Time Bandit

Chapter 7: Double Time

Trunks looked at the three men standing before him. Vegeta, Raditz, and Son Goku, the last pure-blooded saiyans in the universe. The two brothers were dressed as they had been the day before, though Raditz had also added a paired of what looked like armoured gauntlets; Vegeta wore what Trunks recognised from his Gohan's stories as saiyan armor. Trunks himself was decked in his usual clothes.

The three had taken him to a deserted rocky area well away from civilization after breakfast (which had been an interesting affair in itself (walking into the kitchen to find Yamcha trying to cook and fend off the kitchen robots at the same time was a memory that was going to stay with him)). Now Goku was looking him over with eager curiosity. "So, who gets to fight him first?"

"Fight me?" Trunks asked, surprised. He'd thought they were going to teach him to use the Oozaru form...

Raditz smirked at him. "Of course we're gonna fight you, brat – how else are we supposed to find out how good you are? And Vegeta gets to go first."

"Aw, how come?" Goku looked sulky.

Raditz's tone was firm, "Because he's the prince and because he's the brat's father."

"Aw..." Goku drooped but stepped back again.

Vegeta, for his part, glowered. "How come he listens to you?"

Raditz shrugged with one arm, letting his chin rest on the knuckles of his other hand with a vague smirk, "It's a gift. So, you gonna fight the brat or not?"

The saiyan prince rolled his eyes but stepped forward to stand in front of Trunks, arms folded. "For the sake of this fight, I'll ignore your tail, since you can't control it and I want to see your full potential. Be warned, though – if I think you're holding back on me even a fraction I'll squeeze it right off!"

Trunks swallowed and glanced at the other two saiyans. Goku gave him a cheerful thumbs up. "He is completely serious!"

"Don't worry about it, though," Raditz added, "If he tears that one off, we'll grow you a new one! I'm on my... I think it's my seventeenth, personally."

"That's not something to boast about!" Vegeta snapped before turning to glare at Trunks again. "Well? Power up already!"

Trunks jumped, then nodded, quietly glad he'd left his sword and jacket at home. His father was turning out to be... different than he'd pictured him. Taking a breath, Trunks reached for the golden ki inside himself and flared into super saiyan.

Vegeta stared at him for a moment, expressionless, then turned to Raditz and raised an eyebrow.

The long-haired saiyan huffed and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, we see him. Dagore's teeth, Vegeta, he told us he'd ascended yesterday! Just fight him already!" he flapped a hand in an annoyed 'go on' gesture.

Vegeta smirked and turned back to Trunks, flaring super saiyan as well. "All right, boy. Let's see what you can do."

And, with no further warning, he attacked.

OoOoOoOoO

Yamcha looked between the three people standing before him. Tien Shinhan. Krillin. Lunch. Legends that he'd never heard, masters who had risen during his eye-blink journey across over a decade of time, people who seemed closer to gods than mortals from his perspective. And they were going to teach him the secrets of their power.

He was honestly a little torn between jumping for joy and throwing up from sheer nerves at the prospect.

"How much formal training have you had?" Shinhan asked, watching him with an appraising expression.