50.0

Days Until Universal Tournament - 1

Present Time - Earth

Orange City - Gohans Home

Trunks tapped down at Gohans home, sensing his girlfriends Ki. He'd been alerted the moment the load feature had been used, back inside Capsule Industries LAB. As he caught sight of Rhuda, squatting and crying, his heart pulled a little.

"Chisato!" He called.

She glanced back. "T-Trunks? Ano--what are you doing here?"

Trunks smiled a little and brushed aside a lock of his lilac bangs. "I'm sorry that I had you do all of that, without me. I knew it wouldn't work if it wasn't Shallot loading."

She blinked, not understanding. "Ano...what do you mean?"

"You did exactly what I'd thought you'd do." He held his hand out for her to take and instead of grabbing it, she ran into his chest. There he breathed in her scent, smelling Gohan, and sighed. "Well, almost exactly. Gohan knows, doesn't he?"

"Yes."

Trunks sighed again, like it was unexpected but within perimeters, and snuggled to her.

She winced a little. "Ahn...sorry, I-I'm still sore."

"I see. Where is he? The baby?"

"I had Shallot and Gohan take him to the real world, so that I could reload."

"Mhm. They should be getting back soon, then," he said. Rhuda brushed her nose across his adams apple, which bobbed a little, and added, "I'll explain everything when they get here, Chisato."

"O-Okay."

The green of her eyes lit, as if she'd not seen him in such a long time that she was enamored, and it made his neck hot. His pulse race. And his body itch a little, in a certain area. "You've...you've really missed me, haven't you?"

"I wondered when I'd get to be this close again. If you'd let me. If...maybe I'd have to sacrifice one of them."

Trunks shook his head. "No...that would be selfish."

Gohan, Shallot and a tiny black haired baby hidden in a swaddling appeared in the sky. They landed, and Trunks watched the chubby infant give a tiny cry and begin to root around on Gohans chest. "Wah..! Wah..!"

Rhuda let him go and quickly went to Gohan, whom smiled gently and handed him over to his mother. She walked to Trunks and said, "I've got to feed him. Ano..." her cheeks flushed, looking around, and bit her lower lip cutely.

"It's fine. We'll go inside so that you can have privacy."

"T-Thank you."

He chuckled. And couldn't help the funny feeling inside his chest, which swelled, seeing his adorable girlfriend holding a baby. The baby looked good on her, as if he'd been there all along, and Trunks kept his attentions fixated to every detail of Rhuda, taking it all in with the keen eyes of a genius.

She was a good mother. A beautiful mother.

They made it inside the foyer of Gohans home and she left momentarily down the hallway branching to the left, and Trunks turned his attention to Shallot and Gohan. "Sorry. About uh, tricking you Shallot. I had to do that, though..."

Shallot scowled. "Yeah yeah. I figured it was something like that. Still, you could have given me a heads up."

"If I had done that then things wouldn't have been correct."

Gohan, who looked to be tired, with his unruly hair sticking out in places, ran his hand through it and glanced away. "I think I see where this is going. You wanted Chisato to choose what to do all on her own, right?"

Trunks nodded. "Yeah. If I had given her some clues it would have been me swaying her."

"But still...you know she's concerned about returning her body to normal." Gohan replied.

"I know. Don't worry, that's all under control, too."

"If you say so..." Gohans gaze trailed after where Rhuda had vanished, as if wanting to follow her, and Trunks couldn't help teasing him. "You're already clingy," he told him.

Gohan flushed. "Sorry. It's just...I've never had a son before. And..well, you should have been there when he was born. It was wild. I thought I'd need to get the Dragon Balls to fix things."

Trunks put his hand under his chin, wondering at that for a time. "I see."

"The Lookout got totally ruined," Shallot said.

"She couldn't keep her power under control." Gohan explained, with intensity in his eyes. "...Chisato went through hell to bring Kolard into the world. I don't think I'll ever forget that."

"..."

Trunks wanted to ask more questions, but knew if he did so, it would end up with him feeling jealous for no reason, and Rhuda needed him to be level headed and put together.

Minutes passed until she came back red faced and holding a sleeping infant swaddled now in white. "Sorry it took so long. He was very tired and I had to clean him up..."

Gohan chuckled. "It's fine, sweethea---Chisato!" He coughed, loudly, and added, "If you'll excuse me I need to make a phone call."

After Gohan had left down the long hallway, branching into other rooms of unknown destination, Trunks led the three plus one Kolard to the living room. He sat down opposite his girlfriend on one of Gohans plush white couches. The ticking of a grandfather clock was their background noise.

"About all of this, I'm sorry." Trunks began. "...I've known for some time now that Fu would try to do something when he knew about Tie--er, Kolard. However...I couldn't figure out how he'd do it. I planned all of this so that Chisato could figure out her own feelings, after knowing about uh, Kolard."

"My own feelings..." Rhuda said, looking away shyly. "You knew them before I did."

"Sorry, again." Trunks focused on Shallot next, "I guessed that Shiroui would try and help you understand them. Am I right?"

She nodded.

Shallot grew red in the face. "Not cool, Trunks."

Trunks chuckled. "Well, to be fair, I had to let Chisato see that for herself. And...it looks like it didn't change things."

Rhuda broke in, flushing, "I had almost a year to think about it all, and even after...I only see Trunks."

That little sentence made the genius' heart pound. If she'd wanted to, Rhuda could have chosen Shallot and Trunks would have accepted that, knowing those two had a bond together, yet his girlfriend wasn't swayed at all. It was quite touching.

"You're nineteen now?" Trunks asked.

"Yes."

"And what made you decide to let Gohan know?" He also wanted to know 'how' Gohan knew, but figured something unexpected led to Rhuda telling him the truth, seeing as he was there for the birth.

Rhuda gnawed her lower lip and glanced off. "...It was the only option at the time. He told me that he wanted to do what was right, and I didn't feel okay taking that away from him."

"I see."

Trunks leaned back and thought a moment. While he did that, Kolard made a face in his sleep and shook his tiny head back and forth.

"Does he have a tail?" Trunks asked.

"Mhm. It's very tiny and cute!" She moved the covering just a smidgen to expose the curled and furry brown tail.

"I heard it was pretty hard having him."

She nodded. "It was. He's very strong. I'm thankful that Gohan was there to help me. If not for him, then...Kolard..."

"You did what was best."

Shallot yawned. "You guys just keep flirting back and forth. Ugh. If you need me, I'll be at the Time Nest recovering my self esteem." He said, reaching over to ruffle Rhudas hair, and gave Kolard a poke. "Hang in there little dude."

Gohan came back and sat down, looking even more tired. "Sorry about that. My boss isn't happy I called in twice..."

"I'm so sorry! That's my fault." Rhuda immediately said with a furrow of her brows. Gohan shook his head and touched her knee, "No. It's okay. None of this is your fault. It's Fu."

Trunks nodded. "Fu will be held accountable for all of this."

Rhuda, looking at her son, couldn't help but be a tiny bit grateful to Fu, for she had Kolard, whom she already adored. Gohan, too, looked to the infant with admiration.

"About Videl..." Trunks began, switching topics.

Gohan nodded. "I don't think it's a good idea to tell her about this. We've all had pretty normal lives, aside from the villains showing up here and there to take over or destroy the earth. I'd like to...keep things as stable as possible. It would only worry Videl, and she already worries enough about Pan."

Trunks rolled his ankle a little, deliberating. "I finished the barrier. That's why I was a little late."

"Late?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah. I was going to meet her at the HTC. But...I had to be sure Fu wouldn't try to take advantage of the Time Nest while I was away."

Rhuda looked away. Trunks knew she had been a hurt, having known she'd go into labor and hadn't arrived, but she looked to Gohan.

"Gohan?" She asked.

"Hm?"

"Ano..."

He smiled. "Don't worry. I'll tell her most of the truth."

Trunks noticed how easily Gohan answered, and thought the two must be very close already. He decided to not let it bother him. "Most of the truth?" Trunks asked.

"Yeah. Well, she did have a baby, and my home is bigger than Dads, so I think she'll agree to let Chisato and Kolard stay here, seeing as she's my sister."

"You...want her to live here?" Trunks repeated, a little shocked.

Gohan nodded. "Kolard needs protection. And she'll be in the Tournament, right? We can't let Fu have any chance to kill him. Also...well, I want to see him as much as I can. He's only tiny once..."

Trunks sighed. Another ball had hit out of the park and left to the sky, throwing him for a loop. "Then I need to make another wish today."

"Eh?" Rhuda blinked. "A wish?"

"...Yeah. I just hope Shenron is up to it." Trunks stood, smoothed down his jacket and said, "I'll be back afterwards. Goku should have them ready by now."

Gohan rose too. "Dad? You had him go hunt the Dragon Balls?"

"It's the only other way to return her body to normal."

It became obvious what Trunks intended to wish for. Rhuda stood up as well, closing the distance to him and bowed. "T-Thank you so much...!"

Trunks smiled. In truth he'd rather take Rhuda and be on his way and catch up on their lost time. He'd been gone a year, and so had she, and even longer to have Kolard. But he had a job to do that couldn't wait. His thumb slid down her red cheek. "...I'll pick you up later, if that's alright?"

"Y-yes! Oh, I need to ask Dad..."

Gohan chuckled. "You've gotta go through me now." That earned him a glare from Trunks, and Gohan quickly said, "K-Kidding! Sorry, just a joke."

Trunks left, and as his energy took off for the transporter located at his home in Capsule, Gohan turned to the new mother who looked on sadly. "He'll be back. In the meantime, you should rest."

"I love him so much..." she confessed. Cute tears dotted her eyelashes before escaping and sliding down. Then her body swayed with fatigue, and Gohan quickly caught her. "Easy, easy. You just had a baby, you know..."

He led her to his office, where she laid down on his couch for guests and breathed heavily from blood loss and after birth pain. Gohan grabbed a nearby throw cover, used when Pan was there napping and placed it over her. "There. Snug as a bug in a rug."

Her eyes began to droop. Then open. Then droop once more. Gohan carefully took Kolard from her tight grip and said, "I'll keep an eye on him don't worry. I know how Videl was, always thinking Pan would suddenly stop breathing. You have nothing to worry about."

She smiled, curled over to her side and gave in to rest.

*

*

*

Conton - Time Nest

Shallot walked through the portal of the Time Nest, seeing the SKOT and Elder Kai standing there, talking with Whis, whom was strangely without his destroyer pupil, Beerus. As he drew closer they stopped talking and Whis gave him a smile. "My, it seems we've gotten stronger lately. All that running to the 'real' world must be paying off."

"Just kicking ass and taking names as usual," was Shallots snarky reply.

"I see."

SKOT turned to Shallot and put her hand beneath her chin, studying. "We've got a lot of preparation to do for tomorrow's Tournament. I haven't saw Rhuda in quite awhile. Is she going to still be entering?"

"Yep. She wouldn't miss this." Shallot said. He then pondered maybe she should, considering Kolard had literally just been born and all, but knew telling her not to would be pointless. Plus...they'd make a move, somewhere, somehow. And Shallot doubted that keeping her out of the fight would be helpful; as least in the Tournament there might be... "Will the other Gods of Destruction be there, like the T.O.P?"

Whis nodded. "Indeed! Grand priest gave his blessing for them all to attend. Any fellow Time Patrollers are welcome to view it as well."

SKOT nodded along and added, "The arena is bigger than the T.O.P. At least this time there won't be any universes destroyed."

"Right." Shallot sighed, thinking on what Items and Equipment Rhuda should use, knowing she'd be facing someone stupidly overpowered. Just what level was she, anyway? His dumb ass had forgotten to ask.

"There you are." Came a voice.

Bra entered the Nest and zeroed onto Shallot. She was wearing her royal blue armor, similar to her fathers, and white gloves and boots. He dipped into a playful bow, tail wagging, "At your service."

"The patrollers entering tomorrow are mad." She told him.

"I didn't do it, what ever it is," he said.

She wrinkled her nose a little, blinking those blue eyes twice and added, "I realize that. With the Tournament tomorrow they're wanting to get in last minute training, except the PQ simulator is STILL offline."

"Not my problem--" he walked past, bumped her shoulder, and she grabbed his wrist tightly. "It IS your problem, Mr. Leader. Or did you forget that part?"

Shallot sighed. "Trunks has been too busy to fix it." He broke free of her hold easily, only to stare up at the Nest glass ceiling. That made him cross his arms on the grass and sigh, loudly. "Fineeee. I'll talk to him about it. Don't get your hopes up."

"Hmp! He's too busy fawning over that girl to focus on his job anymore. He even gave it to a light weight like you!" Bra stepped on his chest with her white boot, glaring down at him. "Guys are pathetic."

Shallot couldn't help but tease her. "This is a nice angle. Now just lean a little more that way..."

"You-!" That boot ground into his chest bone a little hard before she stuck her nose in the air and stalked out of the portal. Shallot lay there for a time, thinking how on earth he and Bra would ever really like one another like that. Their 'dating' had been a game to him, then, nothing more.

Impossible. X that one off.

*

*

*

West City - Capsule Industries

"Eternal Dragon, by your name I summon you forth; Shenron!"

The sky became dark. Clouds gathered overhead, and Trunks and Goku watched as lightning zipped across those clouds and crashed into the ground of Capsule, striking the dome home harmlessly. Then a mighty green dragon curled and coiled itself up, breathing loudly. With a loud thundering voice he asked, "Why did you summon me here?"

Goku waved. "Hey Shenron! It's been a while."

The dragon snorted and his whiskers flew back. "...Son Goku. Are you and Bulma Briefs the only one who gathers the Dragon Balls?"

"Pretty much! Yup! Oh, but this time it's Trunks here who needs to make some wishes." Goku stuck his thumb to Trunks, who bowed.

Shenrons red eyes gleamed. "Very well. State your three wishes."

Trunks cleared his throat. "My first wish is to return Rhuda, or uh, Chisato Shino, well, give her virginity back."

"...A strange wish. It is done."

"Nice!" Goku gave him a thumbs up.

Trunks sighed. That was over. Now his son Tie would be able to come as planned. "My second wish is to create a barrier, able to keep Fu and any other negative energy out over the earth."

Shenron grew quiet. Then said, "My power cannot extend to the entire planet."

"I see...then, the same wish, only just cover Gohans home."

His dragon eyes glowed. Goku and Trunks looked up, seeing a shimmering collection of iridescent tiles burst over one large spot of Orange city then fade. "Your wish has been granted."

"Thanks, Shenron. I don't have a third wish."

"Until next time..." Shenron vanished, and the Dragon Ball rose and burst off across the Earth once more.

*

*

*

Present Time - Orange City- Gohans Home

Goku and Trunks IT to Gohans home just outside the entrance.

"So my little Chisato is a mom now," Goku said in awe.

Trunks nodded. "She is. I uh, guess Chichi will want to meet Kolard."

"You bet she will. Kolard, huh? Hmm. It's got a good saiyan ring to it." Goku approved.

*knock knock*

Gohan swung the door open. "Dad! Trunks, hey, come in. But be quiet alright? She's still resting."

Goku and Trunks entered the large foyer and shut the door quietly. "Where is he?" Goku asked, whispering and looking more like a burglar than a grandfather, what with his creeping stance and shifting eyes.

"You don't have to be 'that' quiet." Gohan chuckled. "They're in my office resting. I was doing some work while they slept, well, trying to."

Trunks wasted no time in greetings and strode to her Ki, opening the door to see Rhuda and Kolard napping on the couch. The two looked peaceful. As he neared her, intent to get a peek at Kolard, he heard a low growl rumbling cutely. It was Rhuda, protecting her son in her sleep.

He shut the door with a smile and went back to his father and Gohan. "Sound asleep. I was going to hang out a little, before the Tournament tomorrow."

Gohan rubbed his neck. "I don't know if it's a great idea to let her enter. You see how tired she is."

Trunks pulled from his trench pocket two sensu beans. "These should help."

"Good thinking, Trunks." Goku said.

Gohan, however, frowned a little. "Still...she'll be up through the night feeding him."

"She has to enter," Goku told him. "She trained a whole year with me just for this."

"...Putting that aside, our enemy will make a move." Trunks reminded the both of them. "He's going to come for her at some point. I've already went ahead and made a Safe House for that, but he'll be expecting her to show up. If she doesn't, well...Fu will do what he needs to in order for his experiment to continue."

Trunks went on to explain the Safe House, now Gohans Home, and everyone agreed it was a good call.

Kolard distantly crying made them jump. Gohan dashed down the hallway and threw the door open, as if an emergency had happened and he'd need either an ambulance or extinguisher, only to see Rhuda was up and helping him latch onto her breast. Those two mountains were leaking clear fluids, and the milk dribbled down her stiff peaks and across her flat stomach, darkening the throw cover. "Ah...t-there's so much..."

Gohan swallowed.

"S-Sorry to interrupt. Just making sure everything was okay." He said, getting ready to shut the door.

"Ano...is that Dad and Trunks I hear?"

"Yeah. Don't rush, do what you need to and then come on out."

*

*

*

Goku began by saying that Richard had been defeated and wouldn't bother anyone anymore, and Rhuda tearfully thanked him, adding that despite everything that led into her being pregnant she didn't care anymore, happy to have Kolard.

Rhuda handed Goku Kolard, and her father made a squealing noise and spun him around in the air a time or two, cooing about how adorable his new grandson was. "Wow! If I didn't know better, I'd say this really 'was' my grandson. Look at that dark hair, just like his grandpa!"

Gohan, Trunks and Rhuda all shared a horrified expression and quickly switched topics.

They talked for a time about the Tournament, and though Gohan was worried about it, Rhuda was set on going no matter what. "I'm quite strong now," she told them.

"Yeah I'll say. Dende told me how you pretty much destroyed the Lookout." Goku chuckled, snuggling Kolard to his face, "There's not many people who can brag that Earth's Guardian himself delivered their baby."

"Pretty sure she's the only one, ever," Gohan said with a tired smile. "You should have seen her Dad. She did amazing. Giving birth to a Super Saiyan baby."

That led into another conversation that left Rhuda extremely bashful.

Trunks asked, "What was it like? Did he kick you a lot?"

"Y-yes. Ano...it was quite painful every time he did. I had several broken ribs if I wasn't in Primal." She said, looking at her son.

"Wowww...." Goku was amazed, mouth hanging open. "And you were all alone in the HTC too. That had to be hard."

Everyone grew quiet, contemplative, and also thoroughly impressed with how courageous Rhuda had been. Staying alone and dealing with the morning sickness, pains, and learning new moves with the power pole all by herself for nine long months, underneath heavy gravity. Goku had a comment that she had probably made Kolard stronger, due to him also being under heavy gravity from the beginning. It was an interesting theory and partially explained why the baby had been so hard to birth.

Trunks chest itched. He had a right to feel guilty after all, but he'd definitely be there for their son Tie. He wouldn't miss any of it, he vowed.

Gohan told his Dad how he wanted Rhuda to stay there and the reasons for it, and Goku reluctantly agreed, mostly due to knowing Trunks had made a wish that would ensure Fu couldn't come there when he wanted. Goku said he'd bring over her new bed later, and also Chichi, Broly, and Goten to show off Kolard.

Trunks then asked to borrow Rhuda for a time and the two left Kolard with Gohan, headed towards the skyline of West City hand in hand.

Eventually they made it to Capsule Industries.

*

*

*

Present Time - Capsule Industries

"Tomorrow...I won't be able to be there," Trunks told her. "I'll be watching it of course. But I'm going to the real world with Shallot to search for Fu before he gets a chance to make his move."

They'd just entered his bedroom, both sitting on the bed side by side.

Rhuda pouted. "But...I...I wanted Trunks to be there. To see me."

He wrapped one arm around her and snuggled her head to his shoulder. "Believe me, I'd much rather be there. But you know it's not wise, letting him do whatever he wants while we just wait."

"Yes...Trunks knows best."

"I-I wouldn't uh, say that, it's just better to be prepared. Speaking of that, do you have any healing items?"

"No. They were used in the HTC."

He thought on that, deducing she needed to recover from broken ribs quite often, and then asked what level she was.

"80. It's as high as I could get."

"I see. Go to Conton and get Items. You'll need fresh equipment too. It's too bad I don't know who we should expect there. I thought my future self would have written that down at least, but the only hint I had was to not let you go to the real world."

"Eh? Me?"

Trunks nodded. "Yeah...I have a feeling since you're the vessel, he'll be needing you in the real world as Rhuda to fulfill whatever he wants to do with the Ancient One."

"You're probably right."

The two snuggled together, kissing and touching for a few minutes before his watch rang. It was Shallot, asking about the PQ simulator. Trunks told him he'd try to get it there soon and reluctantly stood up. "I'm sorry, Chisato. We seem to stay busy these days." He said, watching sadness flicker in her beautiful eyes.

"I understand...but...can I...can I touch you for just a bit longer?"

"Y-Yeah. S-Sure."

She breathed him in, running up and down his muscles in an effort to memorize him. His hair had grown in length and brushed the middle of his back, silky soft and thick. She played with it for a time until he said it was making him go crazy, and thus Rhuda pouted yet again but did as he asked. After instructing her to go to Conton and get as much Items as she needed, providing her with tons of TP, Trunks left to the LAB.

Like that the final day came to a close.

Nobody could have predicted the future, not even Trunks Briefs. If he had, well, maybe the worlds wouldn't have spiraled out of control.

It was the last day he'd ever look at things the same way again.