Chapter Hundred-one
Trunks Returns Home! Justice Comes for You, Cell!
After Trunks watched Gohan disappear using Instant Transmission, Trunks flew back to the Capsule Corp building in West City. He didn't have any real plans for goodbyes or things like that. He'd say bye to his mother and hop into the time machine. Then, finally, this would all be over. He knew he was strong enough to kill Cell. He could finally end this nightmare. Then… then…
Trunks had to admit that he had no idea what was going to happen with his life next. Tomorrow he'd wake up in a world without Cell for almost the first time in his entire life. It was almost a completely alien concept to him. He just knew that, whatever happened, he would be free.
When Trunks arrived on the lawn of the Capsule Corp building, Bulma was standing beside the time machine, which Trunks could see had the scratches buffed out of it and had even been given a fresh coat of paint.
"Well look at you!" Bulma exclaimed playfully as she pulled Trunks into a hug. "Your hair's a mess again, jeez. And…" Bulma paused and looked at Trunks curiously, running a thumb over his cheek. "Are you growing a beard?" Trunks blushed slightly, which caused his blue stubble to stand out.
"I, uh, I stopped shaving the last week Gohan and I were in the chamber," he explained. "I've never actually tried growing one before and… I guess I just wondered how I'd look."
"It's not bad," Bulma admitted as she looked Trunks' face over. "But I think Barbara can fix you up and… and maybe we could get ice cream or something while we're downtown?" Bulma chewed her lip as she looked up at Trunks but he shook his head sadly and hugged her again.
"I'm sorry, mother. But I've got to go back."
"I know," Bulma admitted painfully, "But it's just… I'll never see you again, you know? I mean, there's my Trunks but he's going to grow up and be completely different from you."
"Nothing would make me happier," Trunks told her with surprising firmness in his voice. "I'm serious, mother. I want him to have everything I didn't. I want him to be happy. I want him to have friends who won't die in front of him and if he fights, it should be because he wants to, not because the world makes him. I want him to have a real life." He gave a weary smile and shrugged. "I guess I've just got to be happy with saving the world."
Bulma chuckled a little and fished a capsule out of her pocket. "Well, if you're going to save the world, you're going to need this." She put the capsule in Trunks' hand and he pressed the capsule down and was surprised when, once the puff of smoke cleared, he was holding his sword in his hand.
"I… it's…" Trunks stared at the sword, turning it over in his hand. He hadn't expected to see the sword ever again. "What did you do?" It didn't look exactly the same. The scabbard now had a trident emblazoned onto it with a two-pronged hook underneath it. Trunks wondered why Bulma had put it there.
"Oh, don't give me all the credit," Bulma assured him with a grin. "Your sword circled the Earth a few times before hitting a certain someone in the head." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder as her grin widened. Trunks looked over her shoulder and, to his surprise, he saw his father standing under the shade of a tree. He was wearing regular clothes, a long sleeved turquoise shirt with gray slacks and brown wingtips, and doing his best to look aloof. Trunks could barely believe it. It was one thing for Gohan to tell him something had happened but now he had here, in his hands, physical proof that Vegeta had actually done something for him. "After he brought it to me, I did a lot of work to reconstitute the rest of the metal and sharpen it and stuff. Especially after it floated around in orbit for a week and a half."
"It's incredible," Trunks muttered as he drew the sword. "It's just like be– wait a second." There was something off as he held inspected the blade that his eye caught. It was something in the way that light glinted off of the blade. As Trunks held the blade closer to his face he could see that there were strange symbols etched into the metal that he'd never seen before. There were five on one side of the sword and five different symbols on the other. "What are these?" he asked his mother. Bulma just gave a shrug.
"I dunno," she admitted. "I mean, I left the sword alone in my workshop for a little while yesterday so who knows where it got those from." There was a certain tone in her voice that made it clear that she knew exactly where the etchings came from. Just in case Trunks needed the extra hint, she rolled her eyes back toward Vegeta, who continued to do his best to look aloof. Trunks nodded and walked over toward Vegeta despite himself.
"So…" Trunks asked as he held the sword out to Vegeta. "What are these?" Then he tapped on the strange symbol on his scabbard as well. "Guessing that's your handiwork, too?"
"The symbol on the scabbard is the Royal Saiyan Crest," Vegeta explained. "I wore it as a child and my father and my mother wore it on their armor and the king and queen before them. The etchings on your sword are of the ten principal gods of the Saiyan religion."
"What're their names?" Trunks asked curiously as he sheathed the sword. It felt different in his hands now that he knew the extra significance it carried. As if it had some kind of extra power.
"Do you plan on worshipping them anytime soon?" Vegeta asked somewhat brusquely. Trunks shook his head. "Then it doesn't matter. The true point of it was so that you could carry the symbol of our legacy in your time. You will be the last true Saiyan of the only Saiyan bloodline. You're not just a Prince in your time. You're a King. So go. Fight, win, save your world. Make me proud and carry yourself with a King's pride. And by the gods," he added, "Have some children so my bloodline doesn't die with you." Trunks' face turned bright red and Vegeta chuckled at his son's embarrassment.
"Hey! I just remembered something!" Bulma called over to Trunks, allowing him to get out of that particular line of conversation. Trunks rushed over to her as she grinned and flashed a piece of paper at him. "I finally found the coordinates to New Namek! So you can go take care of that after you finish up with Cell and everything." Trunks hugged Bulma eagerly with a warm smile across his face.
"Thank you!" he exclaimed excitedly as he spun Bulma around. "Oh, this is incredible!" Then he regained his composure and returned to his naturally reserved state. "I, uh…" Trunks cleared his throat and slung it over his shoulder. "Thanks, mom." Bulma smiled and gave Trunks a kiss on the cheek.
"Go save the world," she told him with an encouraging squeeze on the arm. "I believe in you." Trunks nodded and hopped up into the cockpit of his time machine. Trunks gave one more look back at Vegeta, who gave him a wave with two fingers. Trunks smirked and gave Vegeta a wave back. Then he looked down at the controls of the machine and went through the ignition sequence as the machine hummed to life. Then, finally, he pushed the button that he'd been thinking about for five years now: the Return Home key. Trunks took a long breath and closed his eyes before hitting the button.
OoOoOoO
Bulma was waiting fretfully in her lab where she'd just seen the Time Machine with her son in it disappear. It had barely been two seconds but she couldn't help but start panicking as soon as the Machine had vanished. She had no idea if it had worked. She had no idea if her son was dead or alive. All she could possibly do was wait and see. She gave a whoop of surprise when a blinding flash of light filled the lab and, once her eyes had adjusted, the Time Machine was standing in her lab again. Bulma cried with delight as the cockpit popped open and Trunks hopped out of the Time Machine and to the floor.
"TRUNKS!" Bulma exclaimed jubilantly as she rushed to him and flung herself into his arms. Trunks hugged his mother back and looked down at her as if he'd seen her for the first time in years. "You're back! Oh my god, you're back and you're okay!" Bulma buried her face in Trunks' chest and Trunks could feel the wetness of her relieved tears as he stroked her hair.
"I'm back," Trunks assured her. "I'm home." She looked so different now. It wasn't just that her hair was longer and her skin was paler. It wasn't just the weariness in her eyes or the faint smell of tobacco that clung to her. After three years of living in the past with the younger version of his mother, when Trunks looked at his mother now he could see how the years of tragedy, heartbreak, loss, and desperate struggle had worn on her. It broke Trunks' heart. "Everything's going to be better now. I promise."
"Wait," Bulma said as she looked up at him. "You're really strong enough to beat Cell? You're sure?" Then after a pause and after looking at Trunks for another few seconds, she made another observation. "Waaait a second. You got taller, you grew out your hair… you have a beard! How long were you in the past?" Before Trunks could answer, however, there was a pounding at the door of the lab before it suddenly caved in and came flying off the hinges. Trunks caught the door effortlessly out of the air with one hand as Ocha and Shouronpo came thundering down the stairs. Yamcha and Chi-Chi's children had inherited their mother's towering height, although many of their facial features and the thickness of their black hair had come from their father.
"Is everything okay?" Shou asked as she and Ocha came closer. "We heard Bulma scream and–"
"Trunks!" Ocha exclaimed as he noticed the other young man. "You look… different." He spied Trunks' stubble and grinned as he rubbed at his own beard with a chuckle. "Trying to copy my style, huh? I can't blame ya."
"But that doesn't make any sense," Shou pointed out as she got closer and peered down at him. "I just saw you yesterday and you didn't have any beard. Also how are you…" she paused, putting a hand on the top of Trunks' head and drawing a line from there to her chest. "Less short? What's going on?"
"Does this have something to do with all those equations on Bulma's computer upstairs?" Ocha asked. "Not that I've… tried hacking it or anything," Ocha was a shockingly bright young man for someone with very little formal education who grew up during the end of the world. Bulma shot him a look before glancing at Trunks. She gave him a nod and he sighed.
"Okay," Trunks muttered, "Okay. I guess we'll let you in on everything." The whole story took nearly an hour and a lot of that was Trunks describing his time in the past. He could've easily said that there was too much to explain and summed it up instead but he figured that his only living friends, and his mom, deserved the whole story.
"So wait," Bulma interrupted, "You spent an entire year with Vegeta and no one else?" They'd gone back upstairs for the telling and were now all sitted around the kitchen table.
"Yep," Trunks replied. "Trust me. It's as thrilling as it sounds." That got a chuckle out of Bulma before Trunks continued.
"Jeez," Ocha muttered as he folded his one hand under his chin. "I didn't think there could be something worse than Cell but a Cell who won and went on that kind of a rampage sounds about right."
"Yeah," Trunks sighed wearily as he shook his head. "It was pretty awful. It wasn't all bad, though." Then he got to the Cell Games and how Goku and Gohan fought. He skipped over his own death and told them that Vegeta had only thought he was dead.
"So Vegeta really went ballistic like that over you?" Shou asked in surprise. Trunks nodded and her eyebrows lifted. "Jeez," she echoed, "I always thought he was kind of a jerk."
"Not me," Bulma put in. "I always knew he was better than he let on. There was a good man under all that posturing and anger." Then she took a sip from her whiskey before turning back to Trunks. "So what now?" Before Trunks could respond, however, he sat up with a start.
"Is it…?" Ocha asked nervously. The twins had only received rudimentary training from Trunks and hadn't learned ki sensing before he'd made his trip back in time yet they could tell by Trunks' body language that he'd sensed something.
"Yes," Trunks growled as he stood up from his chair. "It's her." He took off his Capsule Corp jacket and picked his sword up off the back of the chair before putting it around his waist and making for the door.
"Wait," Bulma told him as she grabbed him firmly by the wrist in both hands. "Trunks… promise me you can beat her," she looked up at her son with pleading eyes as she held onto him desperately. "Promise me. I can't lose anyone else to that monster. I… I just can't." Trunks smiled at his mother and nodded at her as he carefully pulled his hand free of her grasp.
"Don't worry," he assured her. "I'm going to end this nightmare once and for all." Then he walked out the door and outside. It was his first time looking at the outside world since returning to his own timeline. It was exactly how Trunks remembered it: grey, broken, burning. But it didn't dampen his spirit. He'd seen the beauty that the world had to offer and how it was meant to be. He knew that it was just under the surface of this battered world. He'd just have to dig it out again. Then his eyes turned skyward and he saw her. Perfect Cell. He turned into a Super Saiyan and flew up to meet her as lighting flashed and thunder rumbled.
"Well, well, well," Cell observed smugly as Trunks flew up to meet her. "I see someone's been trying a new look. I guess you'd have to, right? Not like you've got anything else to do with your time but wallow in your misery and grow out that stupid human hair." She spied Trunks' sword with a chuckle as Cell Jrs started to pour out of the flashing clouds by the hundreds. They really were such sad little things compared to the Cellspawn. They were obviously a rushed job that Cell had only created to try and prove that Earth didn't need humanity. "Still carrying that silly little toy around, huh? Still want to play a stupid little hero? Face it, Trunks. All the heroes are dead. You're just a rat that I've been toying with for years, holed up underground and cringing in fear. Now I've dragged you out into the light to finish off once and for all. Then I'll finish up this stupid planet and after that… who knows? There's a whole universe out there for me to Perfect. So let's wrap this up, huh?" The sky opened up and rain poured down on them all as Trunks eyed Cell coolly.
Trunks' hand went to the hilt of his sword and gripped it tightly as he glared at her. He'd spent the year with Gohan in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber wondering what he'd say to Cell or if he'd say anything at all. She'd mocked him for having a speech before. Called him a stupid child playing hero. She'd been right. Then again, Trunks reflected as thunder boomed again, what could she really do to him now? All his struggles, all his work. He knew it was going to pay off. He knew Cell could be defeated. He'd seen it with his own eyes. Now it was time for him to bring freedom to his own world, too. Besides, who the hell was she to tell him not to make speeches? All she ever did was run her mouth. Well now it was finally going to bite her.
"You're right," Trunks admitted as he held his sword. "I was stupid. I was stupid when I gave up. When I stopped having hope. Because hope is the one thing we always had no matter how desperate things got or how bleak it seemed. Hope was always our most powerful weapon against you. It's with that weapon that I've grown strong enough to defeat you!" Cell chuckled to herself and opened her mouth to make a retort. "No!" Trunks said vehemently, cutting Cell off and startling her. "This ends, Cell! Now and forever! The suffering! The death! It all ends here!" He drew his sword in a flash like quicksilver and levelled it at Cell and her hundreds of children. "Let me show you the strength of hope, Cell! This is more than just a sword! This is the human spirit! This is the Saiyan spirit! This is my spirit!" There was a wild fire in Trunks' eyes as he powered up to Super Saiyan 2. "Do you seriously think it's going to be broken by the likes of YOU?!"
"KILL HIM!" Cell screamed as she pointed dramatically at Trunks. Despite herself, there was a quavering in her voice that she couldn't explain. That power she had seen from him… it couldn't be. There was no way! The hundreds of Cell Jrs. charged at Trunks and he met their charge at lightning speed, tearing through them by the scores like a wildfire. Cell watched with her mouth agape as, before she even had time to blink, hundreds of her children suddenly became none as Trunks leveled his sword at her again. "...What are you?" she asked before trying to fly away from him.
"I told you seven years ago what I am, Cell!" Trunks roared as he was suddenly in front of her. Cell lashed out and threw out a punch but Trunks blocked it effortlessly with one hand while his other held onto the sword. "I am the one who's going to defeat you!" Cell fired death beams from all ten of her fingers but Trunks batted them all away with his sword. "I'm the one who's going to make you pay for the countless innocents you've killed!" Trunks flew forward and kicked Cell in the stomach, sending her flying up above the stormclouds and into the clear night sky, the full moon shining down on them. "For my father!" He was above her when she got there and met Cell with a hook to the jaw. "For my mother!"
"Get the hell away from me!" Cell shrieked in a mixture of fear and rage as she blasted a Kamehameha at Trunks. He took the blast full on and barreled through it, using the point of his sword like a drill to drive right to her. He raised his sword high overhead and, with all his strength, brought it crashing down and sliced Cell clean in half.
"For Gohan!" he roared. "Take this! My love, my anger, and all of my hope! Shining Sword Attack!" Trunk roared out with passion and power as he kept striking with his sword, hacking Cell to ribbons, his arms a blur and his sword a blazing inferno of silver light. Then he tossed the sword high into the air and crossed one arm under the other, pointing his palm at Cell's floating remains. "Light's Justice!" He poured all of his power into the blast, ensuring that Cell was destroyed down to the very last fibers of her being and nothing would be left to regenerate from. Trunks held out his hand for the sword to fall into and sheathed it in a single, smooth motion. It was finally over. Trunks clapped his hands and sent away the clouds before powering down and descending back to the ground. Slowly, the door opened and Bulma, Ocha, and Shouronpo walked out of the Capsule Corp building onto the Capsule Corp lawn. As they looked at Trunks it slowly dawned on them what his being alive meant. It was over.
They had won.
The trio ran to Trunks in a fit of glee and tackled him to the ground in their excitement. They all laughed with joy, long and boisterous and full of life, as if they had been holding every ounce of happiness inside their bodies to let it free at this moment. They lay there for several minutes, laughing like maniacs up at the full moon, laughing until they cried. Once they were finally laughed out, Trunks told his mother that her past self had given him the coordinates to New Namek. Bulma warned him that the Dragon Balls of New Namek could only revive one person at a time. Trunks just hoped he could get someone to come with him to Earth and be the new Guardian to restore the Dragon Balls. If that worked, Bulma gave Trunks some advice to be able to work around Shenron's limitations so they could revive everyone that Cell had absorbed.
It wasn't going to be perfect but that was fine with Trunks. He was sick and tired of perfect. Life wasn't perfect. It could be hard and you had to fight for everything you wanted out of life to keep your dreams. But it was worth it. Life wasn't perfect but it was beautiful. The future was beautiful and Trunks would give his every breath to protect it.
Cell Saga Battle Powers:
Mecha Freeza – 4,000,000
King Cold – 2,000,000
Trunks – 110,000
Trunks (Super Saiyan) – 5,500,000
Trunks (Post Training) – 200,000
Trunks (Super Saiyan) – 10,000,000
Trunks (Post HTC 1st Visit) – 600,000
Trunks (Super Saiyan) – 30,000,000
Trunks (Super Saiyan Grade 2) – 45,000,000
Trunks (Super Saiyan Grade 3) – 60,000,000
Trunks (Post HTC 2nd Visit) – 1,100,000
Trunks (Super Saiyan) – 55,000,000
Trunks (Super Saiyan 2) – 110,000,000
Vegeta – 120,000
Vegeta (Post Training) – 190,000
Vegeta (Super Saiyan) – 9,500,000
Vegeta (Post HTC 1st Visit) – 600,000
Vegeta (Super Saiyan) – 30,000,000
Vegeta (Super Saiyan Grade 2) – 45,000,000
Vegeta (Post HTC 2nd Visit) – 900,000
Vegeta (Super Saiyan) – 45,000,000
Goku – 110,000
Goku (Super Saiyan) – 5,500,000
Goku (Post Training) – 200,000
Goku (Super Saiyan) – 10,000,000
Goku (Post HTC) – 1,200,000
Goku (Super Saiyan) – 60,000,000
Gohan – 70,500
Gohan (Post Training) – 120,000
Gohan (Post HTC 1st Visit) – 1,700,000
Gohan (Super Saiyan) – 85,000,000
Gohan (Super Saiyan 2) – 130,000,000
Gohan (Post HTC 2nd Visit) – 2,000,000
Gohan (Super Saiyan) – 100,000,000
Gohan (Super Saiyan 2) – 200,000,000
Piccolo – 81,000
Piccolo (Post Training) – 200,000
Piccolo (Post Fused w/ Kami) – 5,000,000
Piccolo (Kaiouken x5) – 25,000,000
Piccolo (Post HTC) – 15,000,000
Piccolo (Kaiouken x5) – 75,000,000
Krillin – 20,500
Krillin (Post Training) – 50,000
Krillin (Post HTC) – 100,000
Yamcha – 3,000
Yamcha (Post Training) – 8,000
Yamcha (Kaiouken x2) – 16,000
Yamcha (Kaiouken x3) – 24,000
Tenshinhan – 4,000
Tenshinhan (Post Training) – 10,000
Tenshinhan (Kaiouken x2) – 20,000
Tenshinhan (Kaiouken x3) – 30,000
Tenshinhan (Kaiouken x4) – 40,000
Tenshinhan (Kaiouken x5) – 50,000
Tenshinhan (Kaiouken x10) – 100,000
Tenshinhan (Post HTC) – 20,000
Tenshinhan (Kaiouken x10) – 200,000
Launch – 3,000
Launch (Post Training) – 9,000
Launch (Kaiouken x2) – 18,000
Launch (Post HTC) – 18,000
Suno – 21,500
Suno (Post Training) – 51,000
Suno (Post HTC) – 110,000
Android #13 – 16,000
Android #14 – 18,000
Android #15 – 30,000
Adrian/Android #16 – 500,000
Lapis/Android #17 – 200,000
Lazuli/Android #18 – 200,000
Android #19 – 50,000
Dr. Gero/Android #20 – 50,000
Imperfect Cell – 10,000
Future Imperfect Cell – 10,000,000
Future Imperfect Cell (Post Absorption) – 25,000,000
Future Semi-Perfect Cell – 40,000,000
Future Perfect Cell – 80,000,000
Future Super Perfect Cell – 200,000,000
Future Perfect Cell (Trunks' Timeline) – 60,000,000
Future Cellspawn – 70,000,000
Future Cell Jrs. – 40,000,000