Insertion

Part 83

A year, and a day.

++++++++++++

Trunks, as he had dubbed himself,
was slowly coming to a horrifying
realization. Something far worse than
even he had imagined had taken place. He
was trapped in a room with Mihoshi, for
an entire year. He thought he was taking
it rather well.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Are you finished yet?" grumbled
Hotaru as she frowned at her 'master'.
"We should be training."

"Really? Why?" asked the bubbly
blonde girl cheerfully as she smiled at
her two companions.

"You're not supposed to be here,"
said Hotaru as she frowned at her for a
moment and turned back towards Trunks
again. "I suppose you'll just have to
wait over there." She pointed at the
living area and sighed. "We have work to
do."

Mihoshi shrugged at this and looked
at Trunks. "Is he going to be all right?
It sure is heavy in here though."

Trunks stopped screaming and looked
at her for a moment. "Wait a minute!" He
jumped to his feet and ran over to a
small control pad that was on one of the
walls in the living area. "A hundred
times..." He blinked and looked over at
Mihoshi for a moment and scowled. "What
the hell?"

"What? Is something wrong?" said the
blonde with a somewhat frightened
looking frown. "I didn't break anything
did I?"

"No, but...this room is set at a
hundred times the gravity of Earth,"
said the boy as he walked over to her
and stopped. Looking her up and down he
poked her leg. "How is she standing?"

"A hundred times?" said Hotaru as
she looked down at herself. "Are you
sure?"

"Yeah," replied Trunks calmly.
"We're...well...come to think of it, I
don't feel that heavy." He looked back
at the pad again and sighed. "Oh, it's
not turned on." He flicked the switch
and immediately fell face first on the
ground. Hotaru did much the same, but
her fall was a little more controlled.

"Damn it!" she growled as she
struggled to rise to her feet. With a
grunt of effort she managed to squat,
and noticed Trunks doing the same.

Mihoshi was standing there looking
at them. "Are you two all right?"

Trunks and Hotaru blinked and stared
at her as she walked over to the boy and
leaned down to look him in the eyes.

"Okay, now this is getting weird,"
he said as he turned towards Hotaru and
grimaced.

"You could have killed her," growled
Hotaru.

"What do you think I was trying to
do?" he snorted irritably. "Well, maybe
I was just hoping to keep her in once
place for a while when we trained, but
still."

Mihoshi was currently looking at a
scale off in the corner. She was
standing on it and peering down at the
readout. "Waaaaahhh! I've gotten fat!"

"I don't believe this!" said Trunks
in shock.

"You said we should ignore her,"
said Hotaru calmly. "We've got our own
problems to worry about. She transformed
and Trunks glared at her.

"No, stop it right now," he snapped.
"We aren't going to do it that way.

Hotaru had managed to straighten up
and stared at him in confusion as she
powered down and found herself leaning
forward again in a low squat. "What do
you mean?"

"We're going to transform like
proper Saiyans," said Trunks with a low
growling in his voice.

Mihoshi stood upright and blinked.
"What?"

"Proper? What's wrong with doing it
this way?" said Hotaru as she
transformed again.

"I think we'll get more power, if we
do it right," said Trunks calmly. "Even
if we don't, we'll be stronger because
of our training, and I think it'll lift
some of the limits doing it the right
way. Like being able to keep the
transformation for extended periods of
time."

Hotaru nodded at this and powered
down again. "How do we do it?"

Mihoshi walked between them and
stared at them both. She was oddly
silent.

"What do you want? We're busy!"
snapped Trunks.

The woman immediately burst into
tears and grabbed them both around their
necks. "WAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! I was so
alone!"

Trunks and Hotaru gasped in complete
and total shock as the woman's hair
suddenly went jet black.

"No fucking way," said Trunks in a
short of harsh whisper.

+++++++++++++

"What is this place?" muttered Usagi
as she glanced around at her
surroundings nervously. For the inside
of a tree, it looked awfully high tech.
The walls appeared to be metal until you
got a very close look at them.

"Wow," muttered Ami with a little
awe in her voice.

"Who is that guy? He's cute," said
Minako as she eyed Yosho.

Makoto's head snapped around at her
and she sighed. "I dunno, but he reminds
me of my old sempai."

"Sure he does," grumbled Rei as she
moved between them. "Where did that old
man go?"

"Who cares!" gasped Minako as she
moved up to the man's side and grabbed
his arm. "Hi! I'm Minako!"

"I know," said the man with a
slightly amused chuckle.

"Who are you? Are you a friend of
Tenchi's? He seems to know you," said
Makoto as she took up the position on
his other side.

Yosho wasn't sure what to make of
this. "I suppose you could say that."

"Grandpa really!" said Tenchi as he
noticed the girls.

"Now Tenchi, I'm not as old as you
thought I was," replied Yosho
cheerfully. He smiled at the two young
girls on his arms and continued to lead
them through the halls. "It's been some
time since I've seen this place. Perhaps
I could give you a tour later, I know
these halls very well."

The boy turned his head away and
looked very uncomfortable.

"What do you think you two are
doing?" snapped Ayeka as she took notice
of the situation.

"Er...trying to get a date?" replied
Minako as she stared at the girl.

"Get your hands off my brother!" she
snapped as she shooed her away
irritably.

Yosho chuckled and took the girl's
arm. "Now Ayeka. These are our guests,
we should treat them as such."

"What? Really brother!" snapped
Ayeka. "You're old enough to be their
great grandfather many times over!"

"Right, and you're not old enough to
be Tenchi's grandma?" snorted Ryoko as
she stuck her head in and leered at the
princess.

"Who are you too talk you old bat!"
snapped Ayeka in retort. She had a heavy
blush on her face now though.

"Well, we're almost there," said
Yosho as he glanced up at the towering
ceiling of the great hall that led to
the throne. To his surprise, the Emperor
was standing in the hall waiting for
them.

"You've got a lot of nerve coming
here Yosho," he said coldly.

The man stood upright and frowned at
him. "I have come, because of a great
need."

"I'm sure you'll tell me all about
it," commented the Emperor with a slight
sneer. "However, it isn't the time for
such things yet. Please, introduce me to
these...people."

"Very well, this is Usagi, daughter
of Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom,
reborn on Earth once again, these girls
are her protectors. They are the Senshi,
reborn once again."

"Moon Kingdom?" snorted the man.
"There had better be more to this than
these girls Yosho."

"I'm afraid there is," replied Yosho
calmly. "A great evil has descended upon
Earth."

"What nonsense," snorted the Emperor
as he started to turn away.

Luna jumped forward, Usagi almost
cried out to her, but stopped suddenly
when she spoke.

"It is not nonsense! I have seen
this evil with my own eyes, and I wish I
had never done so!"

The Emperor of Jurai simply stood
there with his jaw hanging down as he
stared down at Luna. After several
moments, he finally spoke. "A...Moon
Cat?" His eyes slowly moved to the group
of girls standing nervously around the
small creature. "So...it's true is it?
Serenity succeeded. We had long ago
given up hope of that."

The senshi all looked at one another
and then back at the huge man who was
now looming over them. "I'm not going to
lie and say I'm glad to see you, but
that colony was pretty much a failure
anyway. Most of the inhabitants don't
even remember their roots to this
planet." He turned away from them and
sighed deeply. "We will speak of this
later, Yosho, you will take them to the
guest quarters, and get a room for
yourself there as well. We will speak of
this tomorrow. I'm sure you're all
tired."

Yosho nodded and turned towards the
group. "Well, that went better than I
thought it would."

+++++++++++++

Trunks growled as he stared at
Mihoshi in more than pure irritation.
This was positively impossible. "You
don't know how to fight?"

"Fight? Well, I took self defense
when I joined the Galaxy Police of
course, but I..."

"How then?" muttered Hotaru as she
stared at the woman's blonde hair. She
had transformed again and was smiling at
them cheerfully. It was almost as if she
was having a tea party. Well, that was
pretty much what they were doing
actually.

"I'm not sure, when I was little, I
found out my mom and dad died. I got
really sad, and I changed somehow.
Auntie said I looked really pretty with
blonde hair, so I stayed that way."

"Auntie?" said Trunks in confusion.

"Yeah, she died a long time ago. We
got some sort of message one day, the
place we were from blew up. I found out
later that Class A criminal Frieza had
destroyed it. So I vowed I would become
the best Galaxy Police detective ever,
and bring him to justice!"

"Well, Frieza is dead," said Trunks
with a slight smirk on his face. "He
died trying to destroy Earth."

"Really?" said Mihoshi dumbly.

"Yeah, it was a while back
actually," said Trunks as he scratched
his chin.

"It was only about three weeks ago,"
said Hotaru as she glanced at him for a
moment. "I've been meaning to ask you.
What is that ridiculous thing on the top
of your head?"

Trunks blinked and looked up at his
halo. Well, he tried to, but it moved
out of his line of sight with the top of
his head. "It's a halo, I got it when I
came back from the dead. It's
irritating, but it doesn't seem to get
in the way or anything."

"Dead?" said Hotaru as she stared at
him for a moment.

"Yeah, that was one messy episode,
I'll tell you about it later, but only
after we end this mess we're in now."

"Right," said Hotaru with a small
sigh.

"What happened to your tail?" asked
Trunks as he looked towards Mihoshi
again. She looked slightly confused, but
snapped out of it.

"Oh! That! Auntie had it removed,
that's all," she said as she waved her
hand.

"Great, so now what?" asked Hotaru.

"Now, we train," said Trunks with a
small shrug. He glanced at Mihoshi and
sighed. "You stay here. I'm afraid I
don't have the time or patience to try
and train you too." That was an
understatement if he'd ever uttered one.

"She might be able to help us," said
Hotaru as she glanced at him.

"Hotaru, you don't know Mihoshi very
well, and trust me when I say, you don't
want to even imagine what that would be
like," replied the boy as he stood up
and started to walk towards the void.

Mihoshi watched Hotaru follow with a
cheerful smile on her face. This was
turning out to be such a nice dream.

++++++++++++

George was standing on the Mikon Taka's
roof, going over some minor repairs. He
was still dressed in his spandex, and
supervising several Juraian technicians.


Some of them wondered why they were
bothering with something this old,
others were wondering how the hell
someone managed to get an unlicensed
phase repulsor cannon onto such an old
ship, a few of them even wondered how
someone managed to rig the drive system
to travel at over light speed travel.
Every one of them was trying their best
not to think about why the man was
wearing a tight fitting female spandex
uniform from about ten thousand years
ago.

+++++++++++

"The pain of loss, you can use it to
fuel the transformation," said Trunks as
he looked at his student calmly and
circled around her as she stared into
the void.

"Pain of loss?" she muttered as she
stared at the ground.

Trunks merely nodded and frowned.
"It's difficult for me. I can't think of
anything I've lost that will be enough.
You however...you've got something you
can use. Something fresh in your mind."

The girl's face contorted slightly
and she gasped. "No...please..."

"You must," he replied
emotionlessly.

"I...I can't," muttered the voice
that obviously belonged to Hotaru.

"Do you want revenge?" he asked her
coldly.

"Yes." The reply was instantaneous.

"Then you must transform, Chibi-Usa
is stronger than the both of us, even
with our transformations. We've got to
match her, and go beyond that. This is
the only way."

"I'm...not ready," said Saturn's
steely calm as she clenched her fist
against her chest and frowned.

Trunks nodded at this, he trusted
her judgement. "All right, but we've
still got a lot of work to do." He
charged at her and attacked.

+++++++++++

A few days later, Mihoshi watched
the pair battle from the safety of the
living area of the room. She sighed and
looked around in confusion. "This sure
is a long dream."

She sat for almost an hour on the
steps that led into the void, staring
aimlessly. There weren't even any clouds
to look for pictures in, or any chores
to do. Well, there was dinner, but that
would have to wait a few more hours.
Oddly enough, it still got dark at
night, even in the nothingness.

Finally, after hours of
contemplation, she figured out exactly
what was wrong. "I'm cold." She stood up
and looked at the two specks in the
distance. Occasionally, a flash of light
could be seen, but they mostly ignored
her. She was starting to get lonely
really, but they did listen to how her
day went at dinner. She'd tell them
about how she cleaned, and cooked, and
daydreamed as they ate. Their grunts of
irritation seen as agreement as she
rambled

Abruptly her bubble headed train of
thought stopped again and she remembered
that she was cold. "Hmmm. Do we have any
extra blankets, or a heater or
something?" she muttered as she glanced
around. Finally her eyes fell on
something in the wall, next to the
strange door she couldn't open. "Hey! A
thermostat!"

Immediately she walked over and
started to press buttons. "Let's see,
how do I work this thing?" The readout
changed suddenly, adding an extra zero
to the digital one hundred. "No, that'll
be too hot..." she muttered. Before she
could try to correct her mistake, she
slammed onto the ground.

"Ouchie!"

Two tiny cursing voices could be
heard in the distance.

++++++++++

"Master. Let's kill her," said
Hotaru as she struggled to push herself
off the ground.

"If we do, Tenchi might be upset,
we're probably going to need his help,"
grunted Trunks in the same position.
Their clothes were torn and scorch marks
could be seen along the ground, the only
indication that there was a level plain
that separated the sky from the ground.

"I can't take this!" growled Hotaru
irritably.

"Screw it! When we make it back,
she's dead!" growled Trunks as his head
hit the ground again.

"Thank you master!" cried Hotaru.

+++++++++++++++++

A week later...

"Huff, huff...We made it!" cried
Trunks triumphantly as he stumbled onto
the stairs of the living area and fell
face first onto the ground.

"Food!" cried Hotaru with tears in
her eyes.

"Oh! There you are!" cried Mihoshi
as she cheerfully bounced over to where
they were and squatted down beside them.
"I don't know why, but everything got
really heavy the other day. It's been
very hard to clean up around here!
Sorry, but your dinner got cold, it's in
the refrigerator if you want it. I kept
trying to turn up that thermostat, but I
think it's broken. It's not any warmer."

Trunks's eyes wandered over to the
readout on the wall and he almost
choked. "FIVE THOUSAND! YOU'VE GOT THE
GRAVITY UP TO FIVE THOUSAND! YOU
BUBBLEHEADED IDIOT! THAT'S NOT A
THERMOSTAT!"

"Huh? It isn't?" said the blonde
obliviously. She appeared to be moving
about without much trouble.

"I'd kill her now, but I'm
starving," grumbled Hotaru.

"Right, food first, killing later,"
muttered Trunks as he struggled to his
feet and walked over to the
refrigerator.

After that, they immediately fell
asleep. Thus saving Mihoshi from a
rather painful death.

++++++++++++

Trunks glared into the mirror that
night and frowned. "You warped my halo!"
he muttered as he glanced irritably back
at Mihoshi. She was sleeping, and his
golden ring was now looked somewhat like
a golden 'U' from the side. He had just
woken up, and they were moving around
without too much trouble now. Mihoshi
had gradually turned the gravity up over
the course of the week. He had forbid
her to touch it again, but the damage
was already done. It was the maximum
setting anyway. "Now we have to keep it
like this," he grumbled irritably as he
tried to pick up a glass of tea, only to
have the liquid promptly fall through
the bottom of the glass and into his
lap. "I hate her, I hate her so much,"
he muttered to himself as he sat there
and stared at the wet spot on his lap
for a moment. They had to be careful
even pouring liquids now. Hotaru had
found that out the other day. She had
tried to pour herself a cup of tea, only
to have it break not only the bottom of
the cup, but also the table and a good
portion of the floor.

Naturally, he'd played it off as
good training, but it still got on his
nerves. The woman was downright
insufferable. The only think keeping her
alive was the fact that he wasn't sure
how the Juraians would react to him
killing her. He really didn't need to
fight his way off the planet. One screw
up like that was enough.

"What else can go wrong?"

Mihoshi walked up to him with a
cheerful smile on her face as she sat
down at the table. "I didn't feel like
cooking tonight, I hope you understand."
She looked somewhat sleepy and had just
returned from doing something. He hadn't
even seen her get up in his musings.

He stared at the boxes sitting in
front of them and blinked. "What's
this."

"I ordered a Pizza," she said
cheerfully.

"We don't have a phone," said Trunks
as he turned to look at her.

"Oh, I know. This is carry out,"
said the blonde cheerfully.

His eyes turned to look at the
impossible. The boxes sitting on the
table. "What the fuck? That's
impossible!"

"What do you mean?" said Mihoshi
dumbly. "It's kind of funny, but Washuu
said the same thing when I saw her."

Trunks hit his head on the table. It
went right through it, and it was rather
painful. "I'm not even going to ask how
you did this."

"Silly, I just went to that little
place outside the palace. Ayeka told me
about it. They make good Pizza she
said," replied the blonde as she smiled
at him.

"Washuu huh?" said Trunks as he
stared at her.

"Yes, she was angry, but she's
always like that. I think she was in her
lab, but I'm not sure..."

Trunks sighed and opened the box.
Sure enough, there was a steaming hot
pie sitting inside. "Whatever."

"Where is Hotaru?" asked Mihoshi as
she glanced around.

"Huh? Oh, she went off by herself
for a little while," said the boy as he
took a slice and started eating. "She'll
be back in a while."

"I'd hate for her food to get cold,"
said Mihoshi with a worried looking
frown.

"I guess, I'll go get her in a
minute," said the boy with a shrug. His
face scrunched up slightly and he looked
at Mihoshi. "You got any relatives named
Hibiki?"

"No. Why?" asked Mihoshi after a
moment of thought.

"It's nothing," said Trunks as he
brushed it off.

++++++++++++++

Hotaru glared into the nothing, her
heart racing as she strained against her
feelings and the pent up rage inside her
heart. "I feel it!" screamed the
youngest voice in her mind in triumph.
"Almost..."

Nine and Saturn were silent,
allowing the young girl to come into the
power as best they could. They were
currently feeling the changes that were
struggling to come forward in their
body. "Almost..."

"What is this power?" muttered Nine
in a sort of awed whisper.

"Quiet," snapped Saturn. It was
almost an aside, and obviously she
hadn't been paying attention. Hotaru had
her complete attention.

The golden power formed around them,
changes coming faster and faster. They
could feel their hair rising away from
their scalp slowly. It flashed with gold
for a moment as they struggled to keep
the power from escaping their grasp yet
again.

Hotaru screamed, a final surge of
effort, the last of her mental strength
pulling at the new power. All then knew
after that, was an explosion of light.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

Gasping they stared down at
themselves. Their body was noticeably
bulkier, more-so than their previous
transformation had done to them. "I feel
it, it is different," muttered Hotaru to
herself as she stared down at their
body. They were a Super Saiyan.

"Such power!" muttered Mistress Nine
in awe. "It's mine..."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," said
Saturn coldly.

"No...it's..." Hotaru lost it, the
power faded and she grit her teeth in
frustration. "It's gone."

They turned their heads and noticed
something. Trunks was standing a short
distance away, clapping his hands. "Well
done."

"M-master," said the girl as she
blushed slightly. "I didn't see you."

"I'm just glad I didn't miss that,"
said Trunks with a small shrug.

"I couldn't hold it," grumbled the
girl as she frowned again.
"It's...difficult."

"I know, we'll work on it some more
later. Hopefully, I'll be able to figure
out how you did it a little better by
observing," he said with a small sigh.

Hotaru nodded at this and turned her
head away. She had always respected him,
but somehow he seemed to have lost some
of it somehow. She wasn't sure why, or
how. For some reason, Hotaru didn't care
if he approved or not. It was almost
resentment, but not quite that bad.

"Come on, Mihoshi had pizza for us,"
said Trunks as he smirked at her for a
moment. He could see it. She was
confused, angry, and something was gone
in her eyes now. "You hate me?"

Hotaru blinked. "What? No master,
I..."

"I see," he said with a chuckle.
"Hotaru, I'm sorry I made you do that.
Maybe one day you'll forgive me, maybe
not."

"What? What is it?" said the girl as
she looked at him.

"Maybe it's that I'm younger than
you now? Maybe it's being stuck in a
room with me for a year? Or maybe, it's
that I forced you to use your father's
death to gain the power you have now?"
He noticed her flinch slightly on the
last one and his smirk fell. "That's it
is it?"

The girl flashed a glare at him and
he sighed. "I'm sorry Hotaru, but we
have to be ready." He turned away and
started walking back.

"Pizza?" muttered the girl to
herself as she forced the thoughts out
of her head.

"Yeah. Don't ask," said Trunks as he
glanced back at her again.

++++++++++++++

Two weeks later...

It was amazing, the feeling he had
just had was beyond anything he'd ever
experienced. Well, not really. Becoming
the ruler of the Universe will jade you
a little. It was still more than he was
expecting. The power faded just as
quickly as it had come and he fell to
his knees. Gasping for breath he took
Hotaru's extended arm and allowed her to
help him to his feet. "I've got it."
He'd just had his first real Super
Saiyan transformation. "Man, what a
rush."

"Isn't it though?" asked Hotaru with
a somewhat playful tone. She'd changed
quite a bit over the past two weeks. She
hadn't heard the word 'master' since the
day she had transformed. It seemed she
believed herself to be the superior one
here, or at least on equal footing.

Trunks smirked at this as he stared
her down for a moment, challenging her
gaze coolly. "I'll have to correct that
after I get the hang of this."

"What?" said the girl as she blinked
at him.

"It's nothing, just thinking out
loud," he replied as he glanced away.
"It's about time to eat. We should get
back."

++++++++++++++++

Mihoshi wasn't a terrible cook, but
she wasn't a good one either.
Occasionally, she would disappear for a
minute or two and come back with take
out of one sort or another. Neither
Trunks nor Hotaru questioned this,
although they did try to find a way to
seal her out while she was gone. Any
attempts were unsuccessful, and she
always returned. Neither of them had
ever seen her come or go. It was damned
irritating. The pair were fearful that
they'd have to eat her cooking all the
time if they told her that it was
impossible to escape the room.

If she got it in her head that she
really was trapped, she might lose the
odd ability to leave. Trunks was in
favor of the theory of a reality bending
stupidity field. Hotaru was thinking
more along the lines of dumb luck along
with a teleportation ability. In any
case, neither said anything to Mihoshi.
After all, she might get stuck outside
if someone on that end explained it to
her. It was an off chance, but the pair
was hoping.

As it was, things remained pretty
much the same. They were nearing the
halfway mark on their training, and the
year would be over.

"We need to start practicing in the
air again," said Trunks as he glanced at
Hotaru. "We've got the transformation
down now."

Hotaru nodded, secure in the
knowledge that she had it down a week
earlier. "So I get to kick your butt in
the air now?"

Trunks smirked at this. "You can
try, I'm going to stop holding back
now."

Hotaru's smile flickered for the
faintest of moments. Trunks pretended
not to notice as best he could. His grin
widened a bit despite his efforts.

"Fly?" asked Mihoshi.

"Yeah, fly," said Trunks lazily.

"You have a ship?" she muttered in
confusion as she glanced around.

"No, we don't need a ship to fly,"
said Hotaru with a slightly irritated
frown.

"Um, an anti-gravity pack?"

"No?"

"Really bouncy shoes?" asked
Mihoshi.

"No. We take our energy, and push
ourselves into the air," said Trunks.

"Really? That seems hard," said
Mihoshi with a small frown.

"Not really. We just take it, make
it into a little ball like this," said
Trunks as he smiled and formed a chi
ball into his hand. "But instead of
doing it in our hands, we do it in
here." He pointed at his stomach and
grinned. "Then you just will it to move
you. Pretty simple really."

"Oh," said the woman obliviously.

+++++++++++++++

Trunks was supremely annoyed, not
because Hotaru was actually doing better
than he'd thought. He was still beating
her rather soundly. This irritated her,
but it was slight. Not by the fact that
it was hard to tell how far from the
ground they were. They had several
landing accidents because of this.
Certainly not by the fact that it was
difficult for either of them to hold the
transformation for more than about two
hours. They still had almost four years
worth of training to go through still if
they needed it that badly. No, Trunks
was annoyed, by Mihoshi.

"Wheeeeeeeeeee!" cried the blonde as
she twisted between himself and Hotaru
cheerfully. She was fluttering around
like a sparrow, flapping her arms in a
ridiculous manner and giggling as she
flew around the room.

The most annoying thing of all, was
the fact that he'd told her how to do
it, and he'd told her how to do it not
even an hour ago.

"Damn."

"You just had to open your damn
mouth didn't you?" growled Hotaru
irritably as she glared at him.

"I didn't think she'd really figure
it out all right?!" he snapped angrily.

"Hee hee! This is so much fun!"
cried Mihoshi as she flipped around them
cheerfully.

"Stop that!" cried Hotaru as the
woman spun circles around her and
twisted higher and higher into the air.

"Don't you think this is great? It's
the best dream ever!" cried Mihoshi as
she maneuvered up beside them and
continued to flap her arms.

"You don't have to do that!" snapped
Trunks as he grabbed the offending
appendages and held them down firmly.

"Oh? Really? Good, I was getting
tired," said Mihoshi cheerfully.

Hotaru slammed her foot right into
his jaw and growled at him. "Idiot! Why
did you tell her that?"

"This sucks more and more, every
day," growled Trunks from the ground.

Mihoshi giggled at the scene and
merrily went about flying around them
like an annoying fly. Hotaru started to
try her best to play flyswatter, but the
woman was irritatingly hard to hit with
her random fluttering. "Hold still damn
you! Just die!" cried the enraged girl.

++++++++++++++++

Three Months Later...

"What's this?" muttered Hotaru as
she glared at the machine in front of
her.

"Practice," said Trunks as he turned
it on.

"It's a video game," said Hotaru.

"I know, we have to practice
dancing," said Trunks calmly as he
stepped back from the machine and
sighed. "If we screw up the fusion
dance, it makes us weaker instead of
stronger. We have to make sure we're in
perfect harmony when we do it. It was
blind luck that we got it right last
time."

The machine cheerfully barked at
them, startling Hotaru slightly. "Are
you ready! It's time to dance!"

"We should get this over with,"
grumbled Trunks as he sighed and started
messing around with the menus. He
pointed to the pad that extended from
the bottom of the machine and Hotaru
nodded and stepped up onto it with him.

With a sick looking grimace, Trunks
pushed started the game.

"Ai-yai-yai, I'm your little
butterfly, red, black, and green, like
the colors in the sky..."

Hotaru blinked and looked at him.

"Yeah, I know, but I couldn't think
of a better idea," he said with a small
shrug.

"Dance Dance Revolution?" muttered
the girl as she read the title out loud.

"Come on, I wanna get this over
with," said Trunks with a small sigh.

+++++++++++++

Mihoshi was addicted, it was all
they could do to keep her away from the
damn machine. Hotaru had tried to
destroy it, but it merely got stuck on
one song.

The bubbly blonde had become
protective of the game now, she wouldn't
let them near it. She was surprisingly
successful in steering any attempts to
destroy it away. Thus, "I'm a Little
Butterfly, now echoed through eternity
of the room."

"Damn," growled Hotaru as she glared
at the machine in the distance.

"Damn that woman and her stupid dumb
luck!" growled Trunks angrily at her
side. They had tried everything, even
blasting it from a distance with huge
chi blasts. Everything had been
deflected, repelled, or otherwise
thwarted by nothing more than sheer
stupid luck.

Once a sudden growth of ice had
stopped it. Hotaru and Trunks had spent
the better part of an hour trying to
fight their way through it without
becoming encased. Another time, a flash
flood had saved the now raged and barely
operable machine, washing away the
ground based chi attack and sending it
into a portion of the living area. Yet
another attempt at merely using brute
force had actually been thwarted by
Mihoshi. The woman actually managed to
grab them both in a pleading hug, a hug
that took them an hour and a half to
break free from.

"This is stupid!" snapped Hotaru.

"I know, but we've tried everything
else," growled Trunks.

"Fine, ready?"

"Not even Mihoshi can stop us if
we're fused!" agreed Trunks.

++++++++++++

"Um, who are you?" muttered Mihoshi
as she stared at the red-haired child in
front of her.

The child was unfortunately about
four feet wide, with pudgy cheeks and no
neck. "Shut up."

"Are you lost little girl...well, I
suppose you're not really little then
are you? Can I help you find your mommy?
There aren't a lot of people here, so it
shouldn't be too hard."

"Shut up." growled Fat Turtaru.

+++++++++++++

"Wow grandma, you must really be
hungry. I mean, you're all skin and
bones!" said Mihoshi as she spoon fed
the old woman sitting in front of her.

"Slt urp," said the skinny, flimsy
looking old Turtaru through her spoonful
of force fed applesauce.

"You shouldn't be wandering around
like this! I'm sure your family is
worried about you! Of course, I said the
same thing to that little girl who
stopped by earlier today. I hope she's
all right! I mean, I told her 'don't you
wander off now!' and she just up and
disappeared on me! I do hope she made it
home all right. I mean..."

Old Turtaru growled hatefully at the
woman and tried her best to block out
the song that still echoed across the
empty space in the room. She twitched
slightly, her neck going into an
unexplainable spasm.

"Oh, you like this song too? It's my
favorite! There were a lot of other
one's too, but this one is the best.
It's too bad it only plays this one now,
I'm not sure why..."

++++++++++++++++

"It's over, I'm finished, I'm just
going to lay here and die," said Trunks
as he looked at Hotaru. The both of them
were merely lying on their backs,
listening to the music drift across the
void. "She's...defeated us."

"I can't concentrate! We can't fuse
while that racket is..." muttered Hotaru
lamely. "Beaten by that woman...I'll
never live this down!"

"If you don't tell, I won't," said
Trunks weakly. "Who am I kidding? We're
going to die here!"

There was a loud crash, followed by
an explosion, and then...silence.

"What?" muttered Trunks as he sat
upright suddenly. "What was that?"

Hotaru cocked her head on the
ground, not daring to move. She was
hoping in vain that she had somehow gone
deaf. Then she realized that she'd heard
Trunks speaking to her.
"It's...stopped?"

Mihoshi's high pitched voice started
wailing in sorrow.

"It's the most beautiful sound I've
ever heard!" cried Trunks in triumph.

Mihoshi walked by them a short time
later, carrying her beloved game in her
arms like a child. "It...it's...it's
broken! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The seemingly indestructible
machine, had finally succumbed to the
intense gravity of the room, and
Mihoshi's bodyweight as she played yet
another game on the machine. She had
somehow put her foot right through it,
and destroyed the power source. At long
last, the nightmare was over.

+++++++++++++

Trutaru sweat as she lowered her
hands and stared at the wall of ice that
had now completely shattered away into
thousands of broken and melting shards.

"We've got it," she said with a grin
of triumph on her face as she clenched
her fist and smirked. "At last."

In an instant, the transformation
ended. Hotaru and Trunks stood next to
one another and gasped for a moment as
they readjusted to their own bodies.

"Still only half an hour," muttered
Hotaru.

"I don't think there's a way to
extend it," said Trunks as he nodded at
her.

"So, what now?" said the girl as she
stood upright and frowned. "Wanna spar
again?"

"I would, but..." Trunks smirked at
her and stared forward. "Our time is up.
We need to get ready to go back."

The girl turned to look at him and
smiled slightly. "It's over?"

"It'll be one year, in about an hour
and half," said Trunks with a small nod.


"I lost track of time around the
time..."

"Don't say it! We will never speak
of that horrible machine again," said
Trunks curtly.

Hotaru nodded in agreement.

++++++++++++

Mihoshi sighed and looked around at
her surroundings. "You know, this is the
longest dream I've ever had."

The door that she'd never been able
to unlock suddenly opened behind her and
she blinked. "Hey..." Curiosity set in
and she stood up and walked over to it.
"I wonder where this goes?"

"Outside, we're leaving," said
Trunks calmly as he stepped up behind
her and put his foot in the doorway
before she could close it behind her. It
nearly broke his foot and he cursed
under his breath after it happened, but
it was preferable to staying in the room
for another year.

"That was close," muttered Hotaru as
she stepped outside.

Trunks was the last to leave, he
stepped out and glanced around. They
were standing on the launch pad again,
with the Mikon Taka looming overhead.
George was standing on top, ordering
around workers in his tights.

"Come on! We haven't got all day!"
he cried irritably as he started welding
something on the roof.

"I'm surprise they have parts for
this sort of thing here," commented
Trunks as he noticed the workers.

"Well, they don't use space trees to
travel around on planet," said Washuu as
she walked up next to them.

Trunks whirled around and grabbed
her collar roughly, pulling her up to
face him. He growled angrily and stared
her dead in the eyes. "YOU!"

"What's the problem?" muttered
Washuu nervously.

"You did this!"

"What do you mean?" muttered Washuu
as she smiled at him, the sweat on her
brow was not a good sign in her favor.

"Washuu, you owe me more than you'll
ever know," he growled angrily.

"Owe you? What do you mean owe you?
She got out! I still haven't figured out
how she was able to break into my own
time chamber! I should have
increased..." Washuu realized that she
had said exactly the wrong thing. "I
mean, we haven't seen her all day. We
were getting worried!"

"I just spent an entire year, locked
in a room with Mihoshi," said Trunks
angrily as he touched her nose against
his own. "Now, if you ever do anything
like that to me again. I will kill you."

The redhead nodded very slowly. "I
umm..."

"Don't say anything!" he snapped at
her as he dropped her to the ground.
"Just don't speak! You owe me Washuu,
you owe me big. Just remember that."

She nodded sheepishly and backed
away slightly as Hotaru walked by and
gave her the evil eye.

"Heh. Oops," she said as she stood
up and dusted herself off.

++++++++++++

Trunks was drunk. It was a great
feeling to be free at last, finally out
and away from the horrors of the time
chamber. He was feeling quite satisfied
with himself and downed another pint of
Juraian Beer. He thought it was rather
odd that the entire planet only had one
label, but it wasn't a bad label either.


Idly he reached out with his hand,
and another bottle floated into his
grasp. He burped casually and flicked
the cap off with his thumb in a quick
motion. It flipped into the air and
landed in a glass with several others.
Oddly enough, he had a rather large area
of clearance around him.

He looked around and noticed several
of the Juraians were watching him rather
closely. His clothes were rather ragged,
but he had good money, and as far as he
knew, there was now drinking laws on the
planet. Something to do with the alcohol
having non addictive qualities due to
the 'Water of Life' or something. It was
a memory of Genaku's from the Silver
Millenium anyway.

Hotaru had gone off on her own,
looking for peace and quiet. They would
spend a day outside the chamber, and
then return with Ryoko with them. This
time, the blonde terror would not be
with them.

As it was, they had a lot of work to
do once they entered. Ryoko would have
to be taught how to access her power as
well. She had at least started, but
didn't quite have a handle on it yet.

Then came the part he was dreading
the most. Training with the Senshi,
luckily he had something different in
mind for them. That was still in the
planning stages anyway. Washuu said it
would be at least three days before they
were ready for that anyway.

He grinned to himself as he
staggered to his feet, not noticing the
cloaked figures following close behind
him.

++++++++++++++++

"What do you think?" asked one of
the men who followed behind Trunks with
his hood pulled down over his head.

One of the others nodded slowly,
pulling his own hood back to reveal a
rather young looking man with short cut
hair. "We must inform the master."

"Perhaps it would be best to just
bring him to the master," said the
third member of the group. He pulled his
hood away to reveal dark skin and a bald
head. "He just fell asleep in the
street."

The others nodded in agreement and
shuffled over to where Trunks was lying
on the ground.

++++++++++=

He woke up several minutes later
after being shoved onto his feet rather
gently. His finger was sore and there
was some muttering going on around him.
Something to do with 'Midi-chlorians' or
something like that. "Wha? Where?"

"Ahhh, this is the one? Seeks
training he does?" said an irritatingly
familiar voice.

"Yoda?" muttered Trunks as his
vision cleared slightly.

"Yes," said the tiny green man in
front of him. He was wrinkled and old,
with long ears.

"What the hell is this? Where am I?"
he muttered.

"Tested he shall be," said Yoda with
a grave muttering noise following the
statement.

Trunks realized that he was in some
sort of room, surrounded by men in dark
shadowy cloaks and hoods. All of them
had their hoods off and were sitting in
a rather relaxed manner. Behind them a
large panoramic window revealed the
surface of Jurai.

"I thought the Jedi council was on
Coruscant."

"Hmmm, lucky you are, that
vacationing at summer home we are," said
Yoda gravely.

"Whatever," muttered Trunks in
annoyance. This was starting to become a
major buzz-kill.

"Begin the trials we shall," said
Yoda.

+++++++++++++++

Hotaru poked her head into Ryoko's
room and frowned. The woman was pouting
angrily, and muttering something about
'sharing rooms is inappropriate my ass',
and 'Tenchi wouldn't mind if I...'. All
at once Ryoko noticed her and scowled
openly. "What?"

"Have you seen Trunks around lately?
I can't find him," she said with a
little amusement in her tone.

"What the heck do I care about that
brat for? Go find your boyfriend
yourself," she snapped irritably as she
phased through one of the walls.

Hotaru clicked her tongue and shook
her head. "I'll have to remember that
one when it's time to train you Ryoko."

+++++++++++++

"How feel you?"

"Huh? I dunno, about ninety-eight
degrees, soft, smooth texture, kinda
oily," said Trunks as he rubbed on his
arm for a moment.

"Oily?" said Yoda in a sort of
muttering fashion. It was as if he
understood some greater meaning in that
statement.

"Yeah, I kinda need a bath," said
Trunks with a small shrug.

"Hmmm..." said Yoda as he peered at
the boy.

The boy peered right back, his eyes
slightly bloodshot. He almost fell as he
leaned forward to peer the old alien
right in the eyes and staggered for a
moment before regaining his footing and
continuing to stare.

"Hmmm. I sense much beer in this
one," said Yoda wisely.

+++++++++++++

A short time later...

"Cup," said Trunks as he rolled his
eyes.

The bald man was looking at some
sort of electronic screen that randomly
flashed pictures. It would stop, and
Trunks would have to tell him what it
was. He had gotten them all right up to
this point. It was unnerving all of
those present a little.

The man shifted in his seat and
looked at the boy uncomfortably. "This
one?"

"I dunno, you moved," replied
Trunks.

"I moved?" said the man as he stared
at the boy in confusion.

"Yeah, I can't see the reflection of
the screen in the window behind you
anymore," replied the boy with a shrug.
"What did you think I was doing?" He
stared at the man.

"I ummm..." he coughed into his hand
and shifted in his seat again.

"Oh, it's a speeder! Are we done
now?" said Trunks cheerfully. "I'm gonna
have a mega-hangover later. I kinda
wanna get to bed before it starts."

"The boy is gifted," said the bald
man to Yoda.

"Hmmm. Indeed," said Yoda. "Clouded
his future is though..."

"So what?" grumbled Trunks
indignantly.

"So, can he be trained?" asked one
of the other jedi.

"Trained? By you losers?" said
Trunks as he looked around. He burst
into laughter and started rolling on the
floor.

The jedi were absolutely perplexed.

"Hmmm?" said Yoda as his ears perked
up.

"Jeez, what kind of jerk do you
think I am? I go back in time and kill
some idiot in oversized armor with a
magic crystal, and you dolts start some
sort of fan club. You expect me to join?
Ha! I've got more power in my pinky than
the whole lot of you combined!"

One of the jedi jumped out of his
seat. "What? He speaks of..."

"Yes, the legend," said Yoda
ominously. "Mocks us he does."

"What are you gonna do about it?"
snorted Trunks as a small opening in his
arm appeared. A thin metal rod appeared
in his grasp and he frowned at the men
surrounding him. "I'll kick your ass old
man!"

The jedi were on their feet with
their weapons drawn in an instant. No
one had ignited their blades yet though.

"Jedi, how pathetic," snorted Trunks
as he glanced around.

"A Sith?!" cried the young Jedi who
had helped bring him.

"Don't be stupid. I wouldn't waste
my time with one of those losers
either," snorted Trunks indignantly.

"The Force is strong with this one
master, be cautious," said the young
jedi to Yoda.

"Hmmm, see that I can," said the old
man carefully.

"Bah, the force my ass," snorted
Trunks. "I'm no jedi, and I never will
be. I'm a Saiyan Warrior, the strongest
in the Universe! You're not even a warm
up!"

The Jedi gasped, blades came to life
all around Trunks, but he stood calmly
as if nothing had happened.

Yoda held up a clawed hand and
narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Speaks
the truth he does."

"About what?" said the bald one with
a hint of panic in his voice.

"Stronger than all of us he is not,
but a Saiyan he is," replied Yoda
coolly. "Many years it has been, since
one of your kind have I seen."

"Yeah, we had a little problem a
while back, but we got better. Besides,
I'm not an ordinary Saiyan. I'm a Super
Saiyan, you can't see my real power old
man. At least, not yet."

Yoda narrowed his eyes at some of
the angrier looking Jedi. "A lie, that
was not. From this one, no deceit do I
sense."

"He could be blocking it out," said
the bald Jedi.

"Come and find out," challenged
Trunks playfully. He beckoned with his
hand and waited. No one took his
challenge. Finally, he slumped down and
sat on the floor. "Man, you old farts
are no fun at all. You're just standing
there."

"I am wondering, who you are?" said
Yoda calmly.

"I wasn't expecting the bloody Jedi
Inquisition," grumbled Trunks.

"Nobody expects the Jedi
Inquisition!" snapped the young jedi.

"Hmmm, I sense anger," commented
Yoda. "The Dark Side has two chief
weapons, fear leads to anger, anger
leads to...The Dark Side has three chief
weapons, fear leads to anger, anger
leads to hate, hate leads to...the dark
side has four, four chief weapons, fear
leads to anger, anger leads to hate,
hate leads to suffering!" said Yoda
wisely.

"Yeah, great. Can I go now? I mean,
it's obvious you guys don't want to
fight and all...this is pretty boring,"
commented Trunks.

"One more question do I have," said
Yoda calmly.

"What is it old man?" snorted
Trunks.

"I am wondering, why you are here?"
said the old Jedi calmly.

"Hmmm? I'm going to save the Earth
of course, but first I gotta train a
little, and I'm afraid none of you old
geezers would do me any good in that.
I'm just too far beyond you."

"Arrogant he is," commented Yoda. He
frowned suddenly and looked thoughtful.
"Five, five chief weapons of the Dark
Side! Arrogance leads to..."

"Oh shut up," snorted the bald jedi
irritably.

Yoda looked slightly miffed for a
moment before becoming serious. Once he
was sure Trunks was out of earshot he
sighed heavily. "So, he is indeed the
one."

"It would seem that way," said the
bald jedi with a short nod.

"What should we do?" asked one of
the jedi sitting near the end of the
room.

"Nothing...but watch closely we
should," said Yoda calmly.

"Is he as powerful as he claims?"
asked the young jedi.

"Indeed," said Yoda with a short
nod. "Explains much it does, on why so
much about Valdis was found, nothing
about the founder."

"If he's a Saiyan..." said one of
the angrier looking Jedi.

"A Saiyan he is, but more than that
he is also," said Yoda. "Smart he is,
dangerous, but not evil." He nodded to
himself and sighed again.

"What should we do?" insisted the
young jedi.

"Nothing, can we do," said Yoda with
a small shrug. He pulled out a small
pipe and lit it before relaxing
slightly. With a small sigh he exhaled
some of the smoke and closed his eyes.
"His own destiny he must find, clouded
his future is..."

The bald jedi nodded. "Only because
he controls his destiny more than most."

Yoda opened his eyes and chuckled,
it was a wheezing sort of sound. "Ooh!
Saw that to did you? Yes, dangerous he
is, but also...hope he represents, to
himself, and others."

The young jedi looked frustrated at
this, but turned to look at the hallway
where Trunks had gone. "I don't
understand master."

"Perhaps, one day, you will," said
the bald jedi calmly.

"I bet you don't either," snorted
the young jedi in irritation.

The bald jedi frowned at him. "I
do."

"Oh yeah? Explain it then!" snorted
the young jedi.

"You must find your own answers,"
replied the bald man with a small smirk
on his face.

"You're only saying that cause you
don't know," snorted the young jedi.

The man's smirk fell again and he
shook his head. The young jedi snorted
and walked out of the room calmly with a
smirk of his own this time.

"Right he was," said Yoda quietly.

"Nobody asked you," growled the bald
man.

+++++++++++++++

TBC....

Next Time: Ryoko's training!