched upon hearing how his Future-Self had been killed during The Cell Games even though The Dragon Balls had proven time and time again to be able to restore life to the dead.

"Your father gave up his chance to fight Perfect Cell in order to save the world from another world-ending threat that we couldn't possibly have dealt with after our battle with Perfect Cell"

Trunks sank down into his seat; stunned at the story he'd just been told.

"I hope you can find it within yourself to move past whatever vendetta you have against your father" Future-Trunks said; rising from his seat and moving back into the building before hearing Trunks speak.

"So what is Black beat you… you go and beat him next time" Trunks smiled as he spoke; offering up his fist for a fist-bump with his Future-Self.

Future-Trunks felt a surge of inspiration from Trunks' words; smiling and reaching out with his own fist, their fists bumping just as the sun finally set.

*Flashback Ends*

Raijin stunned Future-Trunks in how he sank down deeper into his seat in the exact same manner that Trunks did; a deep-thought expression falling over Raijin's face while he thought about the exchange between the two Trunks'.

"The thing is… Trunks is right; so what if we lost this time, we survived and we can fight again" Raijin rose up from his seat; his hands clenching into fists in a display of confidence and forming an image of victory, an image hat only Raijin saw; an image that showed Raijin and Future-Trunks standing together over the beaten and lifeless bodies of both Black and Zamasu.

"But Black will be stronger as well" Future-Trunks couldn't help but lament, every time he'd fought Black and earned an escape or a moral victory; Black had returned even stronger and now he had ascended to a whole new level: Super Saiyan Rose.

"Stop being so negative, this is about saving your Timeline" Raijin shouted; slapping Future-Trunks in the back for good measure after spotting that Future-Trunks was about to slide backwards into a depressed slump again.

Future-Trunks gave an encouraged nod; Raijin's truth-filled words though a tear budded up in the corners of his eyes when a new resolve to fight had been ignited within his heart.

Trunks and Goten both sat just around the corner having listened to the entire exchange between Future-Trunks and Raijin; both teenagers looked to each other before nodding and running off to an unknown destination.

Before Raijin or Future-Trunks could leave; Ewan appeared in the doorway, "Oh; Sir Raijin, Future-Trunks! Miss Bulma asked me to bring you both down to her Lab immediately as Goku and Vegeta had regained consciousness; and Lords Beerus and Whis are here".

Raijin and Future-Trunks looked to each other; Beerus and Whis only ever showed up when they wanted food but Raijin's Instincts were giving him dangerous signals.