Real World - Fu's LAB - Tokyo

[Fu re-watched the scene of Perfect Cell and Shallot fighting. When Zamasu and Tie appeared, he paused the replay and zoomed in. He listened to the conversations, then slowly, a smirk formed on his face.

"I see. So 'that's' how Trunks was able to survive." Fu said.

Future Trunks must have known that the communications had been down when Roshi, Fu and Matsuri had killed Trunks. Which meant he had past knowledge of game Data, and used it to outwit them before the Beta had been finished. Clever. Very clever. It was a perfect method to protect the first Trunks from dying and being Reset.

"But Tie didn't get Daddies permission to come the second time, did he? No...he came all on his own. And even brought along that Kai, Zamasu. That's too bad, Trunks, now I know about him." 

Fu rolled his desk chair around, looked over at Pandoras Box on a shelf, and sighed a little. "Tie...could interfere with my experiment. Can't have that. Now, all I need to do to prevent that is...break up Trunks and Rhuda."

He didn't need Rhuda to die yet, not until Fu had gathered enough energy for Pandora's Box...

He giggled a little and turned back to his monitors, to check on the game world. There he saw that Rhuda had fled Capsule, and seemed to be headed towards the Northern Mountains. She was chatting with one of the side quest characters and didn't even know it.

"Ha! She's going right to one of the Side quests. I can use this...yes. I think I'll send 'him' there."

Fu rapidly began typing in commands, conjuring a special room for Rhuda to stay that would drain her Ki and hide it.

"Giblet." He said, pushing a button that was a microphone. It linked to the Dark Demon Realm.

"What is it now, Fu?" Giblet asked.

"...I need you to give the NPC Richard a little power boost. Not enough to kill Rhuda, but enough so that I can use it to my advantage."

"...Richard? Where is he located?"

"The Northern Mountains in Present Day Earth. Just search for the girls Ki and you'll find him there. After you do that, come to the Real World."

Fu knew that once Trunks was aware of his plan to prevent his son Tie, the genius would come to the Real World and seek out Shallot, whom had the only other Save Game point. As long as Fu could retrieve that, well, the damage couldn't be undone.

It was brilliant.

Next, the Dark Demon loaded a screen of potential would be suitors for Rhuda. Fu looked them over, scowling. "Those are too old. It needs to be a saiyan, but younger...not that young, no. Hmm. Oh. Perfect! He's even got that special energy. The Game Master really thought of everything. Hmm, married. Well....all is fair in love and war, as they say!"

Fu's red eyes sparkled. It was fun messing around with all the characters. And this would be a most enjoyable way to spend his evening. Rhuda would be cast aside for sure afterwards, and Fu could relax, knowing that by the Tournament came around, Tie wouldn't intervene.

After selecting the most appropriate of suitors for Rhuda to have an affair with, Fu began to ponder about the [Soul - Mate] link. If Rhuda remembered what happened, Trunks would know it wasn't her fault, but Fu, and that wouldn't do at all. Fu needed Trunks to believe Rhuda had been taken, and he'd react logically instead of using his heart. That would be the finishing blow to their relationship. Even if they mended things later, it would be too late once the Tournament was under way.

Just in case, though, Fu needed to make sure that his selected suitor didn't remember anything either. That way he couldn't give Trunks any clues.

How deliciously...vile. Fu giggled again and pushed his glasses up.

"Now...just need to make sure it's a Full Moon. Saiyan instincts are at their peak, then. Done and...done. Trunks Briefs, I wonder just how you'll try and work around 'this'! Ha ha ha!"]

*

*

*

Northern Mountains - Present Day Earth

Days Until Universal Tournament - 2

Night Fall

 

Rhuda awoke to the view of the floor. She was on it, and there was blood coming from somewhere. It remained unclear, and her gaze saw that it was dark outside the barred window. She'd apparently slept the day away.

Her mind was fuzzy, and as she shifted, trying to make sense of things, she realized she was freezing. That was why it was hard to move, then. Her limbs were numb with hypothermia.

'Where am...I?'

Slowly she got up. Then abruptly fell flat on her face into a small puddle of blood.

"Huk..."

Confused, hurting, and alone in a freezing cold place made the girl begin sobbing. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was that man, Richard, inviting her to go along with him. But that wasn't right. She shouldn't be here, then.

'Trunks--Trunks, where are you?'

She stilled, focusing on detecting a high level of Ki. It was difficult, as though she were shifting through a bowl of white rice to find one brown one. After a moment of hard work, using what energy she had left, Rhuda Instant Tranmissioned.

*

*

*

Present Day - Gohans Home

Gohan clicked his mouse and began dragging the necessary research papers over into his email, to send over to his boss before tomorrow. Just as his index finger began to lift from the mouse however, a weak and familiar energy appeared in his room.

*Thud*

"Wah!" His hand ended up dragging the files over to the Trash, where they were instantly deleted. "N-No! M-My research!"

He grabbed the laptop screen and cried, "...This isn't happening. This isn't happening."

After staying up all night just to get the thing done, Gohan was tired, cranky, and done with life. But the low Ki he felt made a sound. He peered over his desk, seeing a naked girl there in the darkness of his office, curled in the fetal position. "W-What the?!"

Their energy was draining bit by bit.

Gohan hopped over his desk and knelt down, checking them over. "No way..is that you, Chisato?"

She gave a low moan and squinted up at him. "Go..han...? Where...am...I?"

Her voice was weak, as if it had been used a lot. The smell of iron tinged his nose, and he could see blood coming from somewhere. "You're hurt! Chisato, are you okay?"

"...So...cold..." Her eyes shut a moment before opening again.

"Hang in there!" He turned to yell for Videl, before recalling she was staying at her Dads tonight, in order for Pan to give him peace enough to finish his paperwork. Which meant it was up to him. He hauled her into his lap, feeling how icy she was. And also the strange energy charge, the same as before, but much weaker. "Oh man. Your froze solid...just what in the world happened...?"

He gently lifted her and left his office, heading towards the nearest exit. His intentions were to get her to the ER, but when her Ki dropped yet again he knew it wouldn't do much good.

For whatever reason, his sister was dying in his arms.

"No..no..." His teeth grit. There had to be something he could do.

She'd somehow made it to him. Whether by choice or the because it was the only option was unclear, but Gohan had to do what he could. So, with a heavy heart, he got out his cell phone and called his Fathers number. It was the quickest way to reach him, or should be. From there Goku could get to Korin, or someone who had a sensu bean.

"I'm sorry, the number you have reached is not in service at this time. Please check the number and try again--"

"Dammit!"

He threw his phone and began yanking at his hair. What was there left to do? He didn't have any sensu beans, and Korin was at least an hours flight without using Instant Transmission.

She turned, gave a cough, and blood came from her mouth.

There was only one thing he knew he 'could' do. He shut his eyes and put his hand on her stomach. Then channeled his own life energy.

It went slowly. Like filtering water through a coffee pot. Bit by bit, the color was returning to her face, arms, legs. She groaned a little, awake enough to realize she was in pain, before crying out.

He grit his teeth. It was tough to focus, and going too slow in his normal state. "Urrah!" He became a Super saiyan, and watched the yellow glow cover her body and trickle more energy.

Finally her eyes began to open. She saw him tolling away, sweat dripping from his face, and lifted her hand to touch his wrist. "Thank...you..."

He remained quiet. Talk could come later, after he was done healing.

She tried to raise up and he glared, pressing her back to the ground, and continued to funnel energy. His own was beginning to drain, though, probably due to her large stores.

Finally it was done.

He dropped his hands away and panted a little, squinting to see that she was fine now, only dirty and bloodied.

"Gohan--" she tried to smile but it turned into a sob, and he could only guess what had happened. He removed his shirt up and over, handing it to her to wear. She took it gratefully and put it on. With a sniffle here and there she said, "I...I'm sorry to bother you. I was too weak to get home. A-And...I couldn't sense Dad, Trunks or Vegeta..."

"It's okay, Chisato. I'm not mad. Just...worried. What the heck happened?"

She began to relay the last thing she remembered. "..And when I woke up, I was somewhere very cold, and...."

His brows furrowed. Whatever had happened was severe, severe enough to make a saiyan of her power nearly die. Gohan held his hand out, and led her back to his home. "We'll get this sorted out, alright? Don't worry."

"But I don't know where I was, or even what happened.."

He brought her to the kitchen and pulled out some milk, warming it in the microwave, and brought it to her. "Here. Drink up. You need to finish healing." She nodded and sipped it, continuing to sniffle.

"I--I should go home now..." she mumbled, staring into the white steaming cup of milk. "Dad and mom are probably wondering where I went."

"It's okay. I'll tell them you stayed over. I don't think Dads home right now, and since we don't know where Trunks or Vegeta went to, it's safer if you're here. At least you'll have me."

"You're...so kind..."

"Hey, hey, it's going to be alright. Your big brother will protect you. Alright, Chisato?" He smiled and ruffled her head.

"Hic..."

There was a withdrawn look to her, as though something more pressing was churning within her mind. He sat down beside her at the bar stool, thinking on what to do. He couldn't sense any Ki coming their way, so wasn't too concerned for the moment, but there had to be some reason for her injuries. More importantly, or worrisome, had been that she was naked.

He was thinking deeply when her shoulders began to tremble. From the corner of his eyes he saw it, and thought at first she was cold, until her green eyes lifted and she whispered, "...What if I was...taken by force?"

"D-Don't think the worst. We'll get a doctor to look you over properly tomorrow, first thing."

"Trunks would--he would--"

"Trunks wouldn't hate you, if that's what you're thinking. I'm sure he'd be more focused on punishing whoever did that."

"..."

"You're thinking too hard. C'mon,  get some sleep."

He brought her to a guest room on the second floor, not too far away from his own room. As he bade her goodnight however she clung to his wrist. "Gohan?"

"Yeah? Do you need something?"

"Ano...c-could I s-sleep in your floor? I-I wouldn't bother you...it's just..."

"It's okay. You can use my room. I understand you don't want to be alone."

He led her to his room and shut the door behind them, flicking the light switch. "There. I'll keep the lights on until you fall asleep. Okay?"

"Uuu..."

She stood at the door, leaning on it, before dropping to her knees and sobbing. Gohan swallowed; she was pretty worked up over what happened. "Chisato? Are you going to be alright?" He asked.

"I-I'm fine."

He could tell when someone was 'fine' and when someone was pretending they were. The girl holding her arms around herself in his bedroom was definitely the latter. Gohan squatted down and tucked her to him, knowing it was the only thing he could do in that situation. She put her hands on his bare shoulders and began telling the truth: "Why me, Gohan? I'm tired of living in fear everyday. I don't know...what to do. All I do is cause trouble for Trunks, and he has to keep fixing things....uuu.."

The two talked for hours it seemed. Gohan couldn't rest anyway, not now that Rhuda had been attacked, and there was his research to start again when she fell asleep.

Time passed by, until her eyelids began to droop. She shivered and yawned, lightly dozing on his shoulder. Gohan smiled. Having a sister was hard work, but he didn't mind really. It was nice, and she was a lot more kind than any full saiyan he knew, aside from his father, who'd hit his head as a child. Always worried about being a bother to other people. Not to mention innocent.

In fact...

Gohan glanced down, seeing the outline of her body. 'She's too innocent. I know I'm her brother now, but it's not like we're related by blood. Jeez. I should get her in bed and get started on my research'.

That's what he told himself. But truly, he was much too worried about all the things he'd learned. His entire world was in trouble, along with hers. But...Dad was there. He'd sort it out.

He lifted her up with ease and tucked her into his bed, pulling the cover up. "There. Night, sis. You'll feel better tomorrow."

He turned to the window to shut the blind, due to the large amount of moonlight coming in and paused to take in the beauty of the stars. It was an old habit he'd done since he was small, not having much else to do really.

The moon was Full. Back when he had a tail, that would have been a problem. But now he could gaze at it without turning into a Great Ape.

"She's got a tail. It's definitely better to keep these blinds shut, just in case."

With a passing look to the moon above, his hand raised to shut the blinds.

Badump--

Badump-

His heart began racing. Just what was going on was unclear, but he couldn't help the panic. Gohan stumbled away from the window and hit the bookcase, holding his chest. "Not...now! I--I don't have...a tail," he grit out.

Badump, badump, badump--

Gohan fell to the floor, gasping for air. His body was getting hot, very hot, and it was hard to think clearly. He had to get out of there, before something crazy happened.

"Huk..."

Sweat dripped from his brow.

The darkness of his pupil enlarged, covering his eye fully. Gohan had been taken over.

*

*
*

"Where is she?! Dammit it all!"

Trunks had been everywhere searching for his girlfriend. Her Ki had just up and vanished from the Northern Mountains, and it had to be because she'd used Instant Transmission. But she wasn't anywhere on Earth. If she were, Rhuda was hiding it. Or...no. He couldn't think that. She wasn't dead. She wasn't!

Thus he'd went to Conton, searching there for hours, yet nobody had saw her.

He went to ask Goku to find her, since he had the most sensitive of Ki readings, but found that he'd left to Beerus' world that day.

Trunks left the Time Nest and went back to Capsule, Present Day.

Finally he had a reading! Rhuda was over at Gohans house, thank Kami. He took off quickly, blowing away grass in his effort to get there.

'Why would she hide from me? Was seeing my private area that bad?'

Trunks couldn't help but feel awful, after all. If he'd went to see her first thing instead of worrying about how he smelled, then she wouldn't have seen it at all and it wouldn't be a problem.

Tap

He landed with a thud. The sun was rising overhead, and he ran to the front door of Gohans home and gave it a hard knock. Gohan was a heavy sleeper, and he didn't sense Videl or Pan, so knew it would be difficult to rouse him.

The door swung open.

Gohan yawned, scratching his dark head of hair.

"Oh, hey Trunks..."

Trunks backed away. "W-What are you doing?"

Gohan blinked, looked down, and yelled. "S-Sorry! I'll be right back!"

The genius Brief took a calming breath. Rhuda was there. It was fine. Gohan would never do anything to her, he knew, so it was probably just some strange accident that made Gohan want to sleep naked.

But...

His teeth grit.

What if--?

No.

It wasn't possible. He trusted Gohan with his life.

Finally Gohan came back, wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt and beckoned him inside. "You're here for Chisato, right?"

Trunks nodded. "Yeah. I couldn't find her at all. I looked all night."

Gohan filled him in on things, saying, "She was pretty badly hurt. We almost lost her, but I managed to give her some of my Life Energy."

"...Thank Kami." Trunks sighed.

He was led to Gohans bedroom, where the door was open. Alarm bells rang in Trunks' mind. Gohan had been naked, and Rhuda was in Gohans room, sleeping...

"Gohan...? You...let her sleep in your bed?" He asked.

"Yeah. She asked to borrow my room. You should have seen her. Poor thing was shaken up pretty bad by what happened."

Trunks nodded. "..."

Yet as he drew nearer to the bed, seeing Rhuda laying on her side, breathing evenly, a strong scent rose to his nose. He backed up. "--You--You touched her, Gohan!"

"Huh? No way, I didn't do anything like that at all, Trunks!"

Trunks clenched his fist tightly. "Then explain why she reeks of you!"

"She does? Oh! I know, I did give her the shirt I wore yesterday to wear."

"..."

'Calm down. You don't know the facts. Don't jump to conclusions.'

Rhuda, hearing the talking, opened her eyes and sat up. She blinked a time or two, rubbed her eyes cutely, and stretched. Then she saw them. "Mm...Trunks..." she smiled. "You found me."

"Y-Yeah. Of course I did." He strode over and grabbed her up to his chest, smelling Gohan even stronger. His eyes shut as he forced himself to be calm.

"I'll just leave you two alone." Gohan said. He shut the door behind him.

Trunks dropped his girlfriend and rose up her shirt, seeing blood and dried liquids around her inner thighs. "Hya! W-What are you doing, l-looking down t-there?!"

"...Chisato..."

"W-What?!"

"...Did you and Gohan....have sex last night?"

"N-no! No way! He's my brother!"

Trunks watched her expression carefully. She was telling the truth, and even her thoughts didn't betray her. He slowly exhaled and sat on the edge of the bed. "...Then, there's something you should know."

"..." Her eyes teared up. "I-I was raped, wasn't I?"

He nodded.

She began to sob and he pulled her to him. It was difficult to comfort her, when he was so mad, but he did his best. "...We'll figure this out, Chisato. Do you know where that guy was? Anything at all?"

"Well...his name was R-Richard, and it was somewhere very cold. I--I can't remember anything else. Hic...hic..."

Was it part of the game, and she'd triggered a scene by going there? Or was it a clever plot by Fu to get the two to break up? Trunks was betting it was the latter, but didn't have anything to go off of. If Chisato had remembered some details, he'd be able to track down Richard and maybe get some answers. But his girlfriends' mind was blank, only recalling that room she'd woke up in.

His best bet was to load the game, but her Save game was gone. And his had been destroyed after a year in the HTC.

Trunks stood. "I-I'm sorry, to do this Chisato, but I have to go."

"E-Eh? N-No, please don't leave me..."

('He hates me now..! I hate me too.')

"I don't hate you. I need to go cool off first, so I can find out who did this and make it right."

She sniffled. "...T-Trunks...are you going to break up with me?"

"...It wasn't your fault. It's not like you knew what would happen, Chisato. But I...if I stay here, I'll only be angry, and that wouldn't help at all." He turned, wanting to kiss his mate, but when her eyes lifted and he caught Gohans scent on her he pulled away. "...Later. I'll be back later. You should get in the shower."

"Y-Yes..."

Trunks needed Shallot.

But first, he needed to blow off some steam in the Gravity Chamber.

*

*

*

Rhuda watched Trunks pull away from her, and the girls heart broke at that moment. He gave her a sad smile and left the room. She sat there on the bed, waiting until his energy grew far away, before breaking out in huge sobs.

*knock*

"C-Come in," she choked out.

Gohan poked his head in the door. "Hey, everything alright? Aren't you going with him?"

"N-No. Uuu...h-he hates me--he doesn't love me anymore--!"

She hugged her arms around herself and cried so hard her ribs hurt. Gohan sighed a little and said, "...Come on. Go grab a shower. We'll eat, then I'll take you to a doctor."

"T-There's no need--! I've been r-raped! I was raped, Gohan!"

That made her brother pause. His face paled. Slowly he walked over, sat on the bed, and patted her back. "..It's gonna be alright."

"No it's not! He left me--after what happened, he...can't even touch me now...!"

"I-I'm sure that's not true, Chisato. You have to think about his side, too...he just found out his girlfriend was taken by a stranger. It's...going to take some time for him to...to.."

Gohan grit his teeth. He was saying those things, but really, if it had been him, Gohan would have went on a murderous rampage. He couldn't understand why Trunks could be so calm. It was as if he really didn't care, after all. That thought led into another, and another, until Gohan was angry.

"Go...han?" She asked, seeing his hair flashing upwards.

"Sorry. I'm just upset." He growled.

"You...are?"

"Of course I am! No woman deserves that! And Trunks just took off, like he was more worried about his job than how you were feeling--" Gohan clamped his mouth shut, but the words had already left his lips. Rhuda looked down to her lap and nodded. "...He..he's going to break up with me, isn't he."

"Then screw him."

"Eh?"

"Sorry, but...if he does that, you didn't need him anyway." Gohan stood. "Let's get you some food."

They left the room, Rhuda changing into some of Videls clothing, and went to the large eat in kitchen. Gohan made her breakfast and the tiny girl barely picked at it. She sobbed intermittently, until Gohan sat down and grabbed her fork. "Here. Open up."

"...I don't feel like eating."

"You need to eat. It will help." He plopped the food into her mouth. "You're still injured from last night."

She nodded a little, and swallowed the eggs. "I'm very sore. I--I guess that was b-because--" she covered her face and shivered, as though horrified. Gohan sat down the fork and gave her a hug.

"You're okay." He murmured. "...Dad will take care of that guy, and Trunks."

"I--I don't want T-Trunks to get hurt...I love him.."

Gohan sighed. She was in love with Trunks, but was he with her? It didn't seem that way to Gohan. What kind of guy would just leave his girlfriend alone after that?

"Maybe you two should take a break." He said.

"Break up...with Trunks?"

"He just left you here, Chisato! I'm sorry, but that's not right! No matter what was going through his head, he should make sure you're okay first!" Gohan hit the bar counter and it splintered off, "He doesn't deserve you. You're too good for him!"

"G-Gohan..."

She nodded in defeat and burrowed into his T-shirt. "...thank you for saying that. I never thought I was worth anything...I...was better off dead..."

"Never think that. Everyone is worth something." Gohan took a calming breath, because he was too upset, and had in mind to find that Richard guy and blast his head off, "--You're very precious."

"Uuuuu..."

They embraced, one angered and trying to do what was right, the other, saddened and heartbroken. As the time passed, however, Gohan began to lean away when Rhuda wrapped her arms around his trim waist. "...Please...just hold me a little longer....?"

"...Take as long as you need, sis."