He shivered as he confusingly looked around. Where am I? Who am I? Where am I going? He asked himself. He stood still in the middle of an empty place that was filled with complete darkness. He suddenly felt scared, his body started to tremble lightly. "Where is this place?" He asked himself again. His voice sounds strange to him, so familiar yet so foreign. The silence and the darkness were driving insane. He began to run, slowly at first, then his pace started to speed up. He wanted so desperately to find an exit, to escape this horror place, but he seemed to be stuck in this place of darkness.
He started to feel tired, he slowed down a bit. His throat felt dry. "Water…" He spoke sourly. Suddenly a pond appeared before him. He glanced at his surrounding once more. It was no longer filled with darkness. Beautiful trees and plants replaced it. He could see the sky now; it was as blue as he remembered it. Did he see it before? He couldn't remember. His head started to pound and his dry throat screaming for water. He quickly bent down next to the pond and cupped some water in his hand. He brought it to his mouth. The water ran down his throat smoothly, soothing his dried throat. He began to relax. He repeated his action and drank more water, but as he sees his reflection in the pond, he stopped. He dazedly stared at the reflection. A youth with lavender long hair stared back at him. He looked so familiar. Where did I see him before? His head began to pound again as he tried hard to remember.
"You are a curse." The reflection spoke.
The voice sound just like his own. Then all the memories came flooding back, the fight with Cell. But confusion spreads across his face when the image of Cell plunging a sword through him flashed in his mind. Am I dead?
He now understood it was his own reflection talking to him. "Curse?" Trunks asked.
"Ever since that day you were born, no one you loved had a happy ending. Remember your father? He died shortly after you were born, and don't forget Gohan. He also died trying to make you turned Super Saiyajin. What happen to the time when you went back to the past? Because of your appearance, the history itself became chaos. And recently Cell came back to plague the world with death, all because of you. Didn't your wife died also?" His reflection accused. Its word was hard and cold.
Trunks covered his ear and desperately blocked out the words. "Shut up! I'm not a curse!" Trunks protested.
"Why are you afraid of hearing my words? Does it rings truth to it? Can you handle the truth?" His reflection was laughing at him now.
"Stop! You're lying!" Trunks screamed. His hands still beside his ear.
His reflection snickered. "You're better off dead."
Trunks snarled and removed one hand from his ear. He formed a fist and swung it at his own reflection. The water splashed as his fist was connected with the pond. His reflection turned back to normal. It doesn't move when he didn't move. It doesn't talk when he didn't talk. Trunks let out a sigh of relief. He wiped off the water from his face. A disturbing thought ran through his mind. Was it true? Was he a curse? Trunks shook off the disturbing thought.
Seconds later, Trunks heard another familiar voice that also came from the inside of the pond. "Failure!" The voice growled.
Trunks looked into the pond and saw his father as he remembered him. His father wore the same frown as he did in the past. "Otousan!"
"Don't call me that. You are a disgrace." Vegeta's reflection snapped.
Confused, Trunks began to question. "What are you talking about?"
"I do not have a weak and pathetic son like you. A disgrace to the Saiyajin's blood." Vegeta scolded.
Finally Trunks understood what his father was talking about. "Cell was too strong. I can't defeat him alone." Trunks said, ashamed at his weakness.
"A true Saiyajin does not doubt his own power. We do not allowed sentimental feelings to get in our way during the fight. That was your mistake. You held on to the memories of your wife, that's why you failed." Vegeta said profoundly.
"But Cira…I could never forget her." Trunks shut his eyes tightly as the memory of Cira flashes in his head. When he opened his eyes, the image of his father disappeared only to be replaced by Cira's.
"Cira!" Trunks exclaimed happily. His eyes grew in excitement.
"Trunks. I'm sorry I can't be by your side anymore." The image of Cira said. Her voice was filled with so much sadness and pain.
"I miss you Cira. It's my fault you were killed." Trunks said sadly.
"It's not your fault. It's no one faults. Stop blaming yourself." Cira pleaded. "There are many other people you could still save. Forget about me and go on with your life, Trunks."
"But…" Trunks began to speak, but Cira's image slowly disappeared from the pond. In attempt to grab Cira, Trunks reached his arms into the pond. Accidentally he tripped on a piece of wood and fell onto the pond. But when his body touched the surface of the water, the pond itself disappeared. He was now falling freely into a deep empty darkness. As he was falling, he heard someone screaming his name. "Trunks! Trunks!" Cried the voice.
******
"Trunks! Trunks!" Bulma cried. She shook Trunks gently by the shoulder. Trunks didn't seem to hear her. He was still thrashing on his bed.
"Torie, quick, grab a towel." Bulma ordered.
Torie quickly ran out the room. Miko stood by the bed silently with a terrified look on his face. What happen to his father, he thought.
Suddenly Trunks' eyes popped open. He was breathing heavily with sweats rapidly rolling down his forehead. He looked around, puzzled by his whereabouts. He tried to utter a word, but his throat was too dry. Where am I?
"Oh, Trunks, you finally awakes." Bulma cried. She threw her arms around Trunks.
Trunks winced as Bulma pressured against his body. The unhealed wound ached and his muscle tensed.
"Gomen." Bulma let out of her grip. "I'm so happy you finally wakes up. You know how worry I am?" Bulma's tears came running down her cheeks.
"Papa!" Miko climbed on the bed next to Trunks.
"Otousan." Torie whispered as she entered the room with a wet towel in her hand.
Bulma reached out her hand. Torie handed over the towel to Bulma. Bulma quickly wiped off the sweat from Trunks' forehead. "Were you having a nightmare?"
"Okaasan." Trunks finally spoke, his voice came out hoarsely. He made an effort to sit up but his body ached tremendously. "How?" Trunks asked vaguely, feeling too weak to speak furthermore.
Bulma knew what Trunks was about to ask her. "Torie brought you back, you were on the verge of death when she carried you in the house. I was so afraid you weren't going to make it." Bulma sniffed.
Trunks' eyelids felt heavy. He wanted to hear more, so he forced it to stay open but his tiredness took over his body. His mother voice was growing more distant as he dripped off into another restless sleep.
Bulma stopped talking when she saw Trunks fall deeply asleep. She carefully brushed off Trunks' strand of hair. It had been a while since she played the role of a mother, caring and tendering Trunks like a baby. Ever since the androids came in their life, Trunks was forced to grow up faster than the other normal kids. He spent his childhood fighting and protecting, thus giving her no time to really display for motherly responsibilities. Bulma sighed deeply. She turned back to Torie.
"Take care of your father, and tell me when he wakes up again." Bulma said tiredly. For the past week, she has to care for Trunks and worked on her invention. The effort had worn her down more than she expected.
"Hai." Torie said. Her grandmother didn't need to ask her twice.
"I help, too." Miko said, feeling a little left out.
Bulma smiled weakly. "Of course, Miko. Listen to your sister, okay?"
Miko nodded proudly.
Bulma exited the room quietly, leaving Trunks in Torie's care. She got no more time, she thought. Cell had already destroyed the half of the planet searching for Trunks. Bulma didn't want to tell Trunks this news, or else Trunks will leave and tried to fight Cell again despite his injury. Their only hope now laid on her invention.
Chi Chi pulled her robe tighter against her breast as the gush of cold winds blew from the window. Chi Chi didn't understand why for the past week, the nights were exceptionally cold and quiet. In the country, afar from the cities, there were usually sounds of crickets and insects singing in the night, but ever since that night when Bulma and Trunks showed up, everything seemed too quiet. Was she over reacting or was something going on. The more she thought of it, the more it seemed weird. Usually Bulma and Cira would pay her a visit every other day, but they hadn't visited her for over a week. Chi Chi frowned. They didn't even call her.
Asides from taking care of Goten, Chi Chi really hadn't noticed anything that was happening outside her house. She usually learned from Bulma and Cira about the outside world during their gossiping sessions, or during her trips to the supermarket. So since she did neither of those things, these past weeks, she had been lost to the news.
Chi Chi picked up the remote controller from the coffee stand. Maybe there's something on the news that explained everything. Chi Chi thought hopefully. She began to flip through the channels. Most channels were filled with snowy pictures. Chi Chi frowned. Doesn't anyone believe in putting on a show anymore? Chi Chi thought angrily as more snows appeared. Finally Chi Chi found a channel with news. The news was strange. It doesn't have a reporter like the other news. The cameraman seemed to be hiding inside some sort of bush, because leaves were covering the edge of the screen. Chi Chi squinted her eyes closely and tried to see where was the cameraman trying to shoot the camera. As the camera zoomed closer, Chi Chi could see a lizard like monster in the middle of the street. He was unmercifully throwing fireballs at the houses and the people. Chi Chi gasped. What's happening? Who is this monster? A vivid memory from one of Bulma's tale about the enemies whom Trunks fought rushed through her head. "He must be Cell." Chi Chi spoke softly. "But I thought Bulma said Trunks had already destroyed Cell?" She asked herself confusingly. "Was he the reason why Bulma hasn't been visiting her?" Chi Chi said thoughtfully. Feeling uneasy, Chi Chi decided to give Bulma a call and straightened out everything.
Chi Chi picked up the cradle of the phone, with her hand shaking slightly, she began to dial. A tired old voice answered the phone from the other line. "Bulma…"
Trunks forced his heavy eyelids to open slowly. His room filled with darkness, only a small ray of dim light escaped from behind the curtain. Trunks moved his body a little and stopped when a sharp pain shoots painfully through his wounds. Trunks tried to move his body once more, this time he moved carefully making sure he doesn't agitate his wounds. His pair of legs finally made it to the edge of the bed. Trunks sat still for a second and caught his breath. He hadn't felt this weary and useless for a long time.
Suddenly a light tremor filled the bed followed by a small moan. Trunks turned around carefully. At the other edge of the bed, a small figure was deeply asleep. Trunks focused on the sleeping figure and realized it was Torie. Her head was faced down on his bed, with her arms buried under her face. "Torie." Trunks whispered. But Torie didn't answered. Trunks sighed. Torie must have grown very tired from looking after him. Instead of saving the world from misery, he had become a burden to his family. Trunks thought.
Trunks quietly stood up from his bed and very slowly he walked to the door. Trunks strolled down the corridor leaning his right arms against the wall for support. His left arm were wrapped in a cast, therefore it's useless. In the middle of the corridor, Trunks heard faint tapping coming from his mother's room. Could his mother still be awake at this hour? Trunks continued to walk toward his mother's lab, taking small steps and stopping frequently to catch his breath. Finally he's in front of the laboratory. The faint tapping stopped. Trunks lightly tapped on the door.
***********
Bulma tapped on the ENTER button on her keyboard. Her works were finally finished. Bulma leaned back against her chair and relaxed a little. A light tap behind the door startled her slightly. Bulma shut off the computer and got up to open the door. To her surprise, standing behind the door was Trunks. He looked pale and tired. "What are you doing walking around?" Bulma exclaimed. "Why aren't you resting?" She hurried and helped Trunks to the closest chair.
Limping, Trunks followed Bulma and sat down. "I woke up and felt thirsty. I was about to go and get some water until I saw lights coming from your room, okaasan." Trunks explained.
"Baka. You should tell Torie to fetch you the water. What if you hurt yourself more?" Bulma said in a motherly tone.
"Torie was asleep, I didn't want to wake her up." Trunks said. He suddenly felt a sharp pain coming from the wound near his stomach. He used his free hand to apply pressure against it. "I remember Cell almost killed me. How did I survive?" Trunks asked.
Bulma seated herself behind the computer. "It's a miracle you survived that day." Bulma began. "When I saw you walked into the door with Torie, I thought you were dead." Bulma looked at Trunks with tears hanging from her eyelids. "You should have seen yourself. You were covered with bloods and cuts. I didn't even recognize you." Bulma sobbed. "Don't ever do that again."
"But Torie couldn't have escaped Cell." Trunks said.
Bulma dabbed away her tears with a tissue. "From what I heard from Torie, she caught Cell off guard. Cell didn't have a chance to attack."
Trunks nodded, finally understanding the whole situation. "How long was I asleep?"
"For almost four days." Bulma answered.
Trunks scanned the room slowly. Something seemed out of place. Then he remembered. His mother never came into this room ever since the cities were rebuilt. She said since the world is at peace, there's no need for her to invent anymore things. Trunks' eyebrow stitched together with confusion. "Okaasan? Why are in this room?"
Bulma sighed. "It's time I revealed my latest invention." Bulma pushed the button and words started to show on the computer screen. With a few commands, a model of a huge spacecraft appeared within the screen. Bulma pointed at the spacecraft. "This is my newest invention."
Trunks leaned over and took a closer look. Confusion spreads across his face. "Nani? What is it?"
Bulma tapped on the keyboard, the model rotated. "This is another model of a time machine."
Trunks took another glanced at the model. "Time machine?" The time machine shown inside the screen was ten times larger than the one he used fifteen years ago. The structure and model was also different.
"Yes, time machine. I started to build this when Cira passed away. I have this theory that by bringing Dende and the Dragonball to this time, maybe…just maybe we could revive Cira." Bulma paused.
Trunks stared at his mother, bewilder at the ideas. Trunks was about to speak, but Bulma motioned him to stop.
"Let me finish explaining." Bulma said. "This time machine is different from the last one. This one hold more than ten passengers and instead of going through time, it also has the ability to go through dimensions."
"You want me to go back to the past? Okaasan?" Trunks asked.
Bulma nodded. "That's the only hope to revive Cira and the rest of the people who was killed by Cell. Beside this is a great opportunity to train yourself and get stronger."
Trunks shook his head in disbelief. "But how are we sure that the Dragonball would work in this time?"
"It's only a guess. The dragonball should work wherever Dende is, so by bringing Dende, the dragonball might still be effective." Bulma explained.
Trunks still thought the idea was crazy, but he had another question in his mind. "Why build a time machine containing ten passengers and about the dimensions?"
"I want you to bring Torie and Miko along and as for the rest, it's just extra space. The dimensions travel is a little bit confusing." Bulma shut off the computer and faced Trunks.
Trunks patiently waited for Bulma's explanation.
"Because you tampered with the past once, you had created another future different from ours, a future in which Gokou and your father are still alive. But we cannot go into that timeline with the old time machine. That's why I built another one that is capable of that task." Bulma said while looking at Trunks for his reaction.
Trunks was still confused, but he understood a little of what Bulma is trying to tell him. "But why do we need to go to the alternative timeline when all we need is Dende and the dragonball? We could just go back to 35 years when Dende just became the god of Earth." Trunks stated.
"We could do that. But remember, right now Cell is a lot stronger than you are. Don't you need to train and get stronger? I doubt Gokou and your father are that much stronger than you in that timeline." Bulma said.
Trunks finally understood. "So dragonball is not my only purpose for the time traveling."
Bulma nodded. Secretly, she didn't know if her plan would work. There's always something that might go wrong. Bulma sighed. "I also built something else beside the time machine."
Trunks' eyes widened. His mother was indeed a genius. In short week, his mother not only built a time machine, but something else too? Trunks looked at his mother with admiration. "What's that?"
Bulma stood up slowly. She walked over to Trunks and helped him off the chair. "Follow me."
Trunks completely forgot about his injuries, but as soon as he moved, all the pain started to come back. He groaned as he was followed Bulma.
Bulma led him to another room within the laboratory. Inside was decorated the same as the laboratory itself with machines and computer hooked up to the walls. Trunks noticed a strange tankl in the far end of the room. He had never seen it before.
Bulma walked up the computer next to the tank. She entered a few commands and the door opened up. "This is the regeneration tank."
"Regeneration tank?" Trunks asked, confused. He stared and examined the tank. The size of the tank only fitted one person. He wondered what's the purpose of the tank.
"I remember when I went to Namek with Kurilin and Gohan, Freeza and your father was there searching for the Namek's dragonball, and so were we. There was a big battle against Freeza during that time. Luckily Gokou came to our aid, but the enemies was far too strong, he was injured. Your father, who was still our enemy, brought Gokou to the regeneration tank. Gokou was healed within a couple hours. I had a peek at the tank and I remember how it was made, so I constructed one after I was finished with the machine." Bulma explained quickly.
"You telling me that this tank can healed me within a couple of hours?" Trunks asked amazingly.
Bulma nodded. "Step into the tank." Bulma ordered.
Trunks sighed and stepped into the tank. His mother placed a mask on his face. Suddenly he felt drowsy and tired. His eyes began to close. The last thing he remembered was the door of the tank began to shut on him.
When the fluid completely filled the tank, Bulma checked approximately when Trunks will be fully healed. The computer stated about six hours. Bulma checked her watch. Trunks should be healed before the sunrise. The phone in the other room started to ring. Bulma hurried to the phone and picked it up. "Moshi Moshi." She said tiredly.
"Bulma…" Chi Chi said on the other line. "Sorry to call so late."
"No problem. Is there something the matter?" Bulma asked concernedly.
"Hai. I just watched the news, and someone that looked exactly like Cell was on it. I was wondering do you know anything about it?" Chi Chi asked.
Bulma completely forgot to warn Chi Chi about Cell. "Gomen, Chi Chi. I forgot to tell you about Cell. Do you have time tomorrow? I'll explain everything to you in person and there is something I need to tell you." Bulma said.
"Hai. I'll come over tomorrow." Chi Chi said.
"Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow morning. Bye."
"Bye." Chi Chi hanged up.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Bulma thought as she hanged up the phone.
Chapter 7---The Trip to the Past---Bulma invented another time machine so Trunks can go back to the past once again. Will the trips be successful or will there be more obstacles? Find out in the next chapter.
Drop me a comment at Chibi-Trunks