Anime: DBZ Genre: Action/Adventure Rating: PG Title: Demon Seeds 
Part: 1
<br>
He stood on a cliff and stared down at what was left of the city 
below. Everything was gone. Everyone was gone too. It was 
inevitable, that the world's strongest warriors would die. They had 
all died, saving the world from Dr. Gero's descendants. The people 
that were left, struggled to bring the earth back to a state of 
peace before the carnage. He was left, along with his brother Taro, 
his aunt Toko, his father, his mother and his cousin Lingerie and 
Goten and Marron's child, Tenrro.
<br>
Where had everyone else gone? Gohan, Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, 
Krillin...them and all the others had died in trying to stop Dr. 
Ophin Gero from completely annihilating the world. Bra, her husband 
Gendi, son of Yamcha, Goten and Marron were the only ones left alive 
besides them. Trunks and Loren were still around but they had 
withdrawn to their own realm. They deserved it, he knew, and he 
welcomed their intermittent visits, even though there was sometimes 
many years between them.
<br>
"Hey, what are you thinking about again?" Taro asked and Clarinet 
looked at him. They both had grown quite a lot, despite the hard 
times that fell upon them. Taro was sixteen and Clarinet was 
eighteen. If he was completely human, he could be considered full 
grown but since he was a mix, he could not be sure whether he was 
a "man" or not. He pushed his antennae out of his line of sight and 
looked at his brother.
<br>
"I'm just thinking about the way things used to be," he replied then 
looked behind Taro. "Where are the others?"
<br>
"Dunno," Taro replied, shrugging his shoulders. Clarinet folded his 
arms, sat down, and began to meditate. Taro looked at him for a 
moment then sighed.
<br>
"You get so much like Goten."
<br>
"You get like Piccolo."
<br>
"Yeah. I sure wish they were still around. I miss them all. 
Especially our grandparents."
<br>
"Yeah. I miss them too..."
<br>
"What's that noise?"
<br>
"It's a car. Probably Toko with the others."
<br>
"She drives like Aunt Bra."
<br>
"That's not especially good..."
_________________________________________________________________________
<br>Bra pulled the car to a screeching halt and Toko jumped out of the 
back of the car. The car was expensive for it had wheels. People 
had gone back to the archaic style of cars because fuel had become 
scarce. Bra took off her sunglasses and looked at Taro.
<br>
"Hey, are you scared or something?" Bra asked as Gendi climbed out 
of the car. Taro looked at her for a moment then shook his head. 
Gendi was a tall, strong man, much like his father, but he had one 
difference. He had the respect that Yamcha had lost when people 
that were much stronger than him showed up. He had a haircut 
similar to the one Yamcha had in the later years but his eyes were a 
deep blue similar to his mother's. Yamcha had married a woman in 
one of the numerous towns. A waitress. He had given up on fighters 
so he fell in love with a waitress that worked at a restaurant he 
frequented...
<br>
"Me? I'm not scared," Taro said and Bra grinned as she climbed out 
of the car.
<br>
"How are things?" Clarinet asked and Bra looked at him.
<br>
"Just like a Namek. So logical. Things are fine, considering what's 
happened."
<br>
"What's happened?"
<br>
"There was a chemical plant explosion today," Toko said and Bra 
nodded her head.
<br>
"Yeah. I sure wish Dad was back or at least Trunks. We need their 
help."
<br>
"What about us?" Taro asked and Bra looked at him.
<br>
"You're our only hope, aren't you? You, your brother, and your 
father. You're the only male Saiyens we have left. I can't believe 
all of this happened. I can't believe we weren't prepared for this. 
I mean, who would have known that Dr. Gero had a son? I wish Trunks 
would come back. We need him."
<br>
"You sound like Grandma," Taro commented and Bra brushed a tear away 
from her eyes.
<br>
"Now you've done it, Taro. You get so much like Rion, don't you?" 
Toko asked and Taro looked at her.
<br>
"I do not! Mom says I'm like Grandpa."
<br>
"You're like both of them."
<br>
"So, has anything else happened?" Clarinet asked as Gendi sat on 
the hood of the car.
<br>
"What do you want to know?" he asked and Clarinet looked at him.
<br>
"Gero was killed, right?"
<br>
"You saw it."
<br>
"I know. I just want a confirmation, that's all."
<br>
"Something's been happening. Destruction is all over the place. It's 
as if there's a breeding ground for something. Something's going to 
come out of all this and it's not going to be good."
<br>
"I'm fully aware of that."
<br>
"Where are the others?" Toko asked and Bra looked at her.
<br>
"They're in a safe place. Come on you two, we're going to get your 
father. At least find him. I'm not going to do all of this alone."
<br>
"What are we going to do?" Taro asked.
<br>
"We'll find out soon enough," Clarinet said as he climbed into the 
back of the car.
_______________________________________________________________________
<br>A slightly acidic rain burst out and Clarinet switched on his 
wristband that cast a thin, protective shield over his body. The 
Namek mix closed his eyes and as the conversation and the car 
dragged on and thought.
<br>
It had been an unexpected crash that had changed everyone's life 
forever. Trunks had gone back to the past a second time in an 
attempt to stop the androids created by Dr. Gero and then, quite 
suddenly, the past came into play once again. 
<br>
Her name was Loren and she and Piccolo had been close friends when 
he was growing up on Namek. With the beauty of a flower and the 
innocence of Goku, she had found her way into everyone's 
hearts...especially Trunks'. She had ties to everyone's past it 
seemed, even Vegeta and the Supreme Kai, for it was his homeworld 
that she had first come to know. There were two people out of all of 
them that truly loved her but there was only one person that held 
what was destined to be hers.
<br>
She came from a land above the Kais and she had been sent to the 
mortal realm in order to keep the balance of the entire universe in 
order. She managed to do this with the help of Trunks and throughout 
the trials that she experienced in a mortal world, she was given the 
chance to experience children. She had two, Rion and Toko.
<br>
Rion was the oldest and was an almost exact duplicate of his father. 
Toko was the second and she looked a lot like Bulma and Bra in hair 
color and attitude. There was at least twelve years between the two 
because even though her pregnancies only lasted a few months, they 
were few and far in-between.
<br>
Rion, once he was full grown, fell in love with Taro's mother, Pan 
but he had a deep affection for Piccolo's nephew Fife as well. Rion 
had spent a year training on Namek when he was only three years old 
and struck up a friendship with Fife, who was slightly removed from 
the world at the time. However, as the years went on, the friendship 
deepened into love until one day, Clarinet was born.
<br>
Being that Nameks have no specific gender, the end result was 
plausible, however greatly unexpected. Rion was not even aware that 
he had a son other than Taro until a year after he had married Pan. 
Vegeta, needless to say was not happy about the news and it took 
Clarinet a lot of effort to gain acceptance from the Saiyen Prince. 
He had gotten it and even received training from his great-
grandfather, which was a much treasured asset to him.
<br>
The rain cleared, allowing the sickly sun to poke weakly through the 
toxic particles that shrouded the earth. Each one of them wore air 
purifiers transfixed about their necks. Bra had designed them to 
look stylish and Gendi had launched a successful marketing campaign 
so that now there was over a dozen styles for the Purity Collar, 
which was the purifier's brand name.
<br>
Clarinet glanced at Gendi. He knew little about his father Yamcha, 
except for the fact that he and Bulma had once been lovers and that 
Vegeta had hated him. He knew that Yamcha had once been a great 
fighter and had helped in the ancient battles against Frieza and 
Cell but the enemies kept increasing in power and he was only human 
so...he gave up fighting and became a mechanic. Nothing was said 
about him at the Brief's but Clarinet assumed that it was because 
Vegeta did not like the man whatsoever.
<br>
He knew it had been a shock to his great-grandparents when Bra had 
brought him home the first time. He had been outdoors training and 
he could still clearly remember the scene....
<br>
"No child of mine is going to marry a weakling like that!! I've had 
my peace from that bandit and I forbid you to marry into that 
family!! He couldn't have her and his son is not going to get the 
honor of having you. You deserve much better child!" Vegeta yelled 
and Gendi stood up.
<br>
"Your Highness, I am not responsible for what went on between you 
and my father. It is unjust for you to carry that sort of grudge over to 
me," Gendi said and Vegeta cast him a frigid gaze.
<br>
"How dare you tell me what to do! How..."
<br>
"Daddy I love him and I'm going to marry him whether you want me to 
or not! This is my decision. I only want you to live with it," Bra 
said and Vegeta turned away from them.
<br>
"Fine. Do as you wish. Nothing I say will make you change your mind 
so go!" Vegeta growled and glanced out the window at Clarinet. On 
look was all it took to send the young Namek back into a training 
mindset. He flexed his muscled and went back to work.
<br>
He shifted his focus and jerked back slightly when he saw Toko 
staring intensely at him. She grinned and Clarinet tried another 
futile attempt to clear his antennae from his line of sight.
<br>
"About time you woke up," she said and tugged on his robe. "We're 
here. Come on."
<br>
Clarinet stood up to his full height of seven feet and six inches 
and stretched, flexing his large but graceful arms. He had a lot of 
muscle but it wasn't predominant like his brother's. His body kept a 
graceful, slender state loaded with enormous power reserves but it 
wasn't obvious like his great-grandfather's had been. His figure 
resembled Dende's a bit simply because they both were not overly 
muscular. However, there was one big difference between the two, as 
Gero's minions had found out.
<br>
While Clarinet only appeared to be a level three on the energy 
scale, he was in actuality nine more, which always provided a rude 
awakening to those who thought he was an easy shot. And that was with his 
training robes on. Without...well, he had never had the opportunity 
to take them off. Not yet, at least...
<br>
"Hey you!" Toko said and Clarinet glanced at her.
<br>
"What now?" he asked and Toko pointed to the door.
<br>
"Let's go inside and join the others."
____________________________________________________________________
<br>In the dimly lit backroom of a laboratory, four things breathed. 
Like a silent disease they absorbed nutrients through osmosis. The 
pale green seeds pulsated rhythmically in the under lit lab, almost 
as if they had hearts that were beating. Pneumatic tubes were attached 
to the tubes that they slept in, some pushing liquid in to the tiny 
homes of the seeds, some pumping liquid out. They were sentient, 
there was no doubt about it and they sensed the uneasiness their 
presence caused...
_____________________________________________________________________
<br>"Boy I'm glad Trunks isn't here. My kitchen would already be dead if 
her were," Bra said and Taro looked at her.
<br>
"I thought you wanted to see Grandpa," he said.
<br>
"I do. I just don't want to see him eat. Not alongside you two. I'm 
glad I had a daughter. I don't know if I could handle another pig."
<br>
"Stop it Toko!"
<br>
"You are a pig. Oink, oink, oink," Toko said and Taro glared at her.
<br>
"You're not being very nice," Taro grumbled as he reached for a 
piece of bread.
<br>
"Where are the children?" Gendi asked.
<br>
"With Pan, I'm sure," Rion said and sighed. "I wish I could sense 
Mother."
<br>
"She'll be back," Toko said and took her brother's hand.
<br>
"I know. The waiting is just hard. I miss both of them."
<br>
"I do too. You've known them longer."
<br>
"What's that supposed to mean?"
<br>
"You don't miss them as much as I do."
<br>
"You don't know that."
<br>
"I just meant that you've known them longer. I don't know them as 
well as you."
<br>
"I'm sorry. At least you got the chance to know them. You almost 
didn't get that chance."
<br>
"I know that."
<br>
She lowered her head and he embraced her. She drew away from him 
and sighed. The memory of her father being so depressed because her 
mother was gone...it still seemed too shockingly real to her. She 
had only been two years old when her mother was brought back from 
her realm and Toko had been so happy because Trunks was content once 
again.
<br>
"Things will be okay," Taro said and Toko looked at him.
<br>
"You're too cheerful," she said and cringed at the sound of a 
wailing siren.
<br>
"Wonder what's happened now?" Bra asked as she switched on the 
television screen.
<br>
"And another fire broke out on Fuchsia Street at five-thirty this 
afternoon. Investigators believe that the same motive was behind 
this fire as the other ones. Each one of these fires happened at the 
homes of prominent scientists. One was a botanist, another a 
genetics expert, and thirdly a computist. Police are offering three 
hundred tokens to anyone who has information that would aid in 
catching this criminal," the television announcer said.
<br>
"I could eat a really big meal with that kind of money," Taro said 
and Toko suddenly looked at her brother.
<br>
"What's wrong?" she asked and Rion shook his head.
<br>
"I don't know. I thought I heard something," he replied.
<br>
"Mother?"
<br>
"No. It wasn't her. I could feel Father and Uncle Shin if it was 
her. They always go there first when they visit."
<br>
"I know that. What was it, then?"
<br>
"I don't know. It wasn't clear. What's with you?"
<br>
Clarinet said nothing as he stared out the window, his hands 
twitching with emotion.
<br>
"Talk to me."
<br>
"Fife," Clarinet replied and Rion looked at him.
<br>
"What about Fife? Tell me."
<br>
clarinet shook his head as his eyes flickered angrily. Rion laid a 
hand on his son's shoulder and gazed hardly at him.
<br>
"Don't do this. I know you can get through this. You've gone through 
much worse."
<br>
"I sense him."
<br>
"Fife is dead," Bra said and Clarinet glared at her.
<br>
"Don't you think I know that?! You don't know how much of a shock it 
was to wake out of a peaceful sleep by his soul screaming out in 
pain only to be suddenly silenced," Clarinet snapped, trying to hold 
back the tears that came from the memory of his Namek parent. He 
flinched slightly as Toko took his hand and ran her fingers over it.
<br>
"At least you knew him when you were really little. I didn't have 
that. Don't look that way, Rion. I know it wasn't your fault," Toko 
said and Bra sighed.
<br>
"Trunks needs to get you two back on track. At least you've got Pan 
to keep an eye on you," she said and Rion grinned.
<br>
"True. But she's got her hands full with Taro too," he said.
<br>
"The pig," Toko said.
<br>
"I'm not even eating."
<br>
"At least your children don't have a lot of your mother in them," 
Bra said and Rion flushed.
<br>
"What did I miss?" Pan asked as she walked into the room.
<br>
"Aunt Bra's embarrassing him again," Toko said and Clarinet drew 
away from her. She looked at him questioningly as he walked out of the 
room.
<br>
"What did I say?"
<br>
"Nothing. Just let him be," Rion said.
_________________________________________________________________________
<br>Clarinet stepped out into the desolate street and gazed up at the 
smog filled sky. He wanted to know why he sensed his...he 
reluctantly used the term mother but he sincerely wished he could 
remember the Namek term for parents. Being that Nameks are 
androgynous, the terms mother and father mean nothing to them. He 
shivered slightly. Not in cold, but apprehension as he gazed down 
the street. Something was there. Something that seemed extremely 
familiar. It touched his early childhood memories and Clarinet ran 
to the shadow, immediately knowing who it was.
<br>
"How did you...? Why...? I'm so glad to see you again!" he cried as 
Fife embraced him.
<br>
"You've grown so much since Rion brought you to Other World. They 
still get in your eyes, don't they?" Fife asked as he brushed 
Clarinet's antennae back.
<br>
"How did you get here? Not that I'm not happy to see you but..."
<br>
"I was sent back."
<br>
"Did you do something wrong?"
<br>
"No," Fife said, smiling. "The Grand Kai sent me back to help."
<br>
"To help?"
<br>
"Yes."
<br>
"With what?"
<br>
"Where's Rion?"
<br>
"What's going to happen?"
<br>
"Let me speak to Rion before I tell you anything."
<br>
"He's in the house."
<br>
"I never thought this planet could look so terrible. What does Dende 
think of it?"
<br>
"Dende's...taken ill. He's already looking for a new guardian. I'm 
really glad you're here..."
<br>
"I'm not here to stay. This is a special assignment. I can't take 
over for Dende."
<br>
"I wasn't going to ask you to. He wants...me to take over."
<br>
"Are you serious?"
<br>
"Yes. I haven't told Father. I wasn't really sure what to do."
<br>
"Let's go inside and we'll discuss this after I speak to Rion."
<br>
"Okay."
_________________________________________________________________________
<br>The nurturing liquid within the tubes bubbled with life as the seeds 
began to increase their mobility. They weren't truly seeds; at least 
not the kind of seeds found on earth. The hull of one seed expanded, 
as if something inside was going to explode and pressed against the 
walls of its glass prison. The tube shattered and the seed fell to 
the floor. Its expansion continued until the hull could handle the 
strain no longer. It split, allowing a humanoid creature to step 
out. Its skin was a pale puce color and it appeared to be of elven 
quality except that it had a graceful, plant-like body. Its eyes 
were a pale translucent color and its hair, which looked like the 
silk on a piece of corn or some similar vegetable, was a light 
yellow. It glanced at its surroundings and then at the door which 
had just opened.
<br>
Unlike the original Dr. Gero of the fabled Red Ribbon Army, this 
descendant was tall and handsome, but evil dwelled in his tainted 
hazel eyes. He stepped over to where the creature stood and 
inspected it.
<br>
"You've finally awoken, I see. Your counterparts will be awake soon. 
I believe I will call you Stamen," Dr. Gero said, his deep voice 
resonating in the otherwise silent room.
<br>
"What is my purpose?" Stamen inquired, the voice coming from the 
creature's mouth sounded decidedly male.
<br>
"You will have to wait until your counterparts awake for that 
explanation," he said.
<br>
"And that will be when?"
<br>
"Time will only tell. Soon, I hope."
<br>
"You made us. You should know."
<br>
"It will be soon. It will be very soon."
____________________________________________________________________
<br>Pan took one look at Fife and collapsed on the floor. Rion ran into 
the room to see what the commotion was and stopped when he saw Fife. 
Taro came to his mother's side as Rion walked up to Fife.
<br>
"I'm actually here," Fife said as Rion embraced him then kissed him. 
Fife intensified and lengthened the kiss but Rion drew away when he 
heard footsteps.
<br>
"So why are you here? They couldn't have sent you back just to see me 
and Clarinet," he said and Fife smiled.
<br>
"The Grand Kai put me on a special assignment."
<br>
"What kind of assignment?"
<br>
"Something extremely dark is growing."
<br>
"We know that."
<br>
"But you don't know the amount of danger it will cause."
<br>
"How bad is it?"
<br>
"I've been training constantly for the past nine years. There's more 
to this threat than just the earth."
<br>
"How much more?"
<br>
"Let go of my hand, Rion."
<br>
"Sorry."
<br>
"If this was a different time, I would gladly do what I've missed for 
nine years but now...now is not the time. We must prepare. The threat 
will be here before you know it."
<br>
"What threat?"
<br>
"The demons."
<br>
"We're not talking about...?"
<br>
"These are new demons. The demon that controlled you and made you go 
against your mother and family has been banished from our plane. 
These...these new ones are born of science, not gods or spirits."
<br>
"So they're synthetic?" Clarinet asked and Fife looked at him.
<br>
"Yes and they may seem familiar to all of you. They have the genetic 
materials from the greatest fighters that this world has ever known. 
My uncle, Goku, Trunks, Ve..." Fife started to say but bit off the 
ending. He still carried a grudge on how Vegeta had treated him like 
a piece of dirt in the past. Flesh wounds would heal much easier 
than wounds to pride and the injury was still fresh to him.
<br>
"Wow. If they've got all that, then they're really strong," Rion said 
and Fife looked at him.
<br>
"They have all that and more."
______________________________________________________________________
<br>Fife sat down at the table beside Clarinet and glanced at Gendi. He 
picked up his glass of water and waited for Gendi to speak.
<br>
"You're Yamcha's son? I don't know much about him but I wasn't aware 
that he was married," Fife commented and Gendi nodded his head.
<br>
"Yeah. So, you're Piccolo's nephew?" Gendi asked.
<br>
"Yes."
<br>
"You can say more," Clarinet said and Fife looked at him.
<br>
"That's all that needs to be said. Now, give me your information on 
the demons," Fife said and Gendi looked confused.
<br>
"Demons?" he asked.
<br>
"The seeds," Rion clarified.
<br>
"Oh. They're demons?"
<br>
"Demons made from science. They have genetic information from every 
one that died in the previous battle with Dr. Gero. There's a bit of 
Goku, Trunks, Gohan, my uncle and even Vegeta, although I hate to 
admit that..." Fife said and Gendi glanced at him.
<br>
"What's so wrong with Vegeta?" he asked and Rion laid a hand on 
Fife's arm.
<br>
"Let's not get into that," he said and Fife silently stood up and 
glared at Gendi.
<br>
"I was sent to help, not discuss the past. All that we need to worry 
about is when these creatures show up. When is Trunks coming back?" 
Fife asked and Rion shrugged his shoulders.
<br>
"I don't know."
<br>
"Take me to the Supreme Kai."
<br>
"What?"
<br>
"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. I'm sorry Rion, but this is 
too important. I don't have time to sit here and tell you 
everything. Take me there and the rest of you start training. 
Especially you."
<br>
He gazed directly at Clarinet and Clarinet nodded his head. He then 
remembered something and glanced at Fife. Fife noticed the look and 
nodded his head.
<br>
"I'll talk to you about that later. I want to feel your energy when 
I'm at the Supreme Kai's."
<br>
"Can you do that?" Taro asked.
<br>
Fife grinned at his son and Clarinet lowered his head, but Fife 
noted the glint in his lavender eyes and turned to Rion.
<br>
"Let's go."
_____________________________________________________________________
<br>"I'm not surprised in the least that you were not aware of this," 
Fife said as he stood against a wall. The Supreme Kai had offered 
him a seat but he had refused.
<br>
"I have a lot to oversee," the Supreme Kai said and Fife nodded his 
head.
<br>
"I know. I need Trunks back because he's the only one who's 
experienced at time travel."
<br>
"What?"
<br>
"Trunks went back in time to stop the androids from destroying his 
world. Krillin wished that the androids be made harmless and they 
were. At least one of them was..."
<br>
"Yes, I've been told all about that crisis. What I meant was to 
express shock. Why is time travel so important to this cause?"
<br>
"Because Dr. Gero has figured out the secret. We've been keeping an 
eye on him, thanks to Master Roshi's sister and that crystal ball of 
hers. Dr. Gero is planning on sending these creatures back to the 
time when the world was still in a chaotic state from the androids. 
The past, overrun with these beasts and the androids...no. Some 
androids and Cell. By the time they arrive there, everyone will be 
training for the tournament that Cell publicized and, due to all of 
this chaos, Trunks may miss the arrival of his wife."
<br>
"And that would change the fate of the universe."
<br>
"Exactly. Now, do you see why I need to get him back? He's got to go 
back and warn everyone about it."
<br>
"But, wouldn't he run the risk of seeing himself? As an adult and a 
child if he went in the past again?"
<br>
"Yes. We need to come up with a plan."
<br>
"He can wear these clothes."
<br>
The Supreme Kai pointed to his style of dress and Fife nodded his 
head.
<br>
"That would work. No one's seen that kind of dress before. Now, will 
you please contact them?"
<br>
"Now that I know the reason why, yes."
<br>
In amongst the shower of flower petals, cherry blossoms to be exact, 
Trunks sat with Loren sleeping on his lap. He glanced down at her 
and ran a finger over her soft white wings. Their wings had come 
about when a demon tried to take the key that held everything in 
balance. For Loren and Trunks both, it was a type of ascension but 
they had both grown to where they could make the wings appear 
whenever they wanted to.
<br>
In reality, the wings were a natural form. When the key had been 
safely placed in the spirit of a pure soul so many eons ago, a 
corresponding link to nirvana was placed in another body, making it 
impossible for evil to use the key if it ever got its hands on it.
______________________________________________________________________
<br>Loren stirred and Trunks ran his finger over her soft cheek. He 
would never grow tired of being with her, as she sat up, pushing her 
hands hard on his leg. He watched her move and tried not to think 
about how beautiful she was. Surprisingly enough, that wasn't hard 
because something was bothering her. He embraced her as she 
continued to look around.
<br>
"What's wrong?" he asked as he gently squeezed her. 
<br>
"Stop. Shin..." she replied as he drew his hands away. 
<br>
"What about him?"
<br>
"I don't know. I think he wants us to go back."
<br>
"Why?"
<br>
"It's very important."
<br>
"Is everyone all right?"
<br>
"I don't know. I think so...but there's an awful lot of darkness."
<br>
"Put some clothes on us Loren. Ones that look presentable, I mean."
<br>
"Huh?"
<br>
"Honey...would you just do it?"
<br>
"All right."
<br>
"We've got to go back and see what's the matter. He wouldn't have 
gone to all this trouble if it wasn't important."
<br>
"I know. I just don't want to get dressed."
<br>
"Well you're not going the way you are now."
<br>
"I miss Piccolo."
<br>
"Loren..."
<br>
"Well I do."
<br>
"Honey, we need to get down there."
<br>
"All right. There. Are you happy?"
<br>
"Honey, we've got an eternity together. You could do this without 
complaining so much."
<br>
"I'm not complaining."
<br>
"Yes you are."
<br>
"I am not."
<br>
"You are too."
<br>
"No."
<br>
"Yes."
<br>
"No."
<br>
"Yes you are. Now get us down there."
<br>
"All right. You don't have to get like Vegeta."
<br>
"Loren..."
<br>
"What?"
<br>
"Just do it."
_________________________________________________________________________
<br>Trunks and Loren appeared at the Supreme Kai's and Rion ran up to 
them and hugged them.
<br>
"Why'd you call? I was so comfy," Loren said as Trunks took her hand.
<br>
"Fife needs to speak to you," the Supreme Kai replied.
<br>
"Fife is dead," Trunks said.
<br>
"Can we overlook that right now?" Fife asked and Trunks stared at 
him.
<br>
"How...?"
<br>
"Believe me, I'm fully prepared to tell you."
<br>
"How is everyone?" Loren asked Rion.
<br>
"Fine. Everyone that's left is fine. The boys have grown since you 
saw them last," Rion said.
<br>
"When was that?"
<br>
"Three years ago."
<br>
"Would you two go into the other room? I'd like to hear Fife," Trunks 
said and Loren sat beside him.
<br>
"I want to hear too," she said and took his hand.
<br>
"Then be quiet."
<br>
"Oh. Sorry."
<br>
"Do you remember Cell?" Fife asked.
<br>
"Are you insane? Of course I do. Why?"  Trunks asked.
<br>
"The great-grandson of Dr. Gero has access to time travel and he's 
going to send some creatures back to that time. If that happens..."
<br>
"If that happens, I may never meet you and if I never meet you..."
<br>
"Exactly," the Supreme Kai said.
<br>
"Wait...if you never meet Mother than me, Toko, Taro, and Clarinet 
would never exist..." Rion said and Trunks looked at him.
<br>
"Right and, most likely, this planet would not exist because of 
that," he said.
<br>
"You're going to have to find the time machine," Fife said.
<br>
"I'm coming with you," Loren said.
<br>
"No," the Supreme Kai said and Loren looked at him.
<br>
"Why not, Shin?"
<br>
"Yeah, why not? I mean, Mom doesn't have to worry about not 
existing," Rion said and the Supreme Kai looked at Trunks.
<br>
"It would still be too dangerous. If you saw her in the past before 
you were supposed to...there's no telling what would happen," the 
Supreme Kai said.
<br>
"Can't I just go back and talk to Piccolo?" 
<br>
"No!" Trunks cried and Loren looked at him.
<br>
"You don't have to be so loud," she said.
<br>
"I'm sorry. I just don't want you messing around with him."
<br>
"What?"
<br>
"Honey, you know what you do with him."
<br>
"If she wants to talk to people, couldn't she go to Other World?" 
Rion asked.
<br>
"I think it would be best if she stayed here with me. At least I can 
keep an eye on her," the Supreme Kai said.
<br>
"You mean I get to miss out on everything?" she asked.
<br>
"But...but the people back then aren't as strong as we are now. How 
can they possibly defeat these things?" Rion asked.
<br>
"He's got a point," Trunks said.
<br>
"We can't have all of you in the past. That would disrupt the balance 
of everything," the Supreme Kai said.
<br>
"Let Mom go, then. She'd be able to help the most," Rion said.
<br>
"What about Clarinet? He can suppress his power level quite easily," 
Fife said.
<br>
"I suppose if you had to confide in someone, Dende would be the 
best," the Supreme Kai said.
<br>
"Dende...do you think he can hold out for that long?"
<br>
"What's wrong with him?" Trunks asked.
<br>
"Clarinet said he's sick," Fife replied.
<br>
"I can make him better," Loren said.
<br>
"Do that. Trunks, once you locate the time machine, take Loren and 
Clarinet with you but make sure that you and Loren are not seen by 
anyone. Especially you or your parents," the Supreme Kai said and 
Trunks nodded his head.
<br>
"I understand. Loren, you're going to have to be extremely careful. 
Do you understand?" Trunks asked.
<br>
"Yes," Loren replied.
<br>
"Rion, you're staying here because I want you to help keep things in 
order."
<br>
"Okay. Fife can help me," Rion said.
<br>
"No I can't," Fife replied and Rion looked at him.
<br>
"Why can't you?"
<br>
"I'm going with them."
<br>
"But..."
<br>
"I was sent here to take care of those beasts and I can't do that if 
I'm here."
<br>
"Fife doesn't need to worry about being seen by anyone like you two. 
His future isn't going to drastically change like yours would," the 
Supreme Kai said.
<br>
"Right. Well, I guess we'd better get going. We've got a lot of 
preparations to make," Trunks said and stood up.
<br>
"Toko's missed you two," Rion said.
<br>
"I'm sure she has. Hey! If we go back to the past, I'll get to see my 
grandparents again."
<br>
"Yes. Those are two people that can see you. If they mention it to 
anyone, no one will take them seriously," the Supreme Kai said.
<br>
"Yeah...that's my grandparents. Rion, you go ahead and take Fife back 
and inform everyone of what's happening. We'll follow you," Trunks 
said and Rion nodded his head.
<br>
"Right," he replied.
_______________________________________________________________________
<br>Toko waited outside, wishing she could sense them like her brother 
could. She had greatly missed them, even though she knew that life 
was the way it was supposed to be. She wished that the first two 
years of her life had been better but she was glad that she hadn't 
been thrust into a strict training routine like her brother had 
been. She blinked her eyes for a moment then stood up in joy when 
her parents appeared. She ran up to them and warmly accepted their 
embraces. She stepped back and gazed at Trunks, sensing urgency in 
his eyes.
<br>
"Where's Bra?" he asked and Toko pointed to the house.
<br>
"What did Fife tell you?" she inquired.
<br>
"Go find Clarinet, will you?"
<br>
"What's going on? I want to know. Mommy, what's going on?"
<br>
"Look, if you and your brother are going to exist then we have to 
make sure nothing happens in the past. Come on, Loren. We need to 
find Bra."
_____________________________________________________________________
<br>The four creatures stood in the middle of the laboratory awaiting 
their orders. Stamen, Pistil, Pollen, and Nitrate stood tall, their 
translucent eyes gazed expectantly at Dr. Gero.
<br>
"Yes, with this little device, you can change the course of history. 
By going back and aiding Cell in the destruction of the humans...the 
world that we now live in will be ours!" Dr. Gero cried.
<br>
"And the humans won't put up a fight? If that is true then why not 
destroy them here and now?" Stamen asked.
<br>
"Because they are much weaker in the past."
<br>
"Ah. I see. Destroy them before they become too powerful. Clever."
<br>
"What if we're followed?" Pistil asked and Stamen looked at his 
companion.
<br>
"By who?" he asked.
<br>
"I don't know. Wouldn't it be easy for someone to follow us?"
<br>
"Following someone through time is extremely difficult. No one these 
days would waste their time on something like that," Dr. Gero 
replied.
<br>
"So when do we leave?" Nitrate asked.
<br>
"Soon."
_______________________________________________________________________
<br>Trunks ran into the lab and began pawing through capsules. Loren sat 
on the table and watched him, not entirely sure what he was doing. 
She began thinking about the past and wondered if life would have 
been better for everyone if she and Trunks had never met. So many of 
their past enemies had come as a result of her. She would regret not 
knowing him but perhaps things would be better as a result of it.
<br>
"What are you doing?" Bra demanded as she walked into the room.
<br>
"Where's the time machine? It's important," Trunks said and Bra 
sighed.
<br>
"Well you won't find it there. Here."
<br>
She handed Trunks a small box and Trunks took out what appeared to be 
a small wristwatch. He looked at it and then at his sister.
<br>
"What's this?"
<br>
"Your time machine. All you do is select the date, time, and location 
and number of people. Then you press this button. It's a lot easier 
to conceal than the one you used."
<br>
"Yeah. You've got a point there. Well Dende is doing a lot better so 
he should be able to keep things in order. Guess we'd better locate 
the Nameks."
<br>
"Hey, if you run into my father...tell him not to give up hope," 
Gendi said and Trunks looked at him.
<br>
"He'd better not, for your sake. There you are. Say something, will 
you? I thought I had lost you," Trunks said and Loren looked at him.
<br>
"No...I'm right here," she said as she continued to think about how 
she could stop their meeting. she wanted to avoid all the conflicts 
she had caused, if possible and if stopping herself was the only way 
to do that...She drew back when she saw Trunks looking at her. She 
got off the table and walked away from him. He grabbed her hand and 
drew her close to him.
<br>
"Tell me what you're thinking," he said and she looked away from him.
<br>
"No."
<br>
"Loren..."
<br>
"No. I'm going to do it."
<br>
"Do what?"
<br>
She didn't answer and Trunks did his best to keep his patience. He 
didn't want to upset her because her decision was already upsetting 
her and Trunks had a sinking feeling that he knew what was on her 
mind.
<br>
"I've got Clarinet. Let's go," Fife said as he walked into the room.
<br>
"In a second. Loren, you'd better not do anything to split us up," 
Trunks said.
<br>
"I only want what's best for your universe," she said and Trunks gaze 
hardened.
<br>
"Stop that. Not everything in the past is your fault."
<br>
"We need to leave," Fife said.
<br>
"I know that! Promise me you won't do anything Loren," he said and 
Loren turned away. "Loren..."
<br>
"We need to leave. They may already be there," Fife said and Trunks 
looked at him.
<br>
"I know. Loren, if you're not going to give me a straight answer, 
then I'm not letting you come along."
<br>
"All I want is to do the right thing and if that means never seeing 
you...then that is what must be done," she replied.
_______________________________________________________________________
<br>Stamen gazed at the location they appeared in and bared his thin, 
razor sharp teeth. Something was out there. Nitrate watched as a 
deer poked its head out from the forest then blasted it, leaving no 
trace of the poor creature.
<br>
"Why'd you do that? It was cute!" Pollen cried and Stamen looked at 
her.
<br>
"You were obviously deprived of something in your tank," he said and 
Pollen stuck out her tongue.
<br>
"Would you just shut up? You think you're so important just 'cause 
you awoke first."
<br>
"Quit whining. Now, let's go find that Cell that these humans are so 
worried about," Pistil said.
<br>
"He shouldn't be too hard to find," Stamen said. "Would you leave 
that thing alone?"
<br>
"It's funny looking. Hey!" Pollen cried as Nitrate fried the tiny 
creature.
<br>
"We need to go. Now start behaving or you'll be the next thing I 
hit," he said and Pollen glared at him.
<br>
"Fine. Let's go. You don't have to be so mean, you know."
__________________________________________________________________
<br>"Why are we at Goku's? Everyone's at your place," Loren said.
<br>
"Exactly," Trunks replied.
<br>
"I don't understand."
<br>
"Clarinet and I can go to your mother's," Fife said.
<br>
"Good. We'll wait here for your return," Trunks said and Loren 
looked at him.
<br>
"But..." she said and Trunks laid a finger on her mouth.
<br>
"First, we can't be seen by me or Mother and Father. Second, we need 
to talk."
<br>
"We do?"
<br>
"Yes. Now tell me why you don't want us to meet?"
<br>
"Because I've caused so much trouble being here and you've had to 
put up with so many things."
<br>
"Honey, of course some things could have been better and done 
differently but should you take away the lives of our children 
because you feel sorry for yourself?"
<br>
"Would you stop? How can you think you understand? You don't control 
a part of everything like I do. You can only see things as they 
concern you."
<br>
"And you don't? Look at all that's been given to you? Doesn't that 
mean anything to you?"
<br>
"I only want what's best."
<br>
"Then shut up."
<br>
Loren stared at him then stood up. Trunk grabbed her arm and pulled 
her back. She glared at him and he held his gaze steady.
<br>
"Let go of me!" Loren cried and Trunks refused.
<br>
"No. Not until you act a little more mature. We've been through so 
much and I'm not giving that up," Trunks said.
<br>
"You wouldn't have gone through all that if I wasn't here. Don't you 
see? Everything that's happened has happened because of me. Without 
me, your life would be so much better. Now let me go!"
<br>
"Loren, I know you haven't forgotten all that's happened. Would you 
think about those times? Every single one of them?"
<br>
"Let me go."
<br>
"No."
________________________________________________________________________
<br>Loren gazed coldly at him but Trunks did not flinch. He was not 
going to give in to her. He did become aware, however, of the dark 
energy growing within her. He remembered the times that she had 
wanted to destroy herself for the good of everyone and shook his 
head. He was not going to allow that to happen. Granted, that 
there were some things, especially in the romance department, that 
needed to be changed but that was no reason for her to want to 
completely remove herself and her children from his life.
<br>
"Let me go!" she demanded but Trunks held firm.
<br>
"No. I didn't let you destroy yourself the first time I saw you and 
I'm not going to let you do it now."
<br>
"Trunks..."
<br>
"No. I'm not letting you go and I'm not letting the children go 
either. We've spent too many years together for it to end like this. 
Not everything that's happened is a direct result from you, all 
right? Now honey, would I lie to you?"
<br>
She looked at him for a moment then blinked her eyes. He began 
walking with her, holding her close as he felt her tears stain his 
shirt. He gently ran his fingers through her hair and she tightly 
clasped his free hand.
<br>
"Calm down, baby. I don't hate you for what's happened, all right?"
<br>
"Who's your little friend, Trunks?" Mrs. Briefs asked and Trunks 
looked up.
<br>
"Grandma? What are you doing out here?" Trunks asked and Mrs. 
Briefs laughed.
<br>
"I'm out getting some berries for a pie. Someone ate my first one. 
Oh well. I'm sure this one will be much better. Say Trunks, are you 
and your friend hungry?"
<br>
Trunks glanced down at his stomach and then at his grandmother. He 
nodded his head and Mrs. Briefs smiled.
<br>
"Come on back to the kitchen, then. I'm sure I can find something 
for you two."
<br>
"Um...Grandma? Could you just bring something out here? It's so much 
quieter out here."
<br>
"How sweet! A little picnic. Of course, dear. I'll pack a basket 
right away. Come on, Sophie."
<br>
Trunks watched a deer followed her and shook his head. He rubbed 
Loren's right shoulder as Mrs. Briefs turned around and looked at 
him.
<br>
"And you'd better not do anything you don't want your mother to know 
about. You wouldn't want to be acting like your father does with 
your mother...Oh my! I just know I'm saying that wrong. Anyway, just 
behave Trunks. You don't want to do anything her parents would 
dislike."
<br>
"Grandma, we're married!"
<br>
"Still be careful."
<br>
"Don't yell," Loren said as Mrs. Briefs and Sophie walked off.
<br>
"Sorry. Are you doing better?" Trunks asked.
<br>
"My arm hurts. You held it too tight."
<br>
"Sorry but you shouldn't have tried to leave me."
<br>
"I just wanted you happy."
<br>
"What made you think that leaving me would make me happy? Don't you 
remember what happened when we were forced to be apart? We could 
barely stand it."
<br>
"I know but..."
<br>
"No. There are no excuses for you to give me."
<br>
"Stop."
<br>
"I'm just trying to get you calm, love."
<br>
"Will you let me go?"
<br>
"Will you promise not to run away from me?"
<br>
"All right. I don't want to give up where we live now, anyway."
<br>
"I didn't think you wanted to give up that. Now, how about we sit 
down and wait for Grandma and the food?"
________________________________________________________________________
<br>Pollen sat on the grass and gazed at the others. She watched a 
caterpillar crawl along a leaf than glared at Nitrate when he 
blasted it.
<br>
"Why do you do that? It didn't do anything to you. You're mean!" she 
said and Nitrate grinned.
<br>
"You look so cute when you get mad," he said and Pollen glared at 
him.
<br>
"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!"
<br>
"So where should we look for Cell?" Pistil asked as she folded her 
arms.
<br>
"Oooh!! Look! I wanna look there in that city. Pleeease?" Pollen 
asked as she tugged on Stamen's arm.
<br>
"That's not a bad idea. Don't do it too much. You might start to 
think you're smarter than you actually are," Nitrate said.
<br>
"What's that supposed to mean?"
<br>
"Would you two shut up? Let's just go and find this Cell. I bet he's 
cute," Pistil said.
<br>
"He can't be as cute as me," Nitrate said and Pollen laughed.
<br>
"What gave you the idea that you're cute?" she asked and Nitrate 
glared at her.
<br>
"Let's go down there," Stamen said as he pushed Pollen's hands off 
of his arm.
<br>
"I wonder if the people down there like to play?"
<br>
"I hope they do. I'd enjoy chasing after them," Nitrate said.
<br>
"I wonder if they've got some nice clothes down there," Pistil said.
<br>
"Let's go!!" Pollen cried but Stamen grabbed her arm.
<br>
"Hold on there. We're going to go down there quietly," he said and 
Pollen hung her head.
<br>
"Awww....you're no fun. I wanted to play! Why do you have to be so 
serious?" Pollen asked as he let go of her.
<br>
"Why do you have to be so stupid?" Nitrate asked.
<br>
"Shut up! I'm not stupid!" Pollen cried and Stamen clenched his 
fists in anger.
<br>
"Both of you, shut up! Let's just get down there," he said and 
Pollen drew back.
<br>
"See? You made him mad," she said and Nitrate glared at her.
<br>
"If you would have shut up, he wouldn't have gotten mad," he said.
<br>
"Let's just go!!" Stamen cried and the two fell silent. "That's 
better. Now come on."
_________________________________________________________________________
<br>Trunks opened the picnic basket that his grandmother had left him 
then stopped when he saw a familiar pair of feet before him. He 
glanced up, then drew back in shock as Goku sat in front of them.
<br>
"GOKU?! What are you doing here?" he asked as he pulled Loren close 
to him.
<br>
"Hey! Bulma was wrong. You DO have a girlfriend. But...I 
thought...you were training with Vegeta," he said as he began taking 
food out of the basket.
<br>
"I am," Trunks said as he pushed Loren away and reached for the food 
that Goku had already begun to eat.
<br>
"But you can't be because you're here."
<br>
Trunks sighed as he handed Loren a small bowl of food. She looked 
at him then began to slowly eat.
<br>
"Goku, I'm not the same person as the one you've already met. I'm at 
least three times older than what you know me as."
<br>
"Then that means...you're from fifty years into the future too! Wow, 
you sure don't look any different than you do now. Have you guys 
found a way to stop aging in the future?"
<br>
"No."
<br>
"Darn. I thought I could stay around a bit longer in the future. So 
how have you not aged, then?"
<br>
"That's a little difficult to explain. Just don't tell anyone you 
saw us, all right? The balance of the universe lies in us meeting. I 
don't want anything to prevent that from happening."
<br>
"I understand. She's pretty."
<br>
"Thanks."
<br>
"She doesn't say much, does she?"
<br>
"She can say plenty when she wants to."
<br>
"So you two are friends of the Nameks?"
<br>
"Yes. One is my grandson."
<br>
"So...one of your children...."
<br>
Trunks flushed and nodded his head. There was a silence as both men 
refilled their bowls and Loren took Trunks hand. He stopped and 
looked at her, seeing the fear in her eyes.
<br>
"What is it?" he asked as she drew herself closer to him.
<br>
"They're here and they're looking for Cell," she replied and Trunks 
frowned.
<br>
"Great. We've got to distract them somehow without messing up the 
flow of time. Come on."
<br>
"But you didn't get to eat."
<br>
"I ate some. I'll be fine. Goku, go back to Mother's and tell the 
Nameks what's happening. After that, you'd better get back to 
training."
<br>
"Yeah. Do you think you can handle them? I mean, it's four against 
one," Goku said and Trunks grinned.
<br>
"Two," he said and Goku gazed at Loren.
<br>
"No offense, but she doesn't seem to be very strong," Goku said and 
Trunks tried not to laugh.
<br>
"Try to hit her, Goku."
<br>
"Are you serious?"
<br>
"You can't do it."
<br>
"I don't want to do it."
<br>
"No, Goku. I'm telling you that it's physically impossible for you 
to hit her."
<br>
"Are you kidding me? She's just a girl."
<br>
"I'll bet you a full course meal that you can't lay a hand on her."
<br>
"FULL COURSE?! You're on! Sorry about this," Goku said as he turned 
to Loren.
<br>
"It's okay. Can we go somewhere where nothing gets hurt?" she asked 
and Trunks nodded his head.
<br>
"Go right ahead. I'm going to check out these demons that Fife keeps 
talking about," he said and Loren embraced him.
<br>
"Be careful. Take Clarinet. That way if something should happen, he 
can bring you back to life."
<br>
"Not a bad idea. Fife doesn't need to worry about being brought back 
to life since he's already dead. Goku, you'd better be really 
careful for your sake."
______________________________________________________________________
<br>"Look at him. He hasn't changed a bit over the years. It's 
amazing," Clarinet said as he and Fife watched Trunks and Vegeta 
train. He still felt a grudge for the way Vegeta treated him and he 
found it extremely difficult to say to him what needed to be said.
<br>
"It's a good thing I came with you," Piccolo said and Clarinet 
glanced up.
<br>
"Trunks is coming," he said and Fife looked at him.
<br>
"Why?" he asked.
<br>
"Great. I was wondering how I could get to you without being seen. I 
need you to come with me," Trunks said and Clarinet looked at 
him.
<br>
"Where are we going?"
<br>
"The demons are here. I was going to go alone but Loren wanted you 
to come with me just in case something should happen to me."
<br>
"Where's...?"
<br>
"Goku's trying to hit her. I bet him a full course meal against him."
<br>
"Goku will do anything for food."
<br>
"Yeah. Let's go before I'm seen."
______________________________________________________________________
<br>Goku looked at Loren and sighed. He felt bad for what he was going 
to do but...it was a full course meal. He stood in an attack stance 
and Loren looked at him. 
<br>
"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.
<br>
"Well, I don't want to hurt you..." Goku said and she looked at him.

"I don't want to hurt you like I did that one time."

"I've never seen you before."

"Oh wait...that hasn't happened yet. Time has always been confusing 
to me."

"Look I'll try to make this quick, all right?"

"Okay. You might want to power up, though."

"Just how...strong are you?"

"Well you'll soon find out, won't you?"

"Yeah...I guess I will."

Loren watched his gaze change then gauged his attack. She dodged 
his fist then dodged his second attempt. Goku frowned then 
increased his speed. He aimed a kick at her side but fell to the 
ground behind her.

"Do you want to stop before you get hurt?" she asked and Goku 
looked at her.

"And lose a full-course meal?! No...I've got one more trick up my 
sleeve. I'm going to go Super."

Loren watched him with interest. It had been a while since she had 
seen him transform into a Super Saiyen and she had forgotten how he 
looked. He grinned as he watched her facial expression.

"Pretty cool, huh?" he asked and she shrugged her shoulders.

"Well...I had just forgotten how you looked," she replied.

"You don't think it's cool?"

"Trunks can get much stronger."

"You're kidding!"

"No."

"Wow! His strength must be incredible! And he says your stronger?"

"I can give you an idea of my strength if you really want me to."

"I'd like to see it. If you're not scared."

"Why would I be scared?"

Goku watched Loren power up and flinched at her energy. She was 
definitely a lot stronger than he had thought...
_____________________________________________________________________
"Do you feel that?" Stamen asked as he crouched on a jagged piece 
of a building. Nitrate blasted a street lamp then looked at Stamen.

"Yeah...what is that?" he asked and Stamen shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know."

"I bet it's Cell. I bet he's cute too," Pistil said as she held up a 
pair of outfits. "Which one is better? This one or this one? I want 
to look my best for him."

"Who cares?" Nitrate asked and Pistil glared at him.

"Well I would have had a bigger selection to choose from if you 
hadn't destroyed everything else!" she snapped and Stamen looked up.

"Where's Pollen?" he asked.

"She's probably lost. Stupid kid," Nitrate said.

"We need to find her."

"She'll come back, crying her eyes out."

"She's a lot stronger than you give her credit for. So she's a 
little childish. She makes up for it in her attacks."

"I wonder which one he'd like on me?" Pistil asked then glared at 
Nitrate when one of her two choices crumbled in ashes out of her 
hand.

"No more choices," he said and Pistil's eyes flared in rage.

"YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!!" she hissed and Nitrate took a step 
back.

"She's scary when she's mad. Pollen looks a lot better."

"Stop it you two. We need to find out where she's gone," Stamen said 
and Pistil shot Nitrate one last glance of hatred then began 
searching the surrounding area.

"She'd better come back soon. I don't want to go through this 
pitiful city looking for her," she said.

"Hey, it might be fun," Nitrate said and Stamen sighed.

"Let's just find her," he said.
______________________________________________________________________
"She'd better stop that and fast," Trunks said as he and Clarinet 
landed.

"Yeah. If we can feel it here, they can definitely feel it there. 
Hey, someone is stuck," he said and ran over to where a girl sat 
struggling to free her leg from the debris that had settled around 
her.

"Look at this place. The city wasn't like this before. Look at what 
they did to it! All those innocent people..."

"We'll find them. Are you okay?" Clarinet asked the girl as he 
freed her.

"I thought they'd come back and look for me...Hey! You're green! I 
bet you're him, aren't you? We were told he was green. Hi, I'm 
Pollen! Pistil is going to be soo jealous 'cause you got to see me 
first. Come on, we've got to find them so you can tell us what to 
do!" she cried and pulled on Clarinet's arm. Clarinet looked at 
Trunks in confusion and Trunks shrugged his shoulders. He had no 
idea what she was talking about, either.

"I'm a little confused," Clarinet said and Pollen looked at him.

"Why, you're Cell....aren't you?" 

Trunks looked sick for a moment then began to laugh. Pollen and 
Clarinet looked at him for a moment and then at each other.

"Who's that?" Pollen asked.

"My grandfather," Clarinet replied.

"He doesn't look old."

"He's thirty years older than me."

"Wow. So why is he laughing?"

"I'm not Cell."

"Why do you want to find him?" Trunks asked.

"Because we were told to look for him," Pollen replied.

"By who?"

"He made us so I guess he'd be like a father, wouldn't he? I guess 
that makes the others my brothers and sister, wouldn't it? I never 
thought of it like that before. No wonder he picks on me...Do you 
have a brother?"

"One. He's four years younger," Clarinet replied.

"Why do you want to find Cell?" Trunks repeated and Pollen looked 
at him. She sat back down in the rubble and thought.

"Because....because the person who made us wants to control 
everything although I don't think that would be very fun. Do you 
think that would be fun?" she asked and Trunks looked at Clarinet.

"Dr. Gero," he said.

"THIS is one of the things Fife is worried about?!" he asked in 
shock.

"Pollen! Leave those pathetic creatures alone and get over here!" 
Stamen cried and Pollen clung onto Clarinet.

"No! I like this one. I wanna keep him!" Pollen cried and Trunks 
watched the young Namek's face with interest. Clarinet had 
extremely little experience with women and the way she was clinging 
on to him...well, it was extremely embarrassing.
Nitrate grinned and released an energy beam. Clarinet phased out 
just before the beam struck him and Pollen glared fiercely at 
Nitrate.

"Look what you did! He was nice feeling too! He even helped me! I 
was stuck and none of you were around and he..." Pollen said then 
stopped when Nitrate walked up to her.

"I didn't hit him," he said and she looked at him.

"What?"

"He was gone before the attack struck him," Stamen said.

"How?" Pollen asked.

"I don't know."

"So you all are looking for Cell," Trunks said and Pistil looked at 
him.

"I don't know...I think I'd rather look for you," Pistil said and 
Pollen looked at her.

"The green one's better!" she cried.

"Yeah, well, that one left."

"No he didn't. He's just out of reach," Trunks said and Stamen 
glanced at him and then at the others.

"Well let's go. We're here to find Cell and neither of these two is 
him," he said and Nitrate looked at Trunks.

"Can I finish him off before we go?" he asked and Stamen glanced at 
him.

"He's done nothing wrong," Stamen replied.

"Please?"

"Make it quick. We need to find Cell before this tournament thing 
starts."

Trunks sensed an energy increase. An enormous one and he kept his 
eyes open. He barely dodged the first blast and powered up as he 
saw Nitrate preparing for a second attack.

"What the...?" Nitrate asked and Pistil smiled.

"Nice. I like the color change," she said and Nitrate released 
another blast of energy. Trunks blocked it but winced slightly as a 
stinging sensation filled his arms. He suddenly felt weak, 
extremely weak as he tried to keep his focus on Nitrate.

"Your lover is going down fast, thanks to that stunt."

Clarinet watched Trunks fall to the ground and ran up to him.

"What did you do?!" Clarinet demanded.

"It's just a simple paralysis. He'll be fine in a few hours," 
Nitrate said and looked at Pistil. "I'm not completely heartless."

"You've made your point. Now let's go," Stamen said and Nitrate 
yelped in pain when Pollen kicked him.

"You didn't need to do that!" she cried and Nitrate bared his teeth.

"You will pay dearly for that," he hissed.

"Enough! Cell awaits," Stamen said sharply and Nitrate and Pollen 
fell silent. "That's better."
____________________________________________________________________
"What happened?" Loren asked as she appeared and Clarinet looked at 
her.

"I don't know. He blocked an attack and collapsed to the ground. I 
was just about ready to heal him," Clarinet replied.

"I'll do it. Go back and keep Fife company. Did those...things do 
this?"

"One of them did."

"What were they like?"

"They look kinda like people and kinda like plants. I don't really 
know how to explain it."

"I'm sure I'll see them soon enough. Go on and keep him company. I'll 
get Trunks back there soon."

Clarinet nodded his head then disappeared. Loren knelt beside Trunks 
and stroked his face. She felt responsible for his current condition 
and she was going to try her hardest to get him back to normal.
_____________________________________________________________________
"So what did you find out?" Fife asked, once Clarinet had appeared 
next to him.

"I'm not exactly sure. They seem like a bunch of children," Clarinet 
replied.

"Did you sense their power?"

"Not really. Grandpa got hit but I think that's because he misjudged 
them."

"And that may be out greatest mistake. Misjudgment."

"If they're as strong as you say they are, why don't they act it?"

"Does Loren act as strong as she is?"

"No..."

"There's no law that says that a person's strength should be 
reflected in their personality. Where are you going?"

"I want to see Grandpa."

"To think you call him that...."

"Well he is. He taught me a whole lot."

"Your father is showing again in your speech."

"Sorry."

Fife patted Clarinet's head and Clarinet glanced at where Vegeta was 
training. He drew away from Fife and glanced in the window. Even at 
a much younger age, his great-grandfather was still as determined as 
ever. He watched him push himself further and further and Clarinet 
often wondered why Vegeta never reached his breaking point. Every 
mortal creature had physical limitations but it had always seemed to 
Clarinet that Vegeta was the exception to the rule.

"Hey, are you looking for trouble?" Yamcha asked and Clarinet looked 
at him.

"And you're not?" Puar asked.

"Quiet Puar. What are you two doing here anyway?"

"He just wanted to watch Ve...Vegeta train," Fife replied.

"Sounds like you're not fond of him either," Yamcha said and Fife 
looked away from him.

"Fife doesn't like to talk about Gra...him," Clarinet said.

"Oh. What are you doing out this late anyway?"

"We could ask the same about you but we won't," Fife said.

"Yamcha as trying to get a look at Bulma. She's taking a bath, you 
know," Puar said and Yamcha's face grew extremely red.

"I am not! Let's go Puar. My work here is done."

"Who's out there?" Vegeta demanded as he opened the door of the 
training room. "What are you Nameks doing loitering around out here? 
Here I am trying to show the world that I alone can defeat Cell and I 
have to have little green sissies breaking up my concentration with 
their whining and fear of the dark. That's it, isn't it? You won't 
leave because you're afraid of flying in the dark."

"My child merely wanted to see you," Fife said as he held back the 
hate as much as he could.

"Well you've seen me now go home! Go back to Namek and leave the hard 
work to me. You've got your own mediocre struggles to worry about. 
This is too important to leave in the hands of Nameks."

"It'll be nice when you become a little more genial to us," Clarinet 
said and Vegeta stared at him for a moment. He folded his arms and 
glared at him.

"A mere Namek is telling me what to do? How amusing," he said as Fife 
clenched his fists in anger.

"He has more authority than you know," he hissed.

"And what gives you the authority for so much hate?"

"Don't even get me started."

"So I've made some enemies in the future."

"You could have just accepted it."

"Both of you please. Let's just go to Kami's and wait for the 
others," Clarinet said and Fife nodded his head.

"There are more of you pathetic creatures here?" Vegeta asked and 
Clarinet glanced at Fife, who was quickly losing his temper.

"Just a couple. See you later!"

"Hmph. They can do as they please, just as long as they don't 
interfere with my victory over Cell and his new helpers," Vegeta 
muttered as he walked back into the training room.
_______________________________________________________________________
Cell opened his eyes, peeved at the fact that his training had been 
interrupted. He stood up and watched as a group of four came running 
to him. He began to form a ball of energy in his hand. Pollen was 
the first to approach him but she tripped on a rock and fell flat on 
her face. She released a beam of energy at the rock and Cell stared 
at the gaping hole that she had left in the ground.

"Are you here to challenge me?" he asked and Pollen looked up at him 
with tears in her eyes. She gazed up at him as Stamen helped her up.

"You've got to be more careful," he said and Pollen gratefully hugged 
him.

"Thank you! I bet it would have hurt more if you didn't come and help 
me up! I don't think I'd like more pain..." she said and Stamen 
sighed. If only there was some way of turning her off...

"So you're Cell. I liked the other one better," Pistil said and the 
android looked at her.

"Who are you and what are you talking about?" he asked.

"Sorry. We got ahead of ourselves. We're from fifty years into the 
future. We were sent here to by Dr. Gero's great-grandson and we're 
here to help you win this tournament," Stamen said.

"I don't need help."

"Well, you don't need help to lose because that's what's going to 
happen if we don't help you. Also, we can't go back to our time if we 
don't complete what we were sent here to do."

"I don't want to go back," Pollen said and Stamen looked at her.

"Why not?" he asked.

"It's much nicer here."

"Yes. I don't think that boy with the purple hair exists in the 
future. I want to stay here with him," Pistil said.

"Of course not. I'll kill him. You talk about him entirely too much," 
Nitrate said and Pistil gazed coldly at him.

"One of these days you'll go entirely too far."

"So anyway, we're here to help you," Stamen said and Cell looked at 
him.

"Show me what you can do," he said and Stamen smiled.

"Gladly," he replied.
______________________________________________________________________
Trunks opened his eyes and looked up at Loren's face. She was 
trying not to cry and he lovingly took her hand.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed as Trunks sat up.

"For what?" he asked as he embraced her.

"For not being here."

"It's all right honey. I let my guard down, that's all. Don't fault 
yourself. But, try to keep your power level hidden, will you? I get 
the feeling that you'll need it before long. Where's Clarinet?"

"With Fife at Kami's."

"We can't go there."

"Why not?"

"Piccolo doesn't remember you yet."

"Well where can we go?"

"I don't know. We can't stay here because of me...We could go to 
Krillin's. No, Master Roshi is there and I don't want him near you. 
Hmmm....I guess we can ask Goku if we could stay at his house. I 
just don't want to impose on Chi-chi."

"Yeah...I don't want to make her mad. Maybe we should find another 
place."

"We can ask, honey. There's no harm in asking. It's not like she 
hates us or anything and I don't think we'd get in the way. I could 
even eat somewhere else if she wants it."

"I just don't want to hear her yelling. Not like when Taro was born."

"Well, Dad kinda started that too. You know those two don't get 
along..."

"I know."

"Come on. Let's go. We certainly can't stay here all night."
_________________________________________________________________________
"Who's at the door at this hour? It'd better not be Vegeta coming to 
take my Goku away," Chi-chi said as she opened the door. Trunks 
bowed respectfully and Chi-chi smiled at his politeness.

"Hello, Miss Chi-chi. Is Goku available?" Trunks asked.

"Of course he is. I'll go get him for you. Why don't you two come 
inside?"

"Thank you."

"Why are you two out at this hour and in the middle of nowhere?"

"Well, I'd like to address that problem in Goku's presence if you 
don't mind."

"Not at all. Goku!"

"What is it, Chi-chi? Hey, what are you two doing here?" Goku asked 
and Trunks looked at him.

"Well Goku, we have a favor to ask of you. We need a place to stay 
and this is the only place where we won't disrupt the flow of time. 
We were going to go to Kami's but...Piccolo's there and she's not 
supposed to meet him yet," Trunks said as Loren sat down in a chair.

"So you're the Trunks Goku had been talking about. I was beginning 
to 
wonder if he was sick or something," Chi-chi said and Trunks smiled.


He isn't sick. I'd gladly work to pay you back if you need me to," 
Trunks said and Goku's eyes lit up.

"Hey, yeah! We could train together!" he cried then sat back down 
when he noticed the look Chi-chi was giving him. "Or maybe...maybe 
you could do something else."

"We can go somewhere else if we're going to be in the way," Loren 
said and Chi-chi looked at her.

"You're not going to be in the way," she replied. "We can put you in 
the back. It's no problem."

"Great! Thanks," Trunks said and Chi-chi grinned.

"Although you're more than welcome to help me with the housework."

"I'll do what I can. We both will."
_______________________________________________________________________
Stamen landed in North City and glanced at Pollen.

"Now show Cell what you can do," he said and Nitrate looked at him.

"Why her?" he asked.

"Because she's the weakest. If he sees what she can do, then Cell 
can make an assessment on the rest of us. Just hit that building."

"How?" Pollen asked.

"However you want," Stamen replied.

"Okay. I'm going to do that Ka-me-ha wave thing."

She cupped her hands and held them low on her right side. She 
mouthed the words then released the energy. Screams of pain and 
terror filled the air and when the smoke cleared, a deep gouge in 
the earth could be seen running from where Pollen stood to some 
fifty miles off in the distance. Rubble and debris littered both 
sides of the trench and Nitrate folded his arms.

"I could have made it go for a hundred miles," he said and Pollen 
glared at him.

"Well yeah, 'cause you're older and stronger. I did my best. It's 
not my fault that I'm not as strong as you," Pollen said.

"So what do you think? She's the weakest out of all of us," Stamen 
said as he looked at Cell.
_______________________________________________________________________
Shock was all that consumed the Z fighters. They had either seen or 
felt the attack and they were speechless. Fife clenched his fists in 
anger at the sight of all the destruction and Clarinet looked at him.

"Can't they make things back to normal with those dragon things that 
Pan talks about?" he asked.

"The dragonballs?" Piccolo asked. "Sure if they don't get destroyed. 
If that was the weakest attack...."
_____________________________________________________________________
"Boy, I guess you won't need me in the fight after all Goku," 
Krillin said and Goku laughed.

"We'll still need you Krillin. don't get discouraged," Goku said and 
Krillin sighed.

"Right...Boy, I don't know what I was thinking. Hey...why is Trunks 
at your place? And who's the cute girl?"

"Hey Trunks!" Goku called and Trunks led Loren, who was clinging 
tightly to his arm in fear, up to where Goku and Krillin stood.

"I thought you were training with Vegeta. Boy, how did you manage to 
ditch him and get a cute girl like that?" Krillin asked.

"I'm still training," Trunks said.

"Oh. I see. You're learning some new dating techniques. I don't 
think Vegeta would approve of that, though."

"No. I'm with Father training."

"But you're here. You can't be with Vegeta."

"Yes I can."

"How?"

"Krillin, this is my wife. We've come from a time half a century 
after the defeat of Cell."

"So we win? Who's going to beat him? I bet it's going to be Goku."

"With the inventions of Dr. Gero's descendant in this time, I cannot 
guarantee that we'll win."

"You...you mean that we might lose?! I don't want to die again."

"I think it would be best for you all to train together. The Nameks 
will help. We can't join in until after our first meeting but if 
things keep going the way they're going....that may never happen. So 
keeping that on track is our main concern."

"Hey, if I had someone like that, that would be my main concern too."

"You will Krillin," Goku said and Krillin looked at him.

"Quit fooling. You know my luck with women."

"I wasn't fooling. Ask Trunks. He told me."

"Is it true, Trunks?"

"Yes, but I'm not giving you a name," Trunks said and Krillin's eyes 
grew big.

"Hey, I don't care. Someone wants me!"

"Yeah. Goku...I think you should all go to Mother's and come up with 
a plan. There's not much time."

"Right. Come on Gohan! We're going to Bulma's!"

"The ship is working fine...." Loren said and Trunks looked at her.

"It's today?" he asked and Loren nodded her head.

"Yes...but the ship is fine."

"I know why you crashed."

"Why? I never understood that."

"Because you made yourself crash. Go ahead and short circuit 
something, honey. You know this has to happen."

"But if we haven't done this before....then why did I crash in the 
first place?"

"Just do it. It's a paradox and I can't explain it."
_________________________________________________________________________
"Shall I show you my attack now or do you not need any more 
convincing?" Stamen asked and Cell looked at him.

"All this does is change the nature of the game. We'll just pair you 
up with people similar to your strength," Cell replied.

"And what if there are none?" Pistil asked.

"Then you'll make do with what you've got."

"Oooh! I wanna...I wanna fight that green guy! That would be sooo 
fun!" Pollen cried.

"That one would fit you. He's not that strong," Nitrate said.

"I'll take the cute one," Pistil said.

"You can't fight me."

"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about that cute guy that 
YOU paralyzed."

"Hey, you know that I could have killed him, but I didn't."

"You're all heart."

"Don't patronize me."

"Hey!" Pollen cried and Nitrate looked at her.

"What do you want?" he asked and Pollen bit her lip.

"You're not arguing with me. You always argue with me."

"Is someone feeling neglected? Poor thing," Pistil said and Pollen 
glared at her.

"Shut up! Stop treating me like a little kid!" Pollen cried and 
Stamen cleared his throat.

"That's enough out of all of you. So how many days do we have before 
this tournament thing?" he asked Cell.

"About four days," Cell replied.

"Good. That's not a long wait."
_______________________________________________________________________
The two of them watched the entire incident from afar. Trunks felt 
his cheeks burn with embarrassment as he saw how juvenile he had 
been. He couldn't believe how stupid he looked, watching her walk 
the way she did. He blamed the clothes as he watched Bulma lead her 
into the house.

"What did I do now?" Loren asked and Trunks glanced at her.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Your face is really red. What did I do?" 

"You didn't do anything. Well, things are going to go the way they 
should. Let's go find the Nameks."

"They're right there."

"Now that your future is secured, what do we do about the demons?" 
Fife asked as he and Clarinet walked up to them.

"What can we do? Loren, take us somewhere where we can train," 
Trunks said.

"Like an asteroid?" Loren asked.

"If you can find one big enough."

"I can. See?"

Trunks looked around and nodded his head in approval. Fife removed 
his training robes and glanced at Clarinet.

"Take them off," he said and Clarinet nodded his head. He laid his 
training robes on the ground and gazed at Fife.

"Show me your transformation first."

"Do you really want me to?" Clarinet asked.

"Yes," Fife replied.

Clarinet closed his eyes and concentrated. Trunks watched with 
folded arms as the young Namek's skin fluctuated color. His eye 
color changed to blue as his antennae straightened. The bands 
around his wrists became crimson as his entire skin turned golden. 
He gazed at Fife as if waiting an approval from him, and Fife nodded 
his head.

"Man...I had forgotten how strong you are," Trunks said and Clarinet 
nodded his head.

"I did a lot of growth in those three years," he said. "I've also 
adapted a lot of the attacks that I learned in space. I have a 
really great finisher but I hope I won't have to use it," Clarinet 
said.

"Let's just concern ourselves with some basic sparring right now. 
I've learned a lot since my death and I'd like the chance to try 
some things out. Fighting against the dead can only provide so much 
fulfillment," Fife said.

"Well, honey, think we should start as well?" Trunks asked and 
Loren looked at him.

"All right. Do you still want me to hold back?" Loren asked.

"As much as you can, yes. I don't want the ground to break up 
underneath our feet."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're pretty powerful, baby. Also, Clarinet's emitting plenty of 
energy as it is. With you and him together...If those things are 
stronger than you two..."
_________________________________________________________________________
"See Bulma? I told you he has a girlfriend. Look at them. Aren't 
they cute together?" Mrs. Briefs asked and Bulma sighed.

"He's just showing her around, Mother. That's all," Bulma said.

"Of course he is dear."

"Would you stop that, Mother?"

"Stop what, dear?"

"What you're doing. It's annoying."

"Who's out there training? If it's Kakarrot..." Vegeta said as he 
walked into the room.

"What are you talking about? No one's training," Bulma said.

"If no one's training then where is that energy coming from?"

"I don't know. Maybe from those things the Nameks were talking 
about."

"Where are those pathetic creatures anyway?"

"I don't know. I'm not their keeper."

"Hmph. They probably took my advice and went back to Namek."

"So how come you're not training?"

"I'll tell you why. That enormous amount of energy disrupted my 
concentration."

"I bet you just got tired."

"I DID NOT GET TIRED!!"

"Fine, Vegeta. Go back to work then. No one's keeping you here."

"Here, Bulma. Gave some tea. You shouldn't get so upset with such a 
nice young man," Mrs. Briefs said after Vegeta had left the room and 
Bulma sighed in exasperation.

"Mother, I don't want any tea!" she cried as her mother set it on 
the table next to her.

"Well it's there for when you want it. Oh my! The cookies are done! 
I'd better get them before they burn!"
_______________________________________________________________________
"Did you see what they did?!" Trunks asked as he clenched his fists 
in anger. "Those poor people! To see them do that..."

Loren ran her hand through Trunks blonde hair as she took his left 
hand into hers. He relaxed slightly, her touch comforting him as he 
leaned back in her arms.

"We've only got a few days before the tournament. It'll be okay," 
Loren said and Trunks looked at her.

"Honey, time is already messed up. Gohan is supposed to defeat Cell. 
He can't, not with these new creatures."

"Yes he can."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on!"

They disappeared and reappeared near Cell's training area. Trunks 
watched Loren with interest, not exactly sure what was on her mind.

"Hey look," Pistil said as she took a step forward. "That cute guy 
is back."

"I like his friend. I wouldn't mind falling for something like 
that," Nitrate said.

"What are you talking about? Aw...where's the green one?" Pollen asked 
as Loren took a step forward. Stamen and Cell approached her and she 
glanced at Stamen.

"Are you here for a challenge or death? If you're here for death, 
I'll gladly give it to you," Cell said and Loren looked at him.

"I didn't come to talk to you. Someone will take care of you soon 
enough. I came to address these four," Loren said.

"And what do you want?" Stamen asked.

"If she's offering herself, I'll gladly take her," Nitrate said as 
he walked up to her and began inspecting her. "Nice build...good hair 
color...I think I'll keep her. What the...?"

"I WON'T miss next time," Trunks said darkly and Nitrate looked at 
him and then at Loren. Then he grinned when he understood the 
situation.

"I see. So she's already spoken for. At least for now."

Trunks gaze darkened as his power level fluctuated. Nitrate shielded 
his eyes as Trunks increased his power.

"Don't toy with me."

"I should have killed you when I had the chance. This is what I get 
for being nice. A low-life attempting to challenge me. You deserve 
so much better."

He laid a hand on hers and Trunks lost what little sense of rational 
though he had. He formed a blue ball of energy in his hand that 
crackled with electricity and Loren looked at him.

"Stop it," she said and Trunks grinned, something that looked more 
like a sneer than anything else.

"I'm going to make him pay for what he did to you," Trunks growled 
and Loren folded her arms.

"You will do it at the tournament. There are four people welling to 
fight all of you. Cell has a different opponent this time."

"Sounds intriguing. Where will this fight be held?" Stamen asked and 
Pollen jumped up and down.

"Ooh! Ooh! Someplace outside so the aminals can see us win!" she 
cried and Stamen looked at Pistil.

"Aminals?" he asked.

"She means animals," Pistil replied.

"Oh."

"Yeah. That way my attacks can hit more than one thing," Nitrate 
said and Pollen stared at him.

"I don't want to do that then. Let's go somewhere that doesn't have 
a lot of aminals," she said as she sat down and thought.

"What about that city we were in? People aren't animals," Nitrate 
said.

"NO!" Trunks shouted and Loren looked at him.

"Stop it," she said.

"I will NOT have any more people hurt. Someone like you needs to be 
taken care of right away."

Nitrate's eyes hardened as he pushed Loren out of the way. His eyes 
flashed in anger as the ground around him rose up in the air.

"Let's just see how strong you are."

"Gladly."
_______________________________________________________________________
Loren shook her head as she watched him. There was no talking him 
out of it. That was something that came directly from his father.

"He sure emits a lot of energy," Stamen commented and Loren looked 
at him.

"Why do you want to destroy the world?" she asked.

"We were told to do it."

"You do everything you're told to do?"

"When our creator tell us to."

"That doesn't have to be true."

"It is if we want to go back home."

"Why can't this be your home?"

"What?"

"Get out of the way honey!" Trunks shouted and Loren looked at him.

"You don't have to fight!" she cried.

"Yes he does! I want him to! You keep out of this!" Nitrate yelled 
and Pistil folded her arms.

"Nitrate has gone insane," she said.

"Nitrate's silly!" Pollen said then drew back when Nitrate glared at 
her.

"Shut up!" he demanded.

"You think we could stay here?" Stamen asked and Loren nodded her 
head.

"If you behaved." Loren replied.

"Hmm. It IS pretty nice here."

"See Trunks? You don't have to fight him."

"He wants to fight," Trunks said as Nitrate released an energy 
blast. Trunks moved slightly out of the way and the energy beam 
hurtled past him right for Loren. Loren held up a hand and the beam 
stopped in mid-air, pulsating with electricity. Nitrate stared in 
shock as the beam exploded into a row of sparrows that almost 
immediately flew off.

"Ooh! That was soo pretty!" Pollen cried and Loren looked at her.

"You liked that?" she asked and Pollen nodded her head profusely.

"Yes I did. Can you do it again?"

"Would you just destroy these annoying pests?" Cell asked and Pistil 
looked at him.

"I refuse to destroy the guy but I'll destroy the girl," she said.

"I think the guy deserves to be destroyed. Not her," Nitrate said.

"I don't think either of them should be destroyed," Pollen said.

"So you are all afraid," Cell said and Stamen looked at him.

"I never said that," he said.

"Then why don't you fight them?"

"Maybe we don't want to!" Pollen yelled.

"Would you shut up? I want to fight," Nitrate said.

"You always want to fight."

"It's fun."

"Loren, you're not going to talk him out of it," Trunks said.

"Can't you at least wait for the tournament then?" Loren asked.

"All right. I'll ignore what he did to you. For now, at least."
_______________________________________________________________________
The days passed quickly and soon it was time for the tournament, the 
face off if you will, and preparations were being made. Clarinet sat 
motionless on the ground, concentrating the way his uncle had shown 
him.

"He's very focused," Trunks commented.

"He's been that way for fifteen hours. He really wants to do his 
best today," Fife said.

"Where are we going to fight them?" Loren asked.

"Somewhere out of the way of everything. There's going to be a lot 
of energy during this fight," Trunks said.

"Most of that energy will be coming from over there. I still don't 
know his full strength," Fife said as he looked at Clarinet.

"If he's stronger than you, I'll be very scared."

"Can he be stronger than me?" Loren asked.

"I don't know. He's definitely a new breed," Trunks said.

"So what would that make him? A super Namek?"

"I honestly don't know."

"What is he really, Fife?"

"My child," Fife replied and Loren looked confused.

"Well...I knew that."

"Then just leave it at that, honey and let's go meet our opponents," 
Trunks said.

"Come on, Clarinet," Fife said. Clarinet opened his eyes and stood 
up. He gazed at Trunks for a moment then folded his arms and smiled 
at him.

"I'm ready. Let's go," he said.

"All right Loren. Take us there," Trunks said and Loren nodded her 
head.

"Right," she said and closed her eyes.
______________________________________________________________________
"They're here," Stamen commented and stood up.

"Good. I'm going to kill that idiot," Nitrate growled.

"If you kill him, I'll kill the girl," Pistil said.

"I wanna fight the green one! Wait...there are two green ones," 
Pollen said as Trunks and company approached them.

"Looks like you get to fight two of them."

"That shouldn't be too hard. One of them's really weak. I get the 
difficult opponent," Nitrate said.

"Here we are as promised. My wife will now transport us to a place 
where none of us will have the advantage," Trunks said and Nitrate 
glared at him.

"She won't be your wife for much longer," he said and with that, 
they 
disappeared. They reappeared on a planet about the size of Jupiter, 
that had been cut in half like a spherical piece of fruit and they 
looked around at the barren land.

Nitrate released an energy blast and Trunks dodged it. His gaze 
darkened as he stepped away from the others.

"Let's finish it," he said and Nitrate smirked.

"Let's."

"Well if my stupid brother is going to take care of that really cute 
guy then I guess I'll take care of you. Maybe I can finish you off 
fast and keep him all to myself," Pistil said and Loren looked at 
her.

"You can try, but you won't succeed. He was given to me a long time 
ago," Loren said.

"It seems that I'm left with you," Stamen said and Fife looked at 
him.

"I think my child would be more of a challenge," he said and Stamen 
looked at him.

"Pollen will deal with him. She needs the practice."

"Yay! I get to fight you! I get to fight you! Let's see...what do I 
wanna do? I don't wanna hurt you really bad but I don't want to take 
it easy on you. What would be the best attack?" Pollen asked as she 
sat on the ground and thought.

"Don't worry about hurting me," Clarinet said as he watched Trunk.

"Okay, but I warned you. If you get hurt really, really bad, don't 
blame me because I warned you, okay?"

"Okay."

Clarinet watched her prepare herself for a ka meha meha wave and 
glanced at the others. Each one of them exemplified a certain 
personality. Pollen was like Goku while Nitrate was Vegeta, Pistil 
was Eighteen, and Stamen was Piccolo. It was true that their genetic 
information had been derived from the warriors of the past but 
Clarinet had forgotten how striking some of the personalities of the 
past were.

She released her attack and Clarinet crossed his arms and absorbed 
the wave without flinching. Pollen stamped her feet in anger and 
Nitrate glanced at her.

"You didn't do it hard enough," he said and Pollen glared at him.

"I did it as hard as I could!" she protested.

"Here, let me try. I'm stronger than you," Pistil said.

"Yeah. You're older."
________________________________________________________________________
Pistil formed a strand of light above her index finger and moved it 
around in a circle. A disc formed and she threw it, quickly 
producing more as she watched Clarinet.

"Why aren't my attacks working?! He's not that strong. You try, 
Nitrate. I'm getting hot," Pistil said and Nitrate looked at her.

"You poor thing but I always welcome the chance to kill more things. 
Let's see if my duplicate trick will work," he said and raised his 
hands to the sky. He brought them sharply down as lights showered 
down from the cloudless sky above. Clarinet shielded his eyes until 
the light storm had died down then ducked an oncoming attack.

He winced as he was hit from the opposite side then spun around and 
released a quick blast of energy. Nitrate cried in pain and Stamen 
folded his arms.

"Nitrate is being idiotic," he commented and Fife glanced at him.

"How would you deal with Clarinet?" he asked.

"I would have hit him hard straight off. He's not that strong."

"Perhaps you're underestimating him."

"I'm going to kill you!" Nitrate snarled and attacked Clarinet head 
on. Clarinet kicked him in the side and Nitrate fell sharply to the 
ground.

"Weren't you taught to know your opponent? You've already made quite 
a few assumptions about me and that will be your undoing. Now, 
should 
I show you this weakling's true power level?" Clarinet asked as he 
laid a hand on his training robe.

"There are women present. I don't think they want to see you 
undress," Nitrate said.

"I do! I do! Wait...did I just say that out loud?" Pollen asked and 
Pistil looked at her.

"Pollen has a crush," she said and Pollen blushed.

"I do not! I don't...I don't even know what that is, so there!"
_______________________________________________________________________
Clarinet brushed his antennae away from his eyes. He had already 
taken off the robes and thrown them on the ground. He watched 
Nitrate and grinned.

"I've got some attacks that you're going to love. To do them, I'll 
have to ascend," Clarinet said and Nitrate watched him change color. 
Loren laid a hand on Trunks and he looked at her.

"I told you that you didn't have to fight him," she said and he 
smiled slightly.

"Clarinet's power intrigues him more," he replied as Stamen took a 
step forward.

"Enough, Nitrate. I'll deal with it," he said and Nitrate looked at 
him.

"No. I want to take care of him," Nitrate said.

"I'll take care of you," Pistil said as she took Trunks arm.

"Let go of him," Loren said and Pistil glared at her.

"I'll take care of you as well."

"Don't hurt him, Nitrate!" Pollen cried and Stamen sighed.

"It's time I brought an order to all this. It's time to assimilate," 
he said and raised his hands to the sky. The sky darkened and they 
watched as Nitrate, Pollen, and Pistil moved towards Stamen in a 
trance-like fashion. They had lost their identity and Fife watched 
as slowly, each one of them disappeared into Stamen's body.

"The demon has arrived. This was why I was sent back to this world," 
Fife said as a crimson light engulfed Stamen's body.
_______________________________________________________________
When the light faded, Stamen stood there, his muscle mass three 
times that of before. His blonde hair had grown coarse...even more than 
that of a Super Saiyen and his hands became adorned with dangerous 
claws. A lizard-like tail twitched idly as he gazed at his new 
body. He stretched his muscles and Loren glanced at Trunks.

"I don't like this," she said.

"I should have known Dr. Gero would have some sort of backup 
planned. Look at all the trouble that was caused with Cell," he said as he 
took Loren's hand.

"Clarinet will be fine. I believe in him," Fife said as he watched 
his son.

The two of them gazed coldly at each other, sizing the opponent up. 
Stamen sneered and Clarinet returned the expression. Loren grabbed 
onto Trunks arm and Trunks looked at her.

"What is it?" he asked and she gazed fearfully at him.

"His tail...his tail has come back," she said and Trunks stared at 
his grandchild. It was there, as clear as anything. The tail of a 
Saiyen.

"I wasn't aware he could have a tail," Fife commented as Trunks held 
Loren close.

"He can and he isn't pretty when there's a full moon out. At least 
he wasn't the last time he had one," Trunks said as he ran his 
fingers through Loren's hair.

"He shouldn't be like before. He's trained a lot since then," Loren 
said as Stamen made his first move. He produced Pistil's attack but 
in greater magnitude and strength. Hundreds of disks hovered in the 
air and when he dropped his hand, they flew straight for Clarinet. 
Clarinet phased out just before impact and Stamen growled in 
annoyance.

"I forgot you could do that," Stamen muttered and Clarinet grinned.

"You really underestimated me," he said and released an energy 
attack of his own.

A golden light engulfed Stamen and Clarinet watched with cold eyes. 
He knew Stamen was still there, he could feel his energy. He tried 
to see through the light then cried in pain as he was sharply kicked 
in the back. He fell forward, his palms absorbing the brunt of his 
fall but before he could react, Stamen's foot was upon him, pushing 
deep into his skin.

"This doesn't look good," Trunks said and Loren looked at him.

"All he needs to do is phase out," she said.

"I forgot he could do that."

"Clarinet's not down yet. His energy hasn't even begun to go down," 
Fife said as Clarinet phased out.

"So, do you think it was worth coming back from Other World to see?"

"Yes. To see what my child can do is worth anything."
_______________________________________________________________________
Clarinet stood gazing coldly at Stamen. Bother were breathing hard 
and they were both showing the strains of the battle. Clarinet wiped 
his antennae and stood firm.

"I guess..." he said and Stamen looked at him.

"You're giving up? Good," he said and Clarinet grimly smiled.

"Of course not. I guess you're going to be the first to witness my 
finishing attack. The Dragon Sniper."

"Huh?" Loren asked as she moved away from Trunks. Trunks glanced at 
her for a moment then turned his attention back to Clarinet. 
Clarinet stood tall, his hands raised to the sky.

A ball of energy formed between his hands and everyone watched it 
grow in intensity. The ball began to move and slits for eyes formed, 
then a mouth. The sphere took on the appearance of a dragon and it 
rose majestically into the sky.

Fife watched Clarinet for a moment, then glanced at Trunks, who was 
trying to get Loren to let him breathe. She was tightly embracing 
him and Fife sighed. How Trunks managed to put up with her at all, 
was beyond him.

"Isn't there some other way of doing this? I don't think they should 
be killed," Loren said as Trunks pried her hands off of his body.

"Maybe there's a way to do that after he defeats Stamen," Trunks said 
and the dragon incarnate attacked. It coiled around Stamen, who had 
not been prepared for the attack, and began absorbing his energy.

"I want to go home," Loren said.

"Someone has taught him really well," Fife commented as Stamen's 
screams filled the air. The voice split, into four separate tones, 
and Clarinet recalled the dragon.

The dragon flew back to him, glanced at him and disappeared. When 
the light faded, Pistil, Pollen, Nitrate, and Stamen sat on the 
ground looking quite dazed.

"Hey...what happened? My head hurts," Pollen said as Nitrate licked 
his wounds.

"Look at me. I'm all dirty. It's probably Stamen's fault," Pistil 
said as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"What are you talking about? I was told to do it. We all were," 
Stamen said.

"Well why did you have to get so carried away? Look at me. I'm a 
mess."

"You are so self-centered," Nitrate said. "I can't believe it ended 
like this."

"You're just too mean," Pollen said. "This is all your fault."

"How? How is this my fault?"

"It just is. Now he'll never talk to me."

"I knew you liked him," Pistil said and Pollen glared at her.

"You know, I think Dr. Gero is the true enemy here," Trunks said and 
Fife nodded his head.

"Then this whole thing is a diversion. Why didn't I see it before?" 
he asked.

"Where are you going?" Pistil asked as Pollen stood up.

"I'm gonna see him. I wanna apologize. I wasn't very nice to him 
earlier," Pollen said and Pistil smiled.

"Are you going to kiss and make up?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind."
_______________________________________________________________________
"So what's the plan?" Fife asked and Trunks looked at him.

"We need to go back," Trunks replied.

"What about them?"

"They can't stay here. They're going to have to come back too."

"I think that's a bad idea. He's probably got something planned. 
He's probably expecting them to come back."

"One of them's coming this way," Clarinet said.

"It's the young one," Loren said as Pollen walked over to Clarinet.

"Are you okay? Um....I'm sorry for being that way. It really wasn't 
very nice. I'm sorry," she said and lowered her head.

"Looks like Clarinet has an admirer," Trunks commented and Fife 
looked at him.

"It appears that way," he replied.

"It's all right," Clarinet said and Pollen heaved a sigh of relief.

"Good, 'cause I was worried that you'd be upset or something."

"No."

"I'm glad."

Pollen embraced him and he flushed. He pushed her away and picked 
up his training robes. She watched him for a moment, then sat on the 
ground.

"So what are you gonna do now?" she asked.

"You sound like my brother," Clarinet commented as he fastened his 
robe onto his shoulders.

"Is that good?"

"I guess. I'm going to go back home. I don't belong in this time."

"We don't belong here either but we can't go back. I don't wanna be 
stuck in a strange time forever and ever."

"You're going to come back with us. Go tell the others," Loren said 
and Pollen jumped up.

"You mean it?! Even after we were mean to you? Of course, we were 
only doing what we were told to do but it was still really mean," 
Pollen said.

"You don't have to go back with us if you don't want to."

"Is he going back with you?"

"Yes. Clarinet belongs there."

"Then I wanna...then I wanna go back too!"

"I'll go back if you're going back," Pistil said and Trunks looked 
at her. The others had come to see what the commotion was about and 
Pistil had already gotten her hands on Trunks.

"You can all go back if you want but I'm staying here," Stamen said 
and Pollen looked at him.

"Bu why?" she asked as she pulled on his shirt.

"Because I lost. I failed everyone and I don't deserve to go back."

"But I don't want you to do that."

"There's no need for you to stay behind. Everything's all right," 
Loren said and Fife crossed his arms.

"Let's at least hope so," he said.
________________________________________________________________________
Bra folded her arms as the group appeared. She looked at the 
newcomers and then at her brother, who was trying to push Pistil 
away 
from him.

"I'm glad you're back. Things are looking pretty grim here," she 
said 
and Loren's face paled. Clarinet took her hand and Trunks looked at 
him.

"What happened?" he asked as Clarinet blinked away his tears.

"Father," he said and Trunks lowered his eyes.

"No. Not Rion. Not my son. Does Pan know?"

"I'm sure she's sensed it by now," Bra said and Trunks nodded his 
head.

"Yeah, you're right."

"Taro must be extremely upset, though."

"Where are you going?" Pollen asked as Clarinet let go of Loren's 
hand. Trunks pulled away from Pistil and embraced his wife.

"I'm sorry," he said softly and Loren looked at him.

"If only there had been some way of avoiding it," Loren said and 
Trunks shook his head.

"He was just too weak. He got away from training. Where are you 
going?"

"To find Taro. You know how he can get," Clarinet said and Trunks 
nodded his head.

"Yeah. We also need to make sure Toko's okay."

"Why is everyone upset? They act like someone died," Pollen said and 
Pistil looked at her.

"I think someone did," she replied and Pollen looked worried.

"Did we do it? I hope not. I don't want to hurt them."

"I think Dr. Gero did it. Man! To make us only to shove us aside 
like 
some cheap toys. He had NO right to do that. He had not right!" 
Stamen cried and Bra looked at him and then at the others.

"These four were the threat?" she asked and Fife shook his head.

"No. These four were the decoy. The true threat is still out there," 
he said.

"Dr. Gero."

"Yes."

"I don't know what kind of weapon he's got but we'd better get over 
there. Taro will most likely be next."

"Wait!" Pollen cried as Clarinet opened the door. "I wanna help! I 
wanna make up for being mean! I wanna help you 'cause you're really 
nice and..."

"You just want to go with your boyfriend. Admit it," Pistil said and 
Pollen glared at her.

"He is not my boyfriend!!"
_______________________________________________________________________
Taro screamed in angst at the loss of his father. His ebony hair 
brightened to flaxen and his black eyes changed to cyan as he gazed 
coldly at the pale creature before him.

"Ignorant child. Do you possibly think you can beat me when your 
father could not? Was he not the most closely related to your 
grandmother's people? I have all the genetic information of the 
fighters of the past. I know every singly one of their attacks and I 
have my scientific mind which has transformed me into the superior 
being you see before you," Dr. Gero said and Taro's gaze darkened.

"You've taken them all! My father, my grandfather, both my great-
grandfathers..."

"You will have a wonderful reunion with them in death."

"No! You will pay for what you've done you sadistic monster! Ka me 
ha..."

"That ancient attack? Please. Surely you can do better, great 
grandson of Goku and Vegeta. Or will your brother need to rescue 
you?"

"I don't need anyone's help. My family is made up of the greatest 
fighters in the universe and I'm one of them! I swear, I'll make you 
suffer! You will pay for killing my family!"

"I haven't killed them all yet, but I don't want to disappoint you. 
Let's see, where is she? There she is. Do you have any last words 
that you'd like to say to your mother?"

"You wouldn't!"

"But of course I would."

"Damn you!"

"Such language. Does your mother know? Wait, I guess it's too late 
to ask her, isn't it?"
_______________________________________________________________________
"Taro!" Clarinet cried and Taro looked at him.

"I don't need your help!" Taro cried and Pollen clung onto Clarinet 
in fear.

"Look what he's done to himself. What did he do? Is he going to do 
the same to us?" she asked and Clarinet looked at her.

"Let go of me," he said.

"But you're so smooth and soft. I like how you feel."

"Who is that, Clarinet?" Taro asked.

"Taro watch out!" Clarinet cried and phased out. Pollen stared at 
the air between her arms and then at where Clarinet stood in front 
of his brother.

"Get out of the way, Clarinet! I can do this! I'm just as strong as 
both my grandparents and I'm gonna make him pay for killing my dad 
and my mom!"

"You can't beat him yourself. You're not strong enough."

"I am so! Just you watch! Ka me ha..."

"Taro, that's not going to work. I know it's your favorite attack 
but it's too weak."

"Is not!"

"Taro, listen to your brother," Trunks said and Taro looked at him.

"Grandpa! Dad's...Dad's..." Taro cried and Trunks solemnly nodded 
his head.

"I know. We felt it at Bra's. I'm sorry. Now get yourself together. 
My father would not approve of the way you're acting and I don't 
think Goku would either."

"Don't be hard on him," Loren said and Trunks looked at her.

"Honey, it's about time he acted like a Saiyen. He's full-grown."

"But he's lost so much."

"No! Grandpa's right. I've got to come up with my own attack. Now 
let's see...what can I do?" Taro asked and sat down and thought.

"Taro, now is not the time!" Trunks cried and Taro looked at him.

"I'm thinking Grandpa! Just wait."

"Let me guess, that's Pollen as a guy," Pistil said and Pollen 
looked at her.

"I don't...I don't look a thing like him, so there!" Pollen cried 
and stuck out her tongue.

"I meant your attitude, Pollen."
_______________________________________________________________________
"Well I'm not going to just stand here. I'm going to do something," 
Stamen said.

"I want to do some damage myself," Nitrate said and Stamen looked at 
him.

"Let's go."

"Fools! I created you and I can also destroy you," Dr. Gero hissed 
and Stamen looked at him.

"You can't scare us. We've been through a lot and we're not going to 
allow you to take our lives away from us. You don't have the 
authority to make that decision for us," Stamen said.

"I've already made that decision for the remainder of your friends," 
Dr. Gero said to Taro and Loren tightly squeezed Trunks' hand.

"They're gone. They're all gone," she whispered and Trunks looked at 
her.

"Toko?" he asked and Loren slowly nodded her head.

"Yes."

"Damn him! My children are gone! What else can he take from me?"

"I know what I'll do!" Taro cried as he stood up. Everyone stared 
at him for a moment as he tried to collect his thoughts.

"I will...I will use an attack called the Saiyen Vortex."

"The what?" Clarinet asked and Taro looked at him.

"I just made it up. Neat, huh?" he asked and Clarinet shrugged his 
shoulders.

"What's it do?"

"Just watch 'cause it's gonna be the most amazing thing you've ever 
seen."

"Ooh. Is it really?" Pollen asked and Taro looked at her.

"Yup."

"I wanna see! Do it!"

"Did she really need to be turned on?" Pistil muttered. "Two of 
them is just too much."
______________________________________________________________________
Taro moved his hand around in a circle. Slowly at first then 
faster. Everyone watched as a small tornado of light formed and 
Taro moved his hand faster. The little tornado crackled with 

"That's your target. Go get him," Taro said and the little tornado 
moved off in the direction of Dr. Gero.

"Couldn't you have come up with something bigger?" Clarinet asked 
and Taro looked at him.

"This will work."

"It looks cute," Pollen said and Taro looked at her.

"It's not supposed to look cute," he said. "It's a strong attack. 
Just watch."

Fife placed his hand over his head and sighed. If only Clarinet was 
the one fighting. Then perhaps they would have a chance of winning.

"Even Pollen could have come up with something better and that's 
saying a lot," Pistil said.

"That's just scary," Nitrate said.

"What is he thinking? Why doesn't he grow up? He's sixteen years old 
for crying out loud," Trunks said.

"Maybe you're underestimating him," Loren said and Trunks looked at 
her.

"Honey, this is what he comes up with after sitting down in the 
middle of a fight. There is absolutely no way that I'm 
underestimating him. He's more like Goku than Goku ever was. He's 
not a fighter."

"But..."

"No."

"I don't think you're giving him enough credit."

"Loren, look at him. This isn't a game."

"How dare you mock me this way? Why did I ever think that you had 
some sort of strength?" Dr. Gero asked as Taro raised his hands up 
to the air. The vortex grew, enveloping Dr. Gero within. 

"Now do you think he's just playing around?" Loren asked and Trunks 
looked at her.

"All right, I was wrong. He shouldn't have been acting so idiotic 
though," Trunks said.
________________________________________________________________________
"Yay! We get to be free! We get to be free! And live wherever we 
want! I wanna stay with you," Pollen said as she grabbed Clarinet.

"Let go of me. It's not over yet," Clarinet said and Taro watched in 
shock as the vortex disappeared.

"No! It's not fair!" Taro cried and Dr. Gero grinned widely.

"I believe playtime is over. It's time to get serious," he said and 
released a large energy blast.

"Stamen!" Pistil screamed as Stamen suddenly appeared in the gap 
between Dr. Gero's attack and Taro.

"You...will pay for what...you've done," Stamen grunted as he 
deflected the blast. Pollen watched him, tears forming in her eyes 
and she shook her head furiously.

"No! I won't allow it! I...WON'T allow it!" she screamed and 
Nitrate stared at her.

"She's scaring me," he said and Pistil looked at him.

"And you're the one that loves to kill things," she said.

"Yeah but that's me. Pollen's a complete idiot. To see her this 
way..."

"Pollen has a bond with Stamen. It's something that we can't 
understand. She has a need for him. It's as if he answered a cry 
that she gave even before we were born. I don't understand it, but 
it's there."

"How come I haven't seen it?"

"Because you've just been too wrapped up in yourself to notice," 
Pistil said as a blinding light surrounded Pollen.

"What's with her?" Taro asked as Clarinet shielded his eyes.

"I think everyone has gravely underestimated her," Clarinet said.
______________________________________________________________________
Stamen screamed as he concentrated on the core of the beam and split 
it into thousands of little pieces. He breathed heavily as he fell 
to his knees in exhaustion.

"Come on, big boy, let's get you out of the line of fire," Pistil 
said as she and Nitrate picked him up.

"What? Where's that energy coming from?" he asked softly as they set 
him down on a rock.

"That energy is coming from our little ray of sunshine. Drink this," 
Nitrate said as he materialized a bottle of water.

"Thanks. Not Pollen."

"Yes Pollen. Why? Do you know something about all this?" Pistil 
asked as Stamen handed the empty bottle back to Nitrate.

"You really needed that. Geez," Nitrate said as he crushed the empty 
bottle in his hand.

"So what's with Pollen?"

"I've got to see if I can stop her," Stamen replied and stood up.

"Hey! Great. My question didn't get answered and he's injured. I 
hate 
times like these," Pistil sighed.

"Cheer up. At least I'm here and I've got more beauty than Stamen," 
Nitrate said and Pistil stared at him.

"I don't even know why I bother sometimes."

"Is that an insult?"

"It depends on how you take it. You are entirely too full of 
yourself, Nitrate."

"What's wrong with the child?" Fife asked and Pistil looked at him.

"When did you get over here? Don't let her hear you call her a kid, 
but you're right. I have no idea what's wrong with her, though. I do 
know that Stamen shouldn't even be going over there. He's in pain. 
Nitrate, go help him," she said and Nitrate looked at her.

"When did you get to be the boss?" he asked.

"Just go help him."

"You think he'll accept my help? No."

"Why are you such a scaredy cat all of a sudden?"

"Look at her. That's stupid little Pollen. The one that would slow 
us down because she was looking at a butterfly. Look at the change. 
It's unnerving."

"Can't you go after him for his sake?"

"You need not worry about Stamen. My child is already dealing with 
him," Fife said.

"Yeah, but who's going to deal with Pollen?" Nitrate asked.
_______________________________________________________________________
"You should not have hurt him! You are NOT a very good father. I'm 
gonna make you pay for hurting him. I'm gonna make you pay!" Pollen 
cried as her ears lengthened and her eyes became narrower. Scars 
appeared on her face and her skin darkened to a bluish tone.

"Trunks..." Loren whimpered as she held tightly onto his waist.

"It's all right. But, we've go to do something to stop her," he said 
as he ran his fingers through her hair. 

"But how are we going to do that?"

"I don't know."

"You will pay! Soul...Taker!" Pollen cried and the others watched in 
fear as the energy from her hands encompassed her, weaving a cloak 
around her body. The energy had almost covered her head when Stamen 
broke free of Clarinet, who had been healing him, and ran to her.

"Pollen, no! Don't do it!" Stamen cried as she reached up to her 
right ear and removed a small earring.

"What is she? What are we for that matter?" Pistil asked and Nitrate 
shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know," he said and Pistil sighed.

"Well you're a lot of help."

"Thanks. I do what I can."

"I was being sarcastic."

"I knew that."

Stamen reached for Pollen and Pollen grinned. She no longer 
recognized him and she released an attack that Stamen was unable to 
avoid. He screamed in pain and Trunks looked at Loren.

"I think you should step in now, honey. I don't think we can do this 
without you," Trunks said and Loren nodded her head.

"Right," she said and closed her eyes.
________________________________________________________________________
"Why did she do that?" Nitrate asked, shocked. "I mean, I threaten 
to strike you guys but I'd never do it. Not like she did."

"Did you notice that she took an earring out of her ear before she 
changed?" Pistil asked and Nitrate looked at her.

"Yeah. So?"

"So maybe if we take ours out we can stop her from destroying Stamen 
and take care of Dr. Gero."

"Great idea! Why don't you go first?"

"Chicken. I thought you were brave."

"I AM brave."

"Then you go first."

"Hold it. Stamen's getting up."

"He should have just stayed on the ground. He was a lot safer there."

"This is certainly going to be interesting. I wonder if she planned 
this," fife said and Pistil looked at him.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Look, my child is ready to oppose her. Your brother is ready and 
now..."

He pointed to where Loren knelt, her snowy wings folded against the 
long flowing cream colored robe that she now wore. She clutched a 
staff, elegantly adorned with jewels and glanced up. Her golden hair 
fell over the tops of her wings and she glanced to her side as the 
tip of Trunks sword touched the ground beside her.

"Be ready. If they all are compelled to remove what limits their 
powers then..." Loren said and Trunks nodded his head. He flexed his 
lavender wings then stared in shock when he felt hands on them.

"I like you a lot better this way. You look so beautiful now," 
Pistil 
said as she ran her hands over Trunks wings.

"Dragon Sniper!" Clarinet cried and released his attack.

"Saiyen Vortex!" Taro cried and unleashed another small tornado.

"I did not wish to step in and take care of things but this is the 
only way. Especially since the other one has taken off his earring," 
Loren said as Pollen blocked Taro and Clarinet's attacks.

"Let go of me," Trunks said as Stamen appeared behind Dr. Gero. He 
delivered a series of swift kicks and punches then released a blast 
of energy. In mere seconds, their creator was dead and Stamen, with 
no memory of who or what he once had been, turned to face Loren. He 
held out the earring and, grinning darkly, crushed it. 

Loren frowned and stood up. She glanced at Pistil and Trunks tried 
to pull himself away from her.

"If you wish to keep your identity, do not remove the earring," she 
said and Pistil looked at her.

"Can I keep him as well?" she asked. "He's really cute."

"I'm already spoken for!" Trunks cried.

"Stamen, I'm coming!" Nitrate cried and took out his earring.

"Great. NOW he listens to me," Pistil sighed as she watched him 
transform to his natural state. "Isn't there any way you can bring 
them back to the way they should be? I mean, sure they were a pain 
in 
the neck but I liked them that way. If the way they are now is what 
we're supposed to look like, then forget it. I'm much more beautiful 
this way, don't you think?" Pistil asked Trunks and Trunks sighed.

"Taro!" Loren cried and disappeared. She reappeared near Clarinet 
who knelt beside his brother.

"I've got him. Please help the others, Grandma. There's still time 
before they forget. They can be annoying but they're kinda nice to 
have around. Especially that short one. She's a lot like Taro and I 
guess I like that," Clarinet said and Loren smiled.

"All right, but I will need help on this one. This isn't in my plane 
of jurisdiction," she said.

"Why are you struggling so much? It only makes you look better. 
Wait...keep doing it," Pistil said as she embraced him.

"Keep her occupied. Clarinet, be ready to defend as soon as you can. 
I'll return shortly," Loren said and disappeared.

"HEY! I don't WANT to keep her occupied! Loren!" Trunks cried and 
Pistil eyed him.

"I'm going to like this," she said and Trunks folded his wings and 
tried to get away from her.

"Help!"
______________________________________________________________________
"Kalina, what are you doing here? What's going on down there?" Yorin 
asked as Loren brushed past her.

"Where's Roan? I must speak with him," she said as Yorin followed 
her.

"What's going on? Please tell me. What's happening on Earth?"

"The only ones left alive from the ones closest to me are Trunks, 
Taro and Clarinet."

"Your children are gone?"

"Yes. Where is Roan?"

"Resting. Why? What do you need him for?"

"He's in charge of manifestations. I can do nothing on this. I 
cannot save them without his help."

"Save who?"

"There are three people who are in dire need of help and I promised 
Clarinet that I would get them back to normal. He seems to like one 
of them."

"Well then, I need to get you to Roan as quickly as I can, don't I?"

"Thank you, Yorin. I must hurry. I do not want anyone else to die. 
Especially not Trunks."

"We will get there soon. Have patience. Just be quick to rouse him 
and all should be fine."
_____________________________________________________________________
Loren ran into the room that had a soft, glowing blue light and 
shook the creature. He was human in appearance with silver hair, 
demon like ears and a pale complexion that was sprinkled with 
purplish spots. She got no response and after closing her eyes, she 
pulled the blankets off of him. He had a tall, graceful body and his 
long silver hair fell to the floor like a gentle waterfall.

"Wake up, will you? I need your help," she said and shook him again. 
Roan opened a crimson eye and gazed up at her. He smiled as he sat 
up.

"What emergency draws you to my bedside?" he asked as he took her 
hand.

"I need your help on Earth. We must leave now."

"Kalina, for you, I would do anything but why do you need my help on 
the planet you are bound to?"

"There are three souls that have lost their identity. They have 
transformed and I can do nothing to help them, for that is your 
plane of jurisdiction."

"I see. So even the mighty has to depend on the weak once in awhile."

"You sound bitter. Why?"

"You do not remember, do you? But, I should not have expected 
anything else. You were always like this. The innocence of a child 
in a grown body. The past and time are as fleeting to you as the 
wind."

"What are you talking about?"

"Perhaps if you changed to your natural state, you would remember 
more clearly."

"But what about those three? Won't you help me? Won't you help them 
since they cannot help themselves?"

"I will help after you remember."

"Remember what?"

"Life as it was before you went to the mortal plane."
______________________________________________________________________
Clarinet stood tall, his chest covered in golden fur. He gazed 
coldly at Stamen, who had once again fused with the other two and 
awaited his attack.

"I wish I would get a tail. I want one," Taro said.

"Taro, why don't you look after her for a bit? I'm tired," Trunks 
said.

"But Grandma told you to."

"Please?"

"What if she doesn't want me to?"

"Taro...hey get your hands away from there."

"I'm not as stupid as your wife. I know exactly what it's for," 
Pistil said and Trunks grabbed her hand and flipped her over his body 
to the ground before him.

"GRANDPA!" Taro cried in shock and Trunks looked at him.

"NO ONE talks about her like that," Trunks said as Pistil stood up 
and brushed herself off.

"Well you're certainly devoted to her. I bet she's never wronged you, 
has she?" she asked as she pushed back her hair. Trunks said 
nothing and Pistil grinned smugly. She touched his face and Trunks 
drew back sharply.

"I'm wrong. She HAS wronged you. She's had relationships with others, 
hasn't she?"

"Those people knew her before I did."

"How many?"

"Why is it any of your business?"

"You're right. It isn't. Let's just hope that she's not speaking to 
those people right now...for your sake."
_______________________________________________________________________
"We were good friends a long time ago even though Demar always tried 
to come between us. Do you remember when we would walk through the 
Valley of Life?" Roan asked.

"Yes, but there was always someone there that I liked a lot," Loren 
said as she sat down. "His eyes were as blue as the sky that looked 
down upon the valley and his hair was like the flowers that grew 
there."

"He had wings as soft as the belly of a bird. He was the Guardian of 
Truth and he lived on the boarder of the Valley. He was the one that 
you truly loved but...he was sent to the mortal plane to take part 
in a great battle. That was over ten-thousands mortal years ago."

"He never came back. Truin never returned. What happened to him?"

"It is said that the noble of guardians can become reborn in the 
mortal world if the Elder decides it."

"Are you saying that he was reborn? But where is he now? Who is he 
now?"

"He is closer than you think and he may be the one to save those 
children. Fore it seems to me that what they need to regain is the 
truth within themselves, not to be purified from a manifestation."

"But there's no one around that can do it. There's Trunks but..."

"Your promised one will be fine. This is not the first time he's had 
to deal with such things. He's been doing it since the beginning of 
time."

"Trunks hasn't been around that long."

"You're right, but doesn't he seem familiar to you? Perhaps you knew 
him on this plane before?"

"Are you trying to say...?"

"It's a logical explanation, is it not?"
_______________________________________________________________________
Clarinet fell hard to the ground and Trunks pushed Pistil away. Taro 
ran to his brother's side and took his hand. He gazed at Clarinet's 
face and then at Stamen.

"You hurt him! You are going to pay for that!" Taro cried and Trunks 
stepped in front of him.

"Let me take care of this," he said and Taro looked at him.

"But..."

"Please, Taro. I don't want to lose any more of you."

"But what if you get hurt? I don't want you to leave Grandma. You two 
have been together for too long."

"I'll be fine, Taro. Trust me."

"Grandpa, I'm fine," Clarinet said and sat up.

"Your energy is going down still. Watch out for him, Taro," Trunks 
said and Taro grinned.

"I will."

Trunks closed his eyes and cleared his mind. He wasn't sure why, but 
something had called to him. Something ancient and vaguely 
familiar. He spread his wings, which seemed to have grown in length 
and raised his head. His lavender hair fell over his shoulders down 
to his chest. He shrugged his shoulders and opened his eyes. His 
body felt different, yet similar as he adjusted his clothing, which 
had changed dramatically. He glanced at Taro, who stared at him with 
his mouth wide open and smiled.

"Grandpa..." he gasped as Clarinet slowly got to his feet.

"Please be careful. You're all we have left," Clarinet said and Fife 
glanced at him.

"It seems that I've been forgotten," he said and Clarinet's eyes grew 
wide. He ran over to Fife and embraced him.

"Oh no. I didn't mean it that way. Honest," he said and Fife smiled.

"Take them and locate the dragonballs. We're going to need them once 
this all is over," Trunks said and Fife nodded his head.

"Right. Let's go," Fife said and Taro ran up to Trunks and embraced 
him.

"Be careful," he said. "Don't you dare leave Grandma by herself."
___________________________________________________________________
"I just can't believe it," Loren said and Roan folded his arms.

"Why don't we go down there and you can see for yourself?" Roan 
asked.

"But if it is him, why couldn't I see it?"

"Perhaps you forgot about him. Everything happens for a reason, 
Kalina."

"But if that's true, then..."

"Don't try to figure it out. I think you should be down there. Truin 
will have his full memory soon."

"But then he won't be Trunks."

"Not so. He will have his mortal name as well as his proper one."

"But that means that Trunks isn't human."

"Again, my dear Kalina, that's not true. He was born into a human 
form. I don't know exactly what happened, but the Elder does."

"Then I'll go ask him."

"Later, Kalina. Go back to Earth first."

"I hope he's not too hard on them. They seem to be misguided."

"He will do his job as well as he can, do not fear Kalina."
_____________________________________________________________________
Trunks held his sword up to the sky as the atmosphere exploded with 
lightning. He allowed a lightning bolt to touch the tip of his blade 
then ran a hand over the pulsating sword. He closed his eyes as 
Loren appeared and brought the sword down and held it perpendicular 
to his chest. He then turned it so that the tip of the blade pointed 
directly at Stamen and muttered something that Loren strained to 
hear. He released the electricity, now glowing silver, from the tip 
of his sword and concentrated.

The bolt hit Stamen squarely in the chest and he cried out in pain. 
Trunks held the silvery beam steady and Loren watched as shadows 
appeared in the sky. It seemed to her that they were shadows of what 
the four had turned into. The beam split, into four separate beams 
and Trunks opened his eyes. He spread his wings and Loren suddenly 
sensed something extremely different about him but it was, at the 
same time, extremely familiar. It was then that she realized tat 
Roan was correct in what he had told her. Trunks lowered his sword 
and knelt on the ground. He glanced at Loren and smiled wearily.

"They'll be fine. They'll awake shortly with no memory of what 
happened. Now all that has to be done is get Earth back to the way 
it was before all of this happened. Perhaps even better than it was 
with your help," he said as she sat beside him.

"Tell me," she said slowly, as if she were trying to figure out the 
best way to put it. "Tell me how this happened. I now understand why 
I felt close to you in the beginning, but why? How? I do not 
understand that. Why did this happen?" she asked and Trunks smiled 
slightly. He embraced her and kissed her lightly on the mouth.

"Well, it's a long story but I'll try to make it short. We need to 
stay by them while they sleep anyway. They're extremely vulnerable," 
he said as she leaned against him.

"All right. Tell me the story, then. But please try to be slow. This 
is already confusing me."

"You never change, do you?"
_______________________________________________________________________
"How are we supposed to find the dragonballs?" Fife asked and 
Clarinet stood up.

"We ask Dende. Come on, the lookout's not that far," Clarinet said 
as Taro sat down and thought.

"Clarinet..." he said and Clarinet looked at him.

"What?"

"Well, the dragon can grant any wish, right?"

"Yes..."

"So...so can we wish all our grandparents back? I really wanna see 
them again."

"Taro, I don't think that's wise. Sometimes the dead are meant to 
stay there."

"But...but not Grandpa. Definitely not Dad and Mom. They don't 
deserve to be in Other World. Not yet. I still want them around."

"Hey...would Bra have that dragon radar thing?" Fife asked and 
Clarinet looked at him.

"She's not here any more but the dragon radar might be. I can take 
us there before we get to Dende's. I think we need to see Dende 
anyway," Clarinet said.

"Everyone is gone, then?"

"Everyone that we knew, yes."

"It's not fair. It's not fair! Let's go now. I want to get everyone 
back that they hurt. I want to take care of them," Taro said and 
Clarinet looked at him.

"They aren't acting under their own power any more. We must save 
them as well. Now, let's get the dragon radar."
________________________________________________________________________
Clarinet opened the door to Bra's house, then shut it again. Taro 
tried to open the door but Clarinet blocked his way.

"What's in there?" Fife asked and Clarinet looked at him.

"Toko..." he managed to choke out and Taro pulled on his 
robe. "Can't you act your age for at least once in your life?"

"Let me see what happened to her. I want to know what that guy did 
to her," 
Taro said.

"Don't start acting like a kid, okay?"

"Okay."

Clarinet opened the door and reluctantly stepped inside. He walked 
around the dead body of his aunt, who seemed more like a cousin because of 
their closeness in age, and waited for his brother's outburst. When no 
sound came, he turned and glanced at Taro.

Taro stood silent, his hands clenched in rage as he ascended to 
Super Saiyen status. His dark eyes pulsated in pain as he tried to keep his 
emotions silent.

"I...won't be called...a pig...anymore," he said haltingly.

"I'm going to get the radar," Clarinet said and Fife nodded his head.

"I'll watch him," he said as Clarinet ran out of the room.
______________________________________________________________________
"I'll do my best to explain because I'm not very sure of it myself. 
My memory is still vague. There was an epic battle. That much I 
remember. I was forced to use my ultimate power in dispensing of my 
enemy," Trunks said as Loren leaned against him. He held her close 
and gazed up at the sky, interlaced with glistening specks of light.

"So then, did you technically die?" Loren asked.

"I don't know. My physical body was destroyed completely. I'm no 
longer what I once was. My body...no. My essence had to be preserved 
and it was split and distributed to two mortals. Do I need to 
explain who those two were?"

"No, but why them?"

"Why not?"

"Then, it all wasn't an accident, was it?"

"Well," Trunks said, flushing a little. "The children were."

"What?" Loren asked and Trunks smiled slightly.

"Never mind. They should be waking up soon."

"At least they can wake up."

"I don't think Taro's all that willing to forget about his father. 
They'll get the dragonballs."

"So are you mortal?"

"Yes and no. Technically, I've never regained my immortal status, 
but have I aged any since I met you?"

"No...stop."

"I wanna eat chocolate..." Pollen's voice murmured and Trunks 
glanced at them.

"They'll be back to normal soon and you know what?"

"What? Stop."

"We'll be able to go home soon."

"Only after they're brought back."

"Of course. I wouldn't want to leave Clarinet with the job of 
keeping Taro in line. I think that's way too much for him."

"Ow! Why do my legs hurt?" Pollen asked as she raised them up into 
the air.

"Would you just shut up?" Nitrate asked as he rubbed his head.

"What happened anyway?" Stamen asked. "Why are we on the ground? 
Did we miss something?"

"I don't know, but I definitely need a new outfit and I'm going to 
make YOU pay for it," Pistil said and glared at Nitrate.

"Why me?" Nitrate asked.

"Because you probably ruined it."

"I did not. It's not my fault you're careless."

"Who says I'm careless?"

"Where are we?" Pollen asked.

"I don't know. I suppose we should ask someone," Stamen said and 
Pollen looked around.

"Hey! There's two people over there. Let's ask them."
_____________________________________________________________________
"I found another," Taro said as he laid a dragonball with two stars 
in front of his brother. Clarinet picked it up and set it with the 
others that had been collected. The seven, five and the one starred 
dragonballs all sat nestled in a basket. Clarinet gazed at it for a 
moment and then looked at Taro.

"Three left," he commented and Taro looked at him.

"I can count. I'm not as young as everyone thinks I am."

"Perhaps if you behaved a little more maturely, people wouldn't think 
that," Fife said and Taro looked at him.

"See, you think the same thing that everyone else does. I can't be 
serious all the time like he is," Taro said and pointed to Clarinet.

"Let's just find the other ones. I want to get everyone back as soon 
as possible," Clarinet said and Taro nodded his head.

"I want to get everyone back too. Even Toko who calls me names."

"Then let's find the remaining three."

"I'm gonna find them before you!"

"Hey, don't run off. You can't find them if you don't know where to 
look."

"Yeah...I guess that would be a problem."

"If certainly would slow things down. Plus, if you get hurt and I'm 
not around to help you..."

"Okay, okay. I get what you're saying. Let's just go, okay?"
_______________________________________________________________________
"They look so pretty. Are they real?" Pollen asked as they walked 
up to where the couple sat.

"What did you think they were? Dolls?" Nitrate asked and Pollen 
looked at him.

"What?"

"Forget about it."

"Hey you. What happened here?" Pistil asked as she walked up to 
Trunks. Trunks embraced Loren and watched Pistil warily. Loren 
leaned against him and he kissed her neck.

"There was a fight," Trunks replied as Loren tried to pull away from 
him. "What's with you?"

"Well you were squeezing me too tight," Loren said and Trunks 
grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry. Well, things should be back to normal soon."

"Where's that green one?" Pollen asked as she looked around.

"He's helping get things back to normal," Trunks replied.

"So what exactly happened?" Pistil asked.

"We played a part in it, didn't we?" Stamen asked.

"Yes you did," Trunks replied.

"What did we do?"

"It's all right. Everything has been taken care of."

"If we've done something wrong, I'd like to know."

"It's all right, believe me."
______________________________________________________________________
"Got it!" Taro cried as he held up the final dragonball. "Now what?"

"Summon the dragon," Fife said and glanced up at the sky. "I've got 
to be leaving soon. I don't really belong on this plane."

"Can you wait for Father to say goodbye?" Clarinet asked and Fife 
looked absently at him.

"I...may not have time to do that."

"You look tired," Taro said as Clarinet took the last dragonball 
from his brother and placed it in a line. Taro sat on the ground 
and watched the balls glow in unison.

"You will tell me when you have to go back, won't you?" Clarinet 
asked and Fife glanced at him.

"What?" he asked and Clarinet gazed at him in concern.

"You really don't have that much time left, do you?"

"Just summon Shenraun. I do care for you and your father an awful lot."

"I know."

"Go ahead."

"Eternal dragon Shenraun come forth!"

Taro shielded his eyes from the light that engulfed the 
dragonballs. When the light died down, Taro stared in awe at the 
dragon that curled snakelike into the sky above them.

"Who dares awake me from my slumber?" Shenraun asked and Taro 
pointed 
at Clarinet.

"He did it!" he cried.

"Very well then, half-breed. Make your wishes."

Clarinet lowered his eyes at the half-breed comment then gazed up at 
the dragon.

"Shenraun, I would like all the people that the most recent Dr. Gero 
killed to be brought back to life," Clarinet said. The dragon 
considered this request for a few moments then exhaled.

"Your wish has been granted. And now your second wish."

"Wow. You get two wishes. I want to make the wishes next time," Taro 
said and Clarinet looked at him.

"Hopefully there won't be a next time."

"Your second wish," Shenraun prompted and Clarinet turned his 
attention back to the dragon.

"My second wish is for the four that Dr. Gero created to be able to 
live peacefully and happily on earth."

Another pause from the dragon.

"Your wish has been granted," it said and disappeared.

"Yay! Let's go tell Grandpa that we did it! Then we'll go tell Mom 
and Dad," Taro said and Clarinet turned to speak to Fife but found 
that he was nowhere about.
______________________________________________________________________
"They did it. They're both alive again," Loren commented and Trunks 
gently kissed her.

"Good. That will make Taro happy. Well I guess we should be going 
home soon, shouldn't we?" Trunks asked.

"Well, after I make things a little better. You wanted me to."

"I know. I think you should."

"Are you going to help or is that part of you gone?"

"I don't know. I guess I could try."

"What are you going to do, handsome?" Pistil asked and Trunks looked 
at her.

"Look, I've already got someone and this has been planned since 
before you were thought of. You're going to have to find someone 
else," he said.

"Too bad we aren't complete strangers. You could have me," Nitrate 
said and Pistil looked at him.

"Why would anyone want you?" she asked.

"Hey, there's plenty of people around that would want me. Right, 
Pollen?"

"I like the green one," Pollen replied and Nitrate smacked her in 
the head.

"Why do I bother talking to you? You're so dense."

"I am not! Quit calling me names!"

"Tell me at least this. Did we...hurt anyone? Is that why it all 
seems so empty?" Stamen asked and Trunks let go of Loren and walked 
over to him. He laid a hand on Stamen's shoulder and gazed into his 
clear eyes.

"I told you, it's been taken care of. Don't worry about it. Loren, 
go ahead and take care of the rest," Trunks said and Loren nodded 
her head.

"Okay," she said.

"What are you gonna do?" Pollen asked and Loren looked at her.

"Watch."
______________________________________________________________________
Pollen sat down on the ground and placed her head in her hands and 
attentively watched Loren. Nitrated picked up a handful of rocks and 
prepared to throw them at her when Stamen grabbed his hand.

"Leave her alone," he said and Nitrate looked at him.

"You're no fun. Besides, she's making her mind think too hard. You 
know that's not good for her," Nitrate said.

"If you've got to annoy something, why don't you...?"

"Don't EVEN try to annoy me. I'll make you regret it," Pistil said 
and Nitrate looked at Stamen.

"See? She's no fun. I don't like being threatened by a girl."

"Look! The grass is coming back!" Pollen cried and got down on her 
hands and knees to watch tiny flowers blossom.

"Don't even try it," Stamen said and Nitrate reluctantly set his 
foot on the ground.

"Honestly, why do you think that anyone would fall for a complete 
idiot like you?" Pistil asked and Nitrate looked at her.

"It's not my fault that you have no taste," Nitrate said and Pistil 
grabbed his shirt by the collar.

"WHAT?!" she demanded and Nitrate pried himself loose from her grip.

"Hey! How come you don't stop her?" Nitrate asked Stamen.

"You asked for it," Stamen replied.

"I didn't ask her to attack me!"

"Look! Everything's getting so prettyful!" Pollen cried and Nitrate 
looked at her.

"Prettyful?" he repeated, unsure of how the word sounded.

"Mom!" Toko cried and ran up to Loren. Loren hugged her and Toko 
cried in her arms.

"You know we're going to have to go home soon," Trunks said and Toko 
looked at him.

"Why can't you stay? Please, Mom?"

"We've gone through this before, Toko. It's not our place to stay 
any more. The world is in the hands of you and your relations. We 
can't save the world forever. Remember when Goku and Father left us? 
That was very hard to accept too, but you just can't expect people 
to defend others for an eternity. It wouldn't be fair to the great 
warriors to come, would it?"

"But..."

"Hey, I bet that one would like me," Nitrate said and Pistil looked 
at him.

"Why would she like you? You're an idiot," she said.

"Not as much as Pollen."


"What?" Pollen asked as Rion appeared with Taro holding on to him.

"I rest my case," Nitrate said.
_____________________________________________________________________
"Well now, I like the looks of that," Pistil said as she looked Rion 
over. Pollen jumped up and ran over to where they stood and jumped 
onto Taro.

"Poor Rion," Trunks said as he tried not to laugh.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Taro demanded and Pollen leaned closer 
to his face.

"Where's your brother?" she asked.

"Not here."

"Why?"

"Would you two get off of me?" Rion demanded and Pollen crawled 
over Taro to get a better look at Rion.

"Who are you?" she asked. "You're like that other guy, except 
you're different."

"Let me up, will you?"

"Get off of me so I can get off of my dad. I'd hit you, but I'm not 
supposed to hit girls," Taro said as Loren walked up to them.

"Are you all right?" she asked Rion and Rion gazed up at her.

"I'm fine but these two won't get off of me," he said.

"Why don't you just get out from under them?"

"Oh yeah...I can do that, can't I?"

Rion disappeared and reappeared next to his mother, brushing the 
grass off of his pants. He felt hands on his rump and glanced at 
Loren.

"Mom, stop it!!" he cried and Pistil circled around to his front.

"I bet you're a lot younger than that one aren't you?" she asked 
and Taro pushed Pollen out of his way. He jumped up and walked over 
to where they stood. He pulled on Pistil's skirt and she glanced at 
him.

"Look, why don't you play with Pollen? I like how this one looks a 
lot better," she said and Taro's eyes darkened.

"You leave my dad alone! He's already got my mom. He doesn't need 
anyone else!" he cried and Pollen looked at Pistil.

"Give up purple. Go with green," she said and Pistil looked at her.

"I don't like green," she replied.

"What's wrong with green?"

"I don't like it."
______________________________________________________________________
"Thanks for helping Clarinet. Fife would really be pleased if he 
were with us now," Dende said and Clarinet sighed.

"I know. I just wish Father had gotten the chance to say goodbye to 
him," Clarinet replied as Pan stretched.

"Well, now that everyone's back to normal, how about helping me get 
Bra's house back to normal?" she asked and Dende glanced at 
Clarinet.

"I need to get back to the lookout," he said and Clarinet nodded his 
head.

"I'll see you later."

"Where's your brother? Where's your father for that matter? I swear, 
they're as bad as my grandfather was," Pan said as Taro walked into 
the house.

"Hi Mom," he said and Pan looked at him.

"I thought everything was back to normal. What happened to you?"

"Hello!" Pollen cried as she pushed Taro out of the way. 
Clarinet's eyes grew wide as she ran up to him and pulled on his 
training robe.

"Sorry. She made me bring her here. She said she'd use Grandpa's 
attack on me if I didn't," Taro said as Clarinet tried to get away 
from her.

"Who is that?" Pan asked and Taro grinned.

"Clarinet's girlfriend," he replied and Clarinet flushed.

"It is not!" he protested as Pollen embraced him. "Help!"

"Gee, she she's a little like Mom," Rion commented and Pan glanced 
beside her. She tried not to cry as Rion placed his arms around her 
waist and picked her up. Pan yelped in surprise and glared at Rion.

"Put me down!" she demanded and Rion sighed.

"All right," he said and set her feet onto the ground. She glared 
at him for a moment then softened her gaze as he kissed her.

"Are you all right?" he asked but she did not reply. "Aw, you're 
not THAT mad at me, are you?"

"Rion, now is not the time for acting like a child. Especially since 
we've already got all of them in the house."

"What?"

"Never mind. Are you two hungry?"
______________________________________________________________________
"Are you going to make something?" Taro asked.

"When we get home, yes. But you've got to get your brother first," 
Pan replied.

"Ow! Nitrate let me go!" Pollen cried as Nitrate picked her up and 
carried her back to where Stamen and Pistil stood.

Put her down," Stamen said and Nitrate looked at him.

"You got a leash for her? Hey! She bit me!" Nitrate cried as he 
brought his injured hand to his mouth.

"Pollen..." Stamen said and Pollen looked at him.

"Well he doesn't have to be so mean. He could be a little nicer you 
know," she said.

"She's got a point," Toko said and Nitrate looked at her.

"I wasn't exactly meaning to be mean," he said and stuck his hand 
back into his mouth.

"Here, let me see it. It's not going to get better when you suck on 
it like that. Ask Taro."

"What?" Taro asked as Toko took Nitrate's hand. Nitrate watched 
her in surprise and Pistil shook her head.

"Pathetic," she said and glanced at Taro who stood leaning against 
the wall. He WAS kind of cute. Perhaps with some training she 
could make him the perfect man. Taro glanced at her and nervously 
took a step backwards.

"What did I do?" he asked as she walked towards him.

"Nothing. I want to talk to you, that's all."

"Um...okay."

"Outside."

"Father, can you get her off of me?" Clarinet asked and Rion 
grinned.

"Sorry, but you're going to have to do this on your own."
_______________________________________________________________________
"Hey everyone! Wow, things are pretty lively here. It reminds me of 
old times with Father and Goku," Trunks said as Gendi and Bra came 
up behind them.

"Hey. I heard that you did a pretty good job against Gero."

"Yeah. And then I died," Gendi said as Bra set Lingerie on the 
ground.

"But you're back now."

"Which is good because I need his help in the lab again," Bra said 
as 
Pollen let go of clarinet and ran up to inspect Bra's daughter. 
Clarinet walked up to Loren and took her hand.

"Can I please go back with you?" he asked and Trunks looked at him. 
Loren ran her fingers over his antennae and Clarinet flushed.

"Why do you want to come with us?" Trunks asked.

"She's not there."

"You're not used to girls, are you?"

"She's annoying. Please?"

"No. You need to stay here. There's nothing to do up there."

"Aah! Dad save me!" Taro cried as he ran into the room and hid 
behind Rion.

"What's the matter with you?" Rion asked.

"She's trying to make me be like Grandpa."

"How come I'M always his example for that? Stop it, Loren," Trunks 
said as Pistil came into the room.

"You're willing to give us some land?" Stamen asked and Bra nodded 
her head.

"This too," she said and handed him a capsule. "It's got a house in 
it."

"Quit hiding," Pistil said as she laid her hands on Rion's legs and 
peered behind him. Trunks laughed and Rion glared at him.

"You're not helping, Dad," he said as Pollen walked over to 
Clarinet. Clarinet phased out and Pollen looked around for him.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I've got a good idea where he might be," Trunks 
said.

"Where is that?"

"Kami's."

"Where?"
_______________________________________________________________________
"Taro would you let go of me?" Rion asked and Pan folded her arms.

"They both need to have one of those talks," she said and Rion 
looked at her.

"Huh?" he asked and Pan sighed.

"I'm not going to have to explain it to YOU am I? You certainly take 
after your mother, don't you?"

"Come on. I'll give you something," Pistil said and Taro let go of 
his father.

"What is it? I hope it's food," Taro said.

"Close your eyes."

Taro did as he was told and Pistil leaned forward and kissed him. 
Taro opened his eyes and got a confused look on his face.

"How come I'm still hungry? Whatever it was tasted good."

"He's just like Grandpa," Pan sighed. "I think the only way Grandma 
got him to propose was that she promised him food."

"Hey, where's my sister?" Rion asked suddenly.

"With Nitrate. I think it's time I got them all under control again. 
Thank you for everything," Stamen said to Bra.

"You're welcome. If you ever want a job, come and talk to me."
_______________________________________________________________________
"Dende, can I live here with you?" Clarinet asked and Dende smiled.

"You could use your uncle's room if you really wanted to, but is she 
really that bad? Has she pulled on your tail or anything?" Dende 
asked.

"Tail? Oh yeah. I forgot I had a tail. No...I just...I don't know. I 
mean, she's a lot like Taro but I feel funny about her."

"In what way?"

"I guess it's like when Grandma touches me. I feel uncomfortable but 
it's also kind of nice...I think I should just live here."

Dende began laughing and Clarinet looked at him. Dende wiped his 
eyes and took a deep breath.

"Forgive me, but I find your situation humorous," he said and 
Clarinet looked at him in bewilderment.

"Why? I don't see anything funny about it."

"You LIKE her."

"The way Father likes Pan?"

"Essentially yes."
_______________________________________________________________________
"You must have been made after my grandfather. You're a lot like 
him. Well, your hair is a lot lighter but your attitude is the 
same," Toko said and sighed. "I really miss him. Aunt Bra and her 
family plus Rion and my nephews are all I have. My mother had to go 
away for two years after I was born. Daddy really missed her then. 
It was so nice when she came back. Daddy was so happy to see her. I 
just wish we could have been closer. They went off training a lot, 
but I know they had to do it."

Nitrate stared at her for a moment, unsure as how to react to her 
feelings. Toko forced a smile and stood up. She glanced at him for 
a moment and then at her aunt's house.

"We'd better go back. Your hand will be fine if you keep it out of 
your mouth. Besides, you don't want your lips to dry out, do you?"

"Nitrate!" Pollen cried and Nitrate shrank back.

"I can't believe he sent her after me," he grumbled as Pollen ran up 
to him.

"Time to go!"

"Toko..." Trunks said and Toko turned around.

"You too?" she asked and Trunks nodded his head.

"Everything's been taken care of. It's time we went home."

"But..."

"This is the way it has to be. I've already told you why and I know 
you can handle it. You're a lot more mature than Taro."

"Anyone's a lot more mature than Taro," Toko grumbled.

"We'll be back again," Loren said as she tugged on Trunks' hand. 
Trunks looked at her and then at his daughter.

"We need to leave. You know we love both of you," Trunks said and 
Toko glared at him.

"If you really loved me, you'd stay here with me," she said.

"She's sounding like my sister now."
_______________________________________________________________________
"Good. You haven't left. Please, take care of yourself. You're the 
only one still around. Everyone else is in Other World. It wasn't 
bad there, being with Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa. I didn't 
see much of Dad, though because he was doing what he loves to do the 
best. But...I'm not ready to live there for an eternity," Bra said 
as she hugged Trunks. She then drew away from him and looked at 
Loren. "Don't worry about Rion. Pan's got him under control. She 
definitely has Chi-chi in her. I'll make sure Toko doesn't cause 
trouble."

"She doesn't cause trouble, does she?" Loren asked and Trunks drew 
her closer to him.

"She just means she'll keep an eye on her," Trunks said as Rion 
walked up to them. Trunks watched him with interest, not entirely 
sure how his son would react to their departure. He had a tendency 
to act like Loren but...he also had a tendency to act like Vegeta as 
well.

"Dad..." he said, his voice wavering with emotion.

"Take care, all right? Don't let Taro get into too much trouble," 
Trunks said and Rion forced a smile.

"Pan can do a better job on that than I can."

Loren hugged him and Rion broke down in her arms.

"Mom..." he sobbed and Loren ran her fingers through his hair.

"It's all right. You've got a lot of people here for you," she said 
and Rion drew away from her and wiped his eyes.

"You're right but...but I'll still miss you."

"But you know if has to be done. Ready baby?" Trunks asked and 
Loren looked at him.

"For what?" she asked and he smiled.

"To go," he said patiently, which always surprised him.

"Yes. I'm ready."

"Goodbye everyone! Let's go."
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