Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Time's Folly; A Bittersweet Symphony ❯ The Opening Glimpse ( Chapter 16 )

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Ch 16*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

- A month later -

 

Asia flipped through her back-handspring and settled into a crouched stance as her attacker landed after failing a roundhouse kick combo. The two girls paused briefly in their sparring to take measure of each other.

 

Not bad, but she's gonna have to do better than that, Videl said to herself as she advanced forward.

 

Asia attacked first, jumping up and spinning into a high kick that Videl ducked to avoid. Videl then moved in with a knee to her opponent's stomach, which was blocked by her hands. Asia retaliated, dropping into a quick sweep with one leg that caught Videl's ankle, upending her into a backwards fall. She then stepped back with a smile as Videl grunted and flipped herself upright again.

 

Videl sprung forward, launching into a furious combo of punches that never managed to hit their target. Asia finally stopped the barrage by grabbing both of her opponent's wrists mid-punch, effectively immobilizing them. Asia gave another little smile at Videl's surprised look before pushing her backwards. A strong, high kick landed on Videl's exposed shoulder, pushing her further away. Videl frowned as Asia came forward with her own series of punches from which Videl maneuvered away. A quick step and dodge followed, which placed Asia in position so that she could grab her opponent by the shoulders. Asia's right foot came up onto Videl's chest, and in a fluid movement, dropped onto the ground and rolled backwards, while pulling her opponent forward. Taking control of the motion and the weight of Videl's airborne body, Asia completed her backwards arc to throw Videl up and over. She didn't wait to hear the sound of her opponent hitting the ground. Instead, Asia flipped back up into a standing position and turned around to face her opponent.

 

As soon as Videl landed on her back, she expertly flipped to one side and rose up growling into a one-kneed crouch to face her sparring partner. Damn it! She's even better than I expected!

 

“You're pretty good. I guess I can't be so relaxed with you,” Videl commented.

 

“Well, thanks,” Asia said with a smile as one hand came up to wipe her forehead. “You're no easy spar yourself.”

 

Videl smiled back before sliding back into a ready stance. “So, you wanna keep going?”

 

Asia copied the move. “Sure, I can hang.” With that, the girls picked up where they left off.

 

<><><><>

 

“Not bad,” Mirai commented as he continued to watch the spar between Asia and Videl.

 

“Huh?”

 

Mirai turned to look at his companion with an arched eyebrow. “You're not even paying attention?” he asked, a little surprised.

 

Gohan sighed slightly as he re-focused his downward line of sight at the two girls exchanging blows and kicks. The two demi-Saiya-jin were standing on a hill slightly above and away from the fight taking place below them. Puzzled by his friend's apparent inattention, Mirai waited for a response.

 

“Trunks, I have some things I need to ask.” The seriousness radiating from Gohan's voice now had Mirai wondering as he nodded for him to continue. “How much do you really know bout these Augin-jin?”

 

“Nothing too extensive; I already told everyone what I knew,” Mirai said, looking off into the horizon, sensing that his friend wasn't finished with his questioning. It was another minute before Gohan continued.

 

“Are we in for something really...wild this time? Dealing with creatures that can rip through dimensions and all…I mean, we faced Majin Buu, who clearly had the ability to do that and we were still able to triumph over him. But how can we confront them, when it's obvious that they have successfully employed this ability time and again to their advantage? The proof is right in front of us,” he observed worriedly. “The Augin-jin used a dimensional rip to pull those three girls right out of their world into ours and, on top of it all, they somehow managed to do it remotely so that there is and never was any trace of them. How are we going to counter that? Can we really afford to just sit back and wait until these things get here? And what about the girls? Not even your mom, who's our resident genius, has any idea how and when we can return them back to where they belong. The way things look right now, they could be stuck here forever.”

 

Mirai stayed quiet as Gohan went on with his fretful musings:

 

“We are fighters, not magicians. And what if they bring Broli back? Believe what you will, but I personally think we got awfully lucky with that madman both times. Even with my dad being a Super Saiya-jin3, a crazed, powerful, and unreasoning being like Broli isn't someone to take lightly, especially if he is reinforced with their magic.”

 

Mirai nodded slowly in agreement. “Those are all good points, Gohan, but all we can really do on our end is to make sure that we are the best and most prepared fighters, and above that, we are the smarter ones. Ultimately, it will come down to full-on, face-to-face, bare-knuckles fighting, no matter what kind of magical powers they might possess.”

 

That said, the two hybrid Saiya-jin returned their attentions to the one-on-one sparring taking place below them. “They've gotten considerably stronger these past few weeks,” Gohan remarked, as he glanced over briefly at Autumn. She was sitting cross-legged, deep in meditation, a little ways from the other two girl fighters. “How are things going with Vegita?”

 

“I haven't trained once with Father since I've been here,” Trunks confessed with hidden irritation. It's almost like he refuses to do so.

 

“But,” he added after a pause, “Aside from pulling in `little brother', he's been very adamant about her training. Oddly enough, he's also been training with each separately, as if he doesn't want either of them to see what the other has learned.”

 

Gohan looked up at Trunks curiously. “Oh? That's… kinda strange. But then, what does Azure do when Vegita is training with the little guy?”

 

“Father's training usually runs her pretty ragged, so she mostly sleeps. After every session it's pretty much the same as what happened after she fought little Trunks last month - he trains her to the brink of exhaustion before she faints, completely spent. And that's how it always ends.”

 

“You wouldn't happen to know anything much about her current fighting skills then?” Gohan questioned.

 

“I have observed a couple of her training sessions. In my opinion, she does have a more mature fighting sense and, given what I've seen thus far, she could probably give Goten and `little brother' some light amusement. But, even that would be dangerous as those two'd get too carried away and most likely kill her by accident, as `little brother' almost did that day. Power-wise, she's nowhere near a true challenge for any of us Saiya-jins. I'm not sure of Krillin's or Tien's strength nowadays, but maybe, somewhere between them and the androids might be a good approximation for her skill level; although exactly where it could be in that space, is what I'm not so sure about. In a way, it really doesn't matter since she can't seem to tap into all of her power potential anyway, and by using too much is another reason why she always faints.”

 

“I see,” Gohan replied with a pondering tone. Not an ultimate danger, but still…

 

Mirai looked down at the girls again. Autumn had ceased her meditation to call time in the fight between Videl and Asia and now the three girls were resting, talking quietly among themselves.

 

“Go-han!!”

 

The two half-breeds turned at sound of the young voice to see Goten and Goku appearing behind them.

 

“Hi, Son!” Goku beamed as usual while Goten bounced up to them with his customary energy. Gohan greeted them both with a brief smile and a nod.

 

“We came to check up on you,” Goten announced with a grin.

 

Gohan smiled back lightly as he took in the form of his younger brother - who had obviously been sparring with their father before arriving - his gi and pants ripped in spots and his cheery face covered with dirt and bruises. “So, how's the training goin', squirt?”

 

Goten tilted his head and gave his older brother a sloppy smile. “Dad's been teaching me lots. I'm a lot stronger now - I could even take you on!”

 

That boast made Gohan laugh out loud good-naturedly. “I wouldn't be surprised, squirt. I really wouldn't.” He then noticed that someone else was missing. After a quick pause, Gohan asked, “Hey, guys, where's Trunks?”

 

“Spar with me, Gohan,” Mirai abruptly requested in a very Vegita-like manner. Both Gohan and Goku were taken back slightly, but Gohan only nodded in consent.

 

“That's a good idea,” Goku said with a nod. “You haven't done too much real training lately, have you, Gohan?” he added a little chidingly.

 

“Well, that's gonna change,” Gohan asserted firmly, before looking fully at Mirai. “Let's go.”

 

Mirai nodded and lifted into the air with a slight air of impatience. Gohan also lifted up slightly but paused and looked down at his father.

 

“Dad, just watch the girls for a while, would you? And please tell Videl I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly without telling her.”

 

“Sure thing, Son,” Goku said with a nod and a wave. His oldest son nodded and flew to catch up with Mirai, while Goku followed his youngest down the hill to where the girls were resting.

 

<><><><>

 

After flying for a good ten minutes Mirai finally touched down near the edge of a low cliff that overlooked a lake. Gohan landed a few feet behind him. After a moment, Mirai turned around to face his fellow demi-Saiya-jin.

 

“No holding back,” he said, in dead seriousness.

 

Slightly surprised, Gohan could detect Vegita's personality channeling through in those terse words. Even though Trunks was Bulma's child, in this moment he was almost a carbon-copy of his Saiya-jin father, and now that he was in his more “Vegita”-like mood, the look he had on his face seemed almost foreign to Gohan. Preparing himself, Gohan nodded once in brief consent.

 

Without saying another word, both quickly fell into their familiar pre-fight stances. Mirai made the first move, sending a series of punches that didn't connect with their target. Gohan's offering of first punches didn't do any better. Mirai adjusted, altering his attack by first faking a punch then phasing out to reappear behind his opponent. Before Gohan could dodge it, Mirai drove his right elbow sharply into his back. Gohan faltered forward a bit, turning around only to be hit in the face with a powerful blow, followed by another in his gut. A knee followed the fist into Gohan's gut and was immediately succeeded by an even harder hit in the middle of his back, this time from Trunks' left elbow.

 

Winded, Gohan coughed, making a gacking sound. He was surprised by Mirai's attack up to this point. Vegita's son had caught him totally unprepared because he hadn't expected the hits to be has hard as they were. Gohan knew he had to change his strategy quickly or this sparring session would be over as soon as it started.

 

Immediately after the second elbow-to the-back, he spun around on the balls of his feet and sent a punch up into Mirai's chin as his lavender-haired adversary was busily lacing his fingers together to form another powerful blow. Gohan's hit sent Trunks up into the air a few feet where he was greeted again by a vicious kick to his ribs.

 

Mirai recovered and countered with a ki blast aimed at Gohan's head as he stopped the sideways momentum caused by his opponent's kick. Gohan easily pushed the blast aside only to be met by a roundhouse kick from Trunks that pushed him down towards the lake quite a few feet. As he put on the air brakes to stop his downward trajectory, Gohan looked up just in time to barely dodge a huge ki blast that had come his way.

 

Now in Super Saiya-jin form, Trunks hovered, keeping his senses on alert as the huge blast collided with the lake below. The impact sent tons of water, dust, and smoke up in the air. He sensed movement and whipped around to be greeted by a direct kick from Gohan right in his face. Mirai tumbled hard into the debris pile his own ki blast had created from the former lake bed. Almost immediately, Mirai answered with new ki blast. Gohan again batted it away but then was hit squarely in the head by a well-placed head-butt. Mirai followed through with a down-angled kick to Gohan's mid-section. He watched as Gohan plummeted, the impact opening a mini-crater as he slammed into the ground.

 

Gohan growled with anger he began to push himself into a sitting position. “This is supposed to be a spar! Not an attack!” Only then did Gohan actually notice that Mirai had gone Super Saiya-jin. What the hell…no wonder!

 

He then realized that was the reason his arm had hurt more than it should when he batted away Mirai's ki blasts. Gohan had barely time to ponder any more as Mirai dove down, initiating a series of furious barrages of hits and kicks. It didn't take very long before Gohan found himself pretty banged-up as a result of his attacker's merciless blows.

 

“Calm down, Trunks!”

 

“You've gotten weaker, Gohan,” he heard Mirai say condescendingly. He watched as Mirai stood on the ground, both legs firmly planted, outstretching his arms towards him while his hands met at the wrist. Inside his lightly cupped palms a goodly amount of energy soon formed into a flowing sphere.

 

“I really did expect more from you,” Mirai said, in a low, disappointed tone.

 

Despite the beating he'd just taken, Gohan couldn't completely disagree with that harsh observation. He was beaten down considerably and not fighting with the vigor of his fellow half-breed. It was obvious to him that Trunks was definitely stronger now than before, but he also realized that he too could've been just as strong, if not more so, if he had continued in his training like he had done in preparation for his face-off with Cell all those years ago. But on the other hand, Mirai wasn't just sparring; he was fighting with absolute seriousness.

 

“This is not acceptable,” Mirai said almost to himself as he let go of the huge blast.

 

Gohan suddenly powered up just enough to shoot an identical blast back towards the overly aggressive Super Saiya-jin Trunks - the conflicting energies met and exploded against each other, creating a sizable dust cloud.

 

Seconds later, before the dust could clear, a new and slightly stronger blast came from the opposite direction. Gohan leapt into the air then dove towards Mirai, who noticed his reaction a hair too late. Gohan then knocked him down hard into the ground, enough so that Trunks' couldn't jump right back up. Gohan flipped up in to the air after the takedown and readied himself for the next attack. Surprisingly, Mirai just stayed where he had landed and made no attempt to get up. After a few seconds, a puzzled but cautious Gohan slowly descended to the ground, wondering about the lack of movement from his friend. Gohan stood where he was and eyed Mirai curiously.

 

Trunks lay on the ground with his eyes closed.

 

“Now, what was that all about?” Gohan asked after a minute of silence.

 

“You were holding back,” Trunks said in a harsh, accusatory voice.

 

Gohan sighed. “Not exactly -”

 

“Don't lie to me, Gohan!” Mirai interrupted sharply. “I have witnessed your strength! I saw you use it before when you battled Cell. If you can't let go when I get serious, how do you expect to win against the Augin-jin?”

 

“What do you mean?” Gohan frowned. “You are not them.”

 

Trunks finally opened his blue eyes and looked directly at Gohan. “But I could be.”

 

Mirai stood up, looking away from the confused Gohan and into the distance. “Gohan, you need to be able to tap into that strength so that you can take down not just them, but any one of us.”

 

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

 

Mirai turned and looked directly at Gohan. “Think bout it, Gohan. The Augin-jin are desperate to take Saiya-jin power in order to make themselves more powerful, more invincible. If they somehow manage to bring back and to control Broli, or another creature similar to him in both power and strength then they can take control of any of us if they wanted to. Be ready for that, because it just might happen. They are evil tricksters and will use any ploy they can come up with to achieve their ultimate goals, even it means pitting us against each other.”

 

Gohan stood there, silently nodding while digesting Trunks' dire words.

 

“You need to train harder, my friend,” he heard Mirai say with a sigh.

 

Gohan looked at him and nodded again. “I will, Trunks. I promise.”

 

“Now, tell me what happened with this Majin Buu...”

 

<><><><>

 

- later that night -

 

Settling into a cross-legged position, Piccolo arranged himself in preparation for his nightly meditation behind the main building, near the edge of the Lookout. He took a moment to survey his surroundings. The night air was still, save for a feather-light breeze that brushed across his skin. The sky was clear; the stars above shone brightly enough to make up for the absence of the moon he had disposed of many years ago.

 

As he began to meditate in earnest, he closed his eyes, absorbing first the peaceful stillness of the immediate area, while all other sensory information intermittently logged into the back of his mind, to either be remembered briefly sometime down the road or be replaced with more immediate and pressing matters. Tonight, it was to be the latter.

 

Piccolo's brow furrowed with concern as he sent out mental feelers to gather in more information. Something, somewhere within his senses, was warning him to be on alert. This was not a new feeling for he had picked it up sometime during the past month, and it had been quite active during that time. Concentrating, he slowly let himself slip into a deeper meditative trance.

 

<><><><>

 

The bedroom was still and calm. Only an occasional soft breeze from the partially opened window added to the sounds within the otherwise quiet room. One of those light breezes ventured far enough into the room to lightly brush up against the cheek of the room's sole occupant, who responded to its touch with only the slightest of movements. Its look was one of mist, shimmering with a light, almost milky color, but without the added moisture. It slowly mixed with the breezes coming from the window before continuing to swirl around the sleeping form as though drawn to it, caressing it lightly at first, with excruciating slowness and deliberation, before increasing slightly.

 

Throughout this visitation, the sleeping form continued to breathe slowly and steadily, the intakes and exhalations normal and relaxed. Once its climax was reached, the mist rose away from the body, and began to simmer down the same way it had built up. The incoming breezes gracefully and slowly dissipated the misty white shimmer, dispersing it into nothingness as more outside breezes entered the room. As the room cleared, only the calm, feathery presence of the newer, fresher breezes stayed behind. Sleep continued, softly and undisturbed.

 

<><><><>

 

Inwardly, Piccolo stirred while his eyes remained closed, but his senses stayed on high alert. A light presence - or rather evidence of a presence to be more precise, was apparent. Because of this, he began to focus. Somehow he knew this was very important to note. It was there, somewhere in the great distance, but the particulars of why and how it existed remained tantalizingly just out of reach from his mental grasp. But he wasn't going to let this mystery slip away; he would figure it out.

 

<><><><><><>

 

A lone figure flew across the calm night sky, heading towards a cliff that looked down into a valley. Once he landed, he stood straight, looking ahead at everything and nothing at all. His focus was on his own thoughts; reflecting on the events thus far, beginning with his mind's decision to re-open sealed parts of his past.

 

It happened again today. Why? Why bother? It's not possible. I know it's not. Ridiculous. But there's something…what the hell is this feeling I keep getting?

 

He paused in his mental ramblings for just a moment, as something elusive made his thoughts switch to another personally bothersome situation.

 

~*~flashback~*~

 

“Roughly, within two years,” Mirai replied.

 

“And you are going to stay here for two years,” Vegita stated more than askedYes,I know,Mirai heard his father's voice in his mind. Mirai eyes widened as he stared into Vegita's face for a quick moment before blinking hard and tearing his gaze away.

 

“Yes,” he said softly.

 

<>~~<>

 

“This dark, magical energy has manifested itself in the form of some kind of barrier force, which is hanging over the two girls, Autumn and Asia, as well as the older Trunks. Its power is preventing them from leaving this world, this dimension, if you will. And I'm afraid that it is even beyond the power of the dragon balls to counteract. It's far too strong.”

 

<>~~<>

 

Vegita creased his eyebrows recalling the two moments. What the hell are you still hiding, boy, I know there is something; you can't hide something like this from me! Something is wrong with you, Trunks, and I can feel it.

 

~*~flashback~*~

 

Chibi was quick to notice it as well and looked up at his older self with a questioning and slightly worried look

<>~~<>

 

Worry then flashed across his handsome face. Both of them now, how much do they share? He gave some thought back to the years before during the elder Trunks' last visit. I don't remember anything that would suggest it, but, if we are dealing with magic…how much does one thing affect the other. Another thought struck him. Especially when…' he trailed off.

 

He closed his eyes. Unexpectedly, something light and brief touched at the edge of his senses. Suddenly, something clicked. He opened his eyes and nodded to himself, knowingly, but worried. Trunks…

 

Seconds later, he was in the air again, heading back to Capsule Corp.

 

<><><><>

 

The refreshing night breeze flowed softly into the quiet room, lightly teasing a few lavender strands with its invisible current. Underneath those strands, pondering blue eyes stared intently up at the blank ceiling. He concentrated on keeping his breaths slow and steadily, listening for everything and nothing at all.

 

“I don't know,” he whispered softly, barely hearing his mouth utter the words. “Mother…” he uttered in the same manner. He slowly closed his eyes for a few moments before opening them again.

 

“Shit.”

 

Not…this… again. A few more moments passed until he moved for first time since he had laid down at least a couple hours ago. He propped himself into an upright sitting position on the bed.

 

It's not going away as quickly as it did before. I used to be able to feel it strongly over the girls. Now I can't so much anymore. Trunks looked to his side towards the half-opened window. Has training really worked for them? Is it really going away? Maybe it was just an accident or some kind of experiment gone awry that brought them here? I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer to really be able to tell - if I can at all.

 

Trunks slowly lay back down on his back and re-fixed his gaze on the ceiling above. He took in a slow, deep breath, raising his ki just slightly for a couple seconds, before releasing it again.

 

“Shit,” he said once again in that barely-heard tone. He pushed the last troublesome thoughts aside and closed his eyes; he was asleep within minutes.

 

*~*~*~*~*