My One True Love, Trunks Briefs

Chapter Thirty-Nine

I nodded in unison with Tarble. 

"I shall wait, Kakarot. But you'd better hurry; the stories might just slip out." A glint shone in Tarble's eyes. 

After we'd gathered everyone, we all settled around the Briefs' large dinning room table to a nice meal. Even Krillin and 18 joined us. Not that Krillin would miss meeting Vegeta's brother. Currently, the four full-blooded Saiyans were in the middle of telling the rest of us about their trip.

"We'd just entered back into our galaxy when, out of nowhere, what looked like a run down space station appeared," Dad said. "When we got closer, I could just make out an insignia on the side." He paused, looking over at me. My stomach tightened.

"What was it, grandpa?" Gaea asked, her eyes wide as she listened to the story, enthralled.

"It was the Truffle crest," Ares answered, looking at my niece. "We had stumbled upon an old Truffle ship."

"Did you go inside?" Goten asked. Tarble nodded.

"Oh yes! Kakarot would not let us leave without looking!" 

Videl asked, "What did it look like?"

"The place was a dump," Vegeta said. "There were holes everywhere and all the equipment was destroyed beyond recognition. It probably hadn't even been used in decades."

"Did you find anything that gave away what it was used for? And why it was all the way in our galaxy?" Gohan asked, taking a sip of water. We all watched the Saiyans, waiting for an answer.

"After digging around for a while, we finally found something," Ares explained. We waited for an answer. When it looked as if he wasn't going to continue, Dad picked up where he left off.

"There was a hidden vault in what looked like an old office. After some... persuasion, we finally got it open."

"And by persuasion, you mean...?" Krillin prompted. 

Tarble, Ares, and Dad all glanced at Vegeta, who was smirking. "Nii-san got a little more rough with the safe than was probably necessary," Tarble said. I noted the smile we was trying to keep off his face.

"Anyway, once we got inside the safe, it was pretty clear who had used the shuttle before." Dad paused for a moment before finishing. "It was Baby."

Immediately, my body tensed. My hands gripped the tablecloth, balling it up. Trunks, who was beside me, placed a hand over mine, his thumb making circles on my fist.

"What?! Baby?! How the hell did his ship get all the way here?" Mom demanded. Dad shrugged.

"It must have drifted. As Vegeta said, it looked like it hadn't been used in a while."

"I don't understand," 18 said. "You said he landed in Egypt in a ship. How could his ship still be floating around in space if he used it to land on Earth?"

"One of the escape pods was missing," Tarble informed her. He glanced at Dad. "Kakarot told me that Baby had landed on Namek before coming to Earth. He must have used to pod to get from the station to Namek, then Namek to here."

"He didn't leave Earth until Moon killed him," Mar said, looking over at me. I was still sitting ramrod straight, as if waiting for the Truffle to burst through the front door and start killing all of us.

"So, what exactly was in the safe?" Bulma asked, trying to get us back on track. I don't know whether I wanted to thank her, or strangle her for keeping the conversation going.

"Not much actually," Ares admitted. "But what was there clearly pointed to Baby."

"It was a bunch of experimental notes," Dad cut in. "From Dr. Myu himself, telling about how Baby was growing, how stable he was, etc."

Everyone was quiet for a while, each of us digesting the news differently. Trunks' thumb continued to rub my hand. Eventually, I relinquished my hold on the tablecloth. Trunks slipped his hand into mine fully.

"What did you do to the station?" Bulla asked, looking at her father, uncle, Dad, and Ares. The four Saiyans looked at each other, figuring out who was going to speak.

Finally, it was Dad who answered the blue haired girl's question. "We destroyed it. Though it was abandoned, I didn't feel safe with it floating around. What if someone found it, and Myu's research?" He shook his head. "It was the wise thing to do."

It took this news for me to at last thaw out. I slumped back down in my seat, all tension gone from my body. I felt a lot better.

Once again, we all fell into silence. Dinner was finished, dishes cleared, and dessert brought out. That's when conversation picked up again.

"So, Nate, Trunks," Goten started. "I couldn't help but notice you two picked up some new jewelry since school ended."

The two boys groaned, both placing their heads in their hands. I giggled, looking over at Mar. Her expression was similar to mine.

"It was a bet," Trunks explained, his voice muffled. "We went to arcade and whoever lost had to get their ears pierced."

"Well, I think it's clear that you two lost," Bulla said, taking a bite of her pie. This time, more people laughed.

"Well I think it looks nice!" Bulma said, trying to make them feel better. She looked at me. "I see you've also gotten yours done, Moona."

I shrugged. "I came in dead last. I had to get them done three times. One for each person who beat me."

"Well you'll want to be careful with the top one," Videl said. "I had a friend in high school who got hers done and it kept getting infected. They say the cartilage is the hardest to maintain."

I waved off her concern. "Thanks, but I think I'll be fine."

Talk drifted from one topic to another after that. I was happy when nothing else turned back to Baby's space station. He was dead, and I didn't want to hear anything else about him. It was time we moved on from him. It was time to live our lives, as we had been doing for the past three months.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Silence fell across the giant table for the third time as all eyes turned towards Dad.

"What is it, Goku?" Nate asked, curious. Hell, we all were.

"There's going to be a World Martial Arts Tournament in the middle of July!"

My eyes lit up. "What?! Really?!"

Dad nodded. "You bet! Your mother said she ran into the announcer guy at the store the other day, and he told her personally, before it was even announced."

I looked over at Mom, who had neglected to tell me. She shrugged, catching my eye.

"Sorry, Moona. I just wanted everyone here when I told them!" I grinned, already forgiving her.

"I'm sorry to ask, but what exactly is a World Martial Arts Tournament?" Tarble looked around the table sheepishly. Ares, shrugged, also having no clue what we were talking about.

"It's a competition," Gohan explained. "Fighters from all over the world come to compete for title of the strongest fighter alive. It's a lot of fun! We haven't been to one in... Ten years now, I believe."

"Strongest warrior?" Tarble asked. "That sounds interesting! I bet all of you are always fighting for the top spot!"

"Well... Yeah, something like that!" I answered, not feeling like getting into the whole Mr. Satan thing at the moment. I thought I saw Videl blush slightly from across the table.

"So who's in?" Dad asked, looking at all of us. My hand shot into the air, followed closely by my brothers.

"Count us in!" the three of us said in unison. We grinned at one another, excited. As others raised their hands, I let my mind wander.

This was going to be awesome! Our first Tournament since Buu! And this time with all of our friends!

I couldn't keep the grin of my face the rest of dessert. In the end, nearly everyone at the table had agreed to be in the Tournament.

Yes, I thought looking around at the familiar faces. This is going to be tons of fun.