Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Beneath the Surface ❯ On the Inside ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: One the Inside

Trunks enter the front door of the Capsule Corps with an exasperated expression on his face, as an elated Goten followed.

"You know it wouldn't have taken so long if we didn't stop," Trunks mumbled, plopping his tired body on the blue leather sofa located in the living room.

"Oh come on Trunks," Goten piped up, "that woman needed some help carrying her groceries."

"She only had one bag!" Trunks exclaimed.

"Well the bag was heavy," Goten countered. You didn't expect her to carry it all the way to her house did you. She had to walk pretty far."

"The bag only had a few items," Trunks replied. "and the walk from her car to her house was less than 200 feet."

"Oh c'mon Trunks," Goten chimed, "that woman was kinda cute, besides she made us a good dinner for helping her. If we hadn't stopped we would have had to make dinner for ourselves. Remember what happened last time?"

Trunks didn't want to remember, but Goten had a point. A few months ago Bulma had begged and pleaded with Vegeta to accompany her to a movie. After a few days of non-stop arguing Vegeta finally consented. Though the reasoning behind Vegeta's agreement is more than likely that Bulma would not fix the gravity chamber, that he had managed to break a few days before Bulma was asking to go see a movie, unless he promised to go with her.

Bulma had asked Trunks to baby-sit his two-year old sister while they were out, so Trunks having really no choice, agreed and invited Goten over to keep him company. The two had gotten a bit bored after Bra fell asleep, so they decide to fix themselves a late dinner. All appeared well, and the food didn't taste funny at all, but for the next few days after, the two boys became very ill. Neither of them could figure out what had gone wrong, but they were positive that the dinner had made them sick and vowed never to cook again.

"Ha, your right about that," Trunks said, beginning to relax a bit. Goten seated himself in an arm chair as Trunks began to let his body sink into the pillowy cushions of the couch he was resting on. He looked towards the ceiling, then scanned the whole living room: big screen TV, coffee table, arm chair opposite of Goten, beige drapes covering the windows. "Yep," Trunks thought to himself. "Home sweet home. God I hate this place…"

"Yo Trunks, I'm thirsty, you want anything," Goten said, breaking into Trunk's train of thought as he headed in the direction of the kitchen.

"Um, naw that's ok, I'm fine," Trunks replied. While Goten was rummaging through the kitchen, appearing to be searching for a cup, Trunks allowed his thoughts to drift to the more negative aspects of his life. He tried not to ponder on those kinds of things, most of the time he tried to keep himself busy so that he didn't really have the time to spend a great deal thinking on these adverse manifestations of his life. But there were times when he just couldn't control the contemplations as they piled up, like bricks, each one heavy, waiting for that final thought to bring the whole lot of them crashing down and spilling out, each one begging to be considered, demanding to be given the time and space they deserved. At the moment, the cup was brimming full, thoughts spilling over the side every once in a while, when the cup was tipped a little. Trunks just prayed that the cup didn't spill all the way over, he didn't know what he'd do then.

A particular nagging reflection resurfaced again and again, as Trunks tried in vain several times, to push it down and let some other concept be given a chance to be set free. No matter, it slowly crept into his mind and consumed him… "I hate my father…NO, no you don't…I hate…..I ….hate him…NO, I don't hate my father, he hates me…"

In truth, Trunks didn't hate his father. He had more respect for him than anyone else, even Goku. Vegeta was his father, he loved his father. But he couldn't shake the feeling that Vegeta disapproved of him. Every time they passed by in the hallway, Vegeta never so much as nodded at him anymore, just walked on as if Trunks wasn't there. Dinner was eaten in silence, neither of them making eye contact even once, as Bulma tried in vain to make a friendly conversation. Dinnertime was the only time Trunks really saw Vegeta, most of the day Vegeta was training, or locked in the den Bulma had made especially for him. There was so much tension between them, Trunks didn't understand it. "What did I do wrong Father," Trunks asked himself repeatedly, failing to come up with an answer, only speculations. "Is it because I don't train as much anymore……is it because I study more than train…is it because I'm me!! What!!!"

Trunks specifically remembered the day, the beginning of the end of a budding father/son relationship. The day Vegeta stopped asking him to train with him. Trunks had grown quite bored with training, they did it everyday for hours and hours. In the beginning it didn't seem like such a long time, but over time, training just dragged on. Trunks wanted to go out and play more, watch TV, do kid things, he wanted a break. Everyday he would ask Vegeta if they could take a break from training and spend the whole day at the city park, instead of just a few hours, or go swimming, anything but training. When Vegeta refused, Trunks just began dragging his body during training, not putting a lot of effort into it. Trunks knew better than to whine, but he just didn't have his heart into training anymore. He was burnt out, and Vegeta noticed.

There was nothing that bothered Vegeta more than watching someone just go through the motions. It infuriated him to watch his son lacking in effort while he himself was pushing himself harder and harder. Plus, this training was more so for Trunks benefit than for his, he had the gravity turned down to a tolerable degree for Trunks sake, and only increased when Trunks was ready. So when Trunks started acting lax during training, Vegeta decided to just train on his own, that way, no one could hold him back, especially if no one wanted to train with him anyway…

So one day, Vegeta entered the gravity chamber alone, and locked the door behind him. Trunks had waited around for Vegeta to ask him to train, so when he didn't, Trunks just decided to go to the gravity chamber and wait for him. "Maybe he just went to run an errand for Mom," the little boy of 10 years said to himself, "or maybe he's taking a nap." It had been routine for Vegeta to tell Trunks it was time to train, so when he never asked, Trunks began to worry a little. Trunks made way for the gravity chamber, and as the now older Trunks began to reflect, everything seemed to go in slow motion, and his stomach began to clinch at the thought of the pain that day had caused.

As he neared the chamber, all sound ceased. Even the clock on the wall seemed to all of a sudden stop ticking. His throat tightened, deep down, he knew something was wrong with this scenario. He then started to hear something coming from behind the closed door of the chamber. Someone was in there, someone was already training! "Dad," he called out, as he ran to the chamber door and tried to open it. But the door wouldn't budge. He tried it again, nothing. "That's strange," Trunks thought. "Dad never locked the door when we trained together, why would he lock it now?" Trunks sat and mused to himself for a bit, then got up and knocked on the door. "Dad," he called out again, "Dad open up, let me so I can train with you." No reply. Trunks stuck his ear up to the door to make sure that he wasn't hearing things, but sure enough, Vegeta was in there. "Dad!!" Trunks yelled, now banging on the door. "You forgot to let me in Dad, stop playin around." Though Trunks had actually been dreading training that morning, he wanted inside that room now more than anything. Something wasn't right and he realized it as his stomach started to get sick.

"I didn't forget to let you in Boy." Trunks was dumbfounded. Boy? Since when did his father refer to him as Boy?

"Dad, open up, so I can train too, remember, we train everyday…together.." Silence. Vegeta had stopped moving around. Trunks again pressed the side of his head against the door, trying hear what was taking place. He couldn't even hear Vegeta breathing. Trunks sat in silence by the door for several minutes, waiting. Soon he heard Vegeta go back to making his ki blasts and heavy grunting from kicking his imaginary opponent to the ground. Trunks again, was surprised. "Why won't he answer me," he thought sadly to himself, trying to figure out what he had done wrong. His father never got angry with him, this was the first time. Trunks racked his brain, trying to come up with something, anything, but couldn't. "Dad let me…."

"You will address me as Father, Boy," Vegeta said, the sheer irritation showing in the gruffness of his voice. "As you are nothing but a mere boy. Now go away, go to the park or swimming or whatever it is you like to do. I have no use for you here."

"I have no use for you here….." echoed in Trunks mind like an annoying broken record, just wouldn't go away.

"TRUNKS BRIEF!" Goten exclaimed, his turn to look exasperated. "What the hell is wrong with you man?" It appeared that Goten had been calling out to Trunks for a while.

"Oh hey, sorry man," Trunks exclaimed, running his fingers though his lavender hair and trying to regain his composure. He couldn't let Goten find out about what was going on in his family. That was private. But Trunks feared that if Goten ever noticed, and asked about it, he might actually tell him everything. Trunks couldn't let that happen. He would look weak and bitchy. "No way," Trunks thought to himself. "I will not look weak in front of him."

"So what's up?" Trunks asked, trying to look casual.

"We came here for a reason, remember?" Goten answered. "We're supposed to be looking for something, you haven't told me yet but my mom's gonna kick my ass if we just took like that for nothing."

"Oh yeah oh yeah," Trunks said after a brief second. "Come with me to my mom's lab, that's where we'll start." Trunks led the way up the stairs and down the long corridor that led to the majestic lab Dr. Brief had left to Bulma.

"Yo Trunks, you ok man?" Goten asked on the trip down the long hall. "You didn't look so good back there, everything alright?"

"I'm fine," Trunks snapped inadvertently. That was almost a dead give-away that something was wrong. "Don't worry, nothing's wrong ok?"

"Sure man," Goten answered, knowing better than to press the matter any further. Trunks got lost within himself a lot, he just never noticed. "Maybe one day he'll tell me about it," Goten thought to himself as the two neared the laboratory. "After all, I am his best friend, what are best friends for right?"

Before the two entered the laboratory, they passed by two gravity chambers, one for Trunks and one Vegeta. About a year after the incident with Vegeta locking Trunks out of the gravity chamber, Trunks mustered up enough courage to ask Vegeta again if he could train with him. Trunks didn't realize how much he missed training and spending that precious time with his father. At the time, he saw very little of Vegeta and missed him very much. He assumed that repeatedly asking to go to the park was wrong, so he never asked again for the whole duration of the year. Yet Vegeta did not let up on his apparent grudge against his only son. Trunks tried to break the ice himself by asking Vegeta again if he could train, but of course Vegeta's answer was no, and he requested that he not be asked again as he closed the door in to the gravity chamber in Trunks face for the last time.

Trunks was heart-broken. He didn't think there was anything worse than to be shut out completely by his own father, the man he looked up to for so long, the man he believed in with all of his heart. His hero, his mentor, his everything…slamming the door to his heart, right in the young boys face. That finalized the ordeal, Vegeta hated him, so Trunks thought anyway.

Bulma tried many times to talk Vegeta into letting Trunks train with him as well, but to no avail. Vegeta wouldn't hear any of it. She finally gave up on Vegeta and built Trunks his very own gravity chamber, in hopes to cheer him up. Trunks trained for hours on end in that thing, trying to impress his father with his diligence and endurance, and the amount of strength he gained, hoping to win his respect. Vegeta was not so easily impressed, so Trunks himself gave up. With that, Trunks decided to just concentrate on other things, like studying and spending more time with his mother, especially when she worked in the lab. He learned his away around the lab quickly and became of great assistance to his mother. Those this time spent with his mother was special, nothing could fill the void Vegeta left in his heart.

Trunks' gravity machine had been left unused for a little over a year -to-date.

Goten and Trunks finally entered the enormous laboratory. Trunks led the way to a humongous computer screen as Goten looked on in wonder. Goten had never been in the lab before, so he was awe-struck by the many gadgets and vast machinery located within. "No wonder Bulma makes all that cool stuff," Goten thought to himself, "she has all this stuff to work with. Hell she probably even built the machines that help her make that stuff, WOW."

"Your mom's lab is awesome Trunks," Goten exclaimed as Trunks positioned himself in front of the big screen monitor.

"Thanks," Trunks mumbled, now lost in his own thought as he began to key away at the keyboard located in front of the monitor. Goten hopped up on a table and watched as the huge screen took on multiple tasks, relaying back and forth between command information that made absolutely no sense to him. For the next several minutes, the only sound that could be heard was the clicking away of the keys on the keyboard as Trunks was engaged in his endeavor to seek out any information that would aid their efforts in finding the lost young ones.

"What exactly are you doing Trunks?" Goten finally asked. Trunks sighed and took a pause in his work to briefly explain to Goten what was going on.

"You remember how your da-father mentioned that Iriyoku sent out space probes and stuff to study us?" Trunks asked.

"Sure," Goten replied hesitantly, not quite sure what Trunks was getting at.

"Well about six months ago my mother finished building her own miniature satellite to send out into orbit so she could intercept the signals sent out over TV waves and we could have satellite TV for free.

The satellite was initially built to intercept many types of signals. So I'm trying to tap into the program she has constructed for it and send out a command to find other signals. If Iriyoku just happens to have a probe in the vicinity of the interception, this baby should be able to pick it up, then we will see what he sees, it should help. I'm not quite sure what the radius on this thing is though, if the probe is too far out might have to move the satellite around a bit…" After the brief introduction to Trunks' Techno World, he commenced his search and Goten stared at him, bug-eyed, dazed and confused.

"Wow Trunks, that's brilliant!" Goten finally said after remembering that he needed to breathe. "I would have never thought of that." Trunks faintly nodded but continued.

*****

Yamcha had stepped outside and was walking along the beach lost in thought. He had to get out of that house, it was too stuffy. Everyone decided to wait around for a little for Goten and Trunks to show up. If the two didn't come soon, then the rest of the warriors would have to go looking for them, just to make sure nothing was wrong. Yamcha could deal with looking for Goten, but Trunks……

And Bulma. Made his chest burn just thinking of her name. Bulma…so many years ago. Yamcha had had many girlfriends since then, but just couldn't seem to settle down with any, especially if the one he really wanted was already spoken for. But that was so long ago, almost 17 years since she broke up with him, broke up with him because she was pregnant with Vegeta's child. She had cheated on him! "How could she?" his heart bellowed out. No reply though. With Vegeta? The man that cared for no one but himself, even to this day? No matter, Yamcha couldn't bring himself to blame Vegeta. Bulma is the one that stayed with him, Vegeta could have really cared less about her, and the baby, Trunks. If she had walked out on him back then, Vegeta wouldn't have had anything to say but good-bye and would have gone on about his life without a second thought. But now it was too late, he was attached to Bulma, and had another baby, sealing the deal.

"If she hadn't gotten pregnant, she probably would have seen he didn't give a fuck about her, then maybe she would have come back to me," Yamcha thought to himself glumly. He hadn't really given this much thought to the matter for several years. He was supposed to be over Bulma, he hadn't really seen her since the Buu times, giving him plenty of times to heal the wounds that opened up when he saw her back then, for the first time in 7 years. He just couldn't get over his bad luck, or her stupidity for falling for Vegeta. Seeing her again now was almost too much, not only that, she seemed so happy. Her smile wasn't as bright, but it could have been because she was aging the same as he was. This infuriated Yamcha, how could she possibly be happy with Vegeta, he gives her nothing….

The only reason Yamcha had tried to be friendly with Vegeta is because he thought that maybe allying with him whole-heartedly would help ease the pain. Maybe seeing what Bulma sees in Vegeta would help him understand why they could never be. But that was not an option after all. And Trunks….had grown up to look just like Vegeta. He had the character all about him too, an arrogant stature, though he didn't say much so he couldn't tell if his attitude reflected Vegeta's or not. Even though he had purple hair like his grandfather, this kid was a spitting image of Vegeta, well…except his eyes. He had Bulma's eyes there was no mistaking that. It almost sickened Yamcha, to see a mixture of Bulma and Vegeta…something that should never have happened. Yamcha could hardly stand Trunks, he knew it wasn't Trunks fault he was here, but seeing Trunks only reminded Yamcha of why he and Bulma broke up so long ago. That was so long ago and he still wasn't over it. "Dunno how long I can keep this false face up," Yamcha thought to himself, "but I don't think I can hold in much longer. Might have to quit this shit, as much as I love it, I'm older now and not much help. Plus fighting along side Trunks wouldn't work out at all, I might lash out at him or something, then all hell would break loose. Guess I really did love Bulma, and still do…"

It had been well over an hour since the groups had been decided and everyone discovered that Trunks and Goten weren't there. Nightfall was beginning to creep up around the edges and chilly breezes raced across the waves. The sunset was enough to warm even the coldest of hearts, but not the most hurt, like Yamcha. Sunset meant nothing more than that the day was over, and he had survived it. But the cool breezes were coaxing Yamcha to go back inside the house, and after stubbornly withstanding the chilliness, Yamcha made a slow trek back to Kame's House.

Inside, anxiety had taken over Chichi and Bulma. They were getting a bit worried about where their sons could have run off to. "It's starting to get dark now Goku," Chichi said. "Maybe you guys should go looking for them now."

"Don't worry so Chichi, they'll be here soon, if not then we will definitely go looking for them," Goku replied.

"But its been hours already," Bulma exclaimed. "They weren't here for dinner so no telling how long they really have been gone, something seriously might have happened to them, and you guys stop waiting around you might be able to save them if they are in trouble!"

"I would have sensed if something was wrong," Piccolo said quietly. "The rest of us would have too I'm sure, so stop worrying, we'll take care of this."

"Well do you know where they are?" Bulma asked evenly, insulted by Piccolo's bluntness and nonchalant attitude. This was her son they were talking about.

"No," Piccolo answered calmly, arms folded. "But they are in no danger at this time." Bulma just sighed and took a seat beside Chichi who had settle her restless body at the table, trying not to get too worried.

"I say we just go home Bulma," Vegeta said roughly. "Trunks is a big boy, he can find his way home, and I need rest since we are going hunting tomorrow." Bulma just rolled her eyes and sighed again. She really wished he wouldn't act like this in front of everyone, they would start to figure it out soon…she didn't want them to know. Maybe she could fix it before anyone found out…Bra was in her lap, nodding off to sleep.

"Where are they going to stay?" Krillin asked out of the blue. Everyone else looked up at him in confusion. "I mean, we go and find them, and bring them back, but where are they supposed to stay? To sleep?" No one had thought of that.

"As much as I hate to say this," Piccolo finally answered, "I think they would best fair at Bulma and Vegeta's home."

"WHAT!" Vegeta exclaimed. "And why is that Namek?"

"Because you have a gravity chamber, that would be the best training to start them out with." Piccolo stated. "They need to increase their strength quickly, and what better way than to train them in a gravity chamber. Plus," Piccolo added, "you guys have plenty of space."

"My chamber is off limits to everyone but me," Vegeta answered quietly. He didn't really mind if even Kakarot moved in, that place was so big that it wouldn't be hard to go through the day and not see them. He would be training all day anyway, he had his own den when he wanted quiet time to himself. Plus having the children of the Legendary Super Saiyajin stay in his home might prove to be quite interesting. But no one was going to use his chamber. No one.

"But Trunks has a chamber of his own," Bulma provided, not quite sure if saying that would make Vegeta more upset. She paused and waited to see if Vegeta would object, but he said nothing. "He never uses it, so they could train in there, I don't mind at all," she finished. "They may spring some life into my deadened home," Bulma thought miserably to herself, but no matter, there might some hope. "But then they might see through us and see that our family is shattered, and I don't know if I want anyone to see that." Everything had been going so well…

"So long as they use his chamber then I guess its fine with me too," Vegeta said.

"If things don't work out," Videl added, "we have room for them." After Gohan and Videl had married, Mr. Satan offered to build them a nice luxurious home. But Good Buu stepped in and constructed a huge house for the two without even being asked. A very nice house indeed. Videl was so touched she cried, and the two newly weds happily accepted the gift. They had more than enough room for guests.

"Ha," Krillin said with a laugh, "well that's settled." At that moment, Yamcha entered the scene, looking a bit down. Everyone, even Vegeta, noticed his dismal mood and Yamcha attempted to play it off by suddenly perking up.

"What I miss!" he exclaimed, realizing he looked like a total fool, and also realizing that this acting gig he had taken on was going to be tougher than he thought. Before anyone could answer, Master Roshi's telephone rang. Chichi was the closest to it so she answered.

"Hello," she answered, hoping that it would be Goten. Not Goten, but close, Trunks.

"Hey Chichi," Trunks said, "is my mom around, I need to talk to her."

"Is Goten with you?" Chichi asked, "if so then put him on the phone because he needs to know how much trouble he's going to be in for running off like that without telling anyone!" Before Chichi could go off the deep end, Bulma whisked the receiver from her. Goku appeared behind his wife and rubbed her shoulders, trying to ease her tension. He seemed to tense up when she did and they were near each other, he didn't know why but he did.

"Hey honey," Bulma said, relief literally written on her forehead. "Where have you been son?"

"Son," Vegeta said. "Yeah where have you been Son, worthless Son, my son nonetheless." Vegeta was secretly relieved, and succeeded in not showing it.

"Well I took Goten with me to your lab and we looked up some stuff that might help us out," Trunks said, sounding quite proud of himself. "I actually did find some stuff."

"That's great son!" Bulma exclaimed. Meanwhile everyone else was crowding around her trying to get a glimpse of the conversation.

"What's so great Bulma," Krillin said, as he was being edged out of the way by Roshi.

"Well I have good news and bad news Mom," Trunks said. "Good news is, I think I know where all three of the kids are located."

"Mm hmm," Bulma replied, hoping the bad news wasn't too bad. There was a pause, so she coaxed him. "And the bad news…?"

"The bad news is that some of these creatures may already be here."