Chapter 9: The Value of Trust

  “Trunks, is it?” Piccolo asked. “Bit of an odd name.”

  “Yeah,” he answered as they flew. “I get that a lot.”

  “How do you know our names?” Gohan asked. “Or all that about us?”

  “I’d really like to tell you,” Trunks answered. “But there’s too much to explain. It’s a long story that you probably won’t even believe. But to be honest…that’s not what matters right now.”

  The moon disappeared as night turned to day as they headed to Capsule Corp headquarters. The further they traveled, the odder this all seemed. This strange boy wasn’t just in a hurry. He was going like his life depended on it.

  Surrounding the boy was a perfect circle of clear energy. It formed a cylindrical prism that encompassed his body. As fast as the mysterious youth was traveling, it forced Gohan and Piccolo to use most of their might to keep up with him. As a result of this, transparent and perfectly circular cylinders of light formed around the two of them as they maximized their speed. Five years ago this would have seemed strange but not since Goku used his newly gained power as the ruler of the Soul Realm to change how qi manifested.

  Speed is now manifested as the circular prism of qi. Piccolo remembered. When a warrior manifests one of the four criteria that determines total power level it results in a prism of one of four shapes visibly encircling them. Destructive Force is triangular, Defensive Force is square and Power, or Strength as some call it, is rectangular.

  Remembering what each manifestation of qi did was easy for him.

  The Rectangular prism of Strength Qi, sometimes called Power Qi, determines the enhancement to one’s hand-to-hand combat skills. Piccolo went over in his mind. Destructive Force Qi doesn’t really enhance anything as it determines that amount of energy one has for energy attacks. It also determines how much Qi one can make for creating solid objects, even if they’re not combat oriented like how I conjure clothing. It’s the only Qi that can create objects, besides Defensive Force which can only form defensive ones like shields and barriers. The Square prism of Defensive Force qi enhances your body’s durability to take hits from attacks, determining how many blows from an opponent’s Power Qi and Destructive Force Qi you can survive. And the cylindrical prism holds one’s Speed Qi, obviously quantifying how fast one can move. It is also necessary to fly.

  Piccolo had never before realized how uniform all those different levels of strength that determined power level were. Before Goku’s ascension and changing of the nature of qi, all four categories of qi in one fighter were generally the same. A warrior with a power level of twelve hundred, like Raditz, would normally have a speed, power, defensive force and destructive force of around twelve hundred, meaning fights were generally over before they began.

  If Raditz had been alive in this era, he could have had a speed of twelve hundred, a defensive force of four hundred, a destructive force of ten thousand and a defensive force of fifty. It all depended on which qi criteria he trained the most and which he neglected the most. One couldn’t merely treat one’s whole power level as one, singular, non-distinct entity as before Goku’s ascension and would have to choose which criteria they cared about the most and which they would not care for.

  Goku changed that so fights were not so easily determined. Piccolo remembered. It would prevent brutal tyrants from running over hapless victims by evening the playing field. Now, one normally specialized in one of these qi criteria more than any other. But one thing he also did was ensure that it was easier to increase one’s qi if they had a pure heart. Does this boy’s strength mean he can be trusted, then?

  Piccolo had to keep himself from glaring at the teenaged human. And it wasn’t for fear of being mean. He merely didn’t want the boy to know he was suspicious. Piccolo wanted to keep this boy from knowing how little the Namekian trusted the stranger.

  From what he could sense of the young man’s qi, there was no ill intent or malice. But that didn’t ward off his suspicions entirely. How could someone know so many intimate details about the two of them when they’d never met before?

  This person claimed to know intimate details that Piccolo was sure almost no one except a select few qi users knew. Goku didn’t go blabbing to just anyone about his son lest it attract unwanted attention and everyone was similarly tight-lipped about Piccolo’s existence and him being the reincarnation of King Piccolo. The warriors he was associated with were careful about such secrets.

  We must have met before. The Namekian thought. Think Piccolo, think. Is there anyone we could have met that this boy reminds you of? Someone from the World Martial Arts tournament Goku entered before or after I was born? Did King Piccolo fight this boy and I inherited that memory? Did I fight him in a preliminary match before taking on Goku? Was he one of those reporters that observed the Saiyans arriving on Earth? Did Gohan or Krillin meet him on their way to Namek? How does he know so much about us when we’ve never met him?

  The Namekian kept glancing back at the lavender haired boy to get enough visual information on him to gather every minute detail about him. The sword still scared him but Piccolo couldn’t understand why. He couldn’t recall his face.

  Have I met him before? He thought. I can’t remember meeting him…and I’d definitely remember someone who knew so much about us.

  He gave a sharp leer to the boy as they flew over a cloudbank.

  That must be it then. Piccolo thought. I must have met him before and he somehow gathered information about us. Overheard a conversation while being a spectator or fighter in the World Martial Arts tournament. Or maybe one of Marron’s friends after Krillin failed to hide our secret that she brought along in one of our get-togethers.

  Then Piccolo eyed something on the shoulder of his jacket.

  The Capsule Corp logo? He realized. Of course! He must work for Bulma’s family’s company!

  His leer harshened before he turned away.

  As a worker for the world’s wealthiest company that we visit so much he has information on us no one else could! Piccolo realized. Bulma’s husband is Yamcha, a qi user, who is friends with me and the other human warriors! As a worker he could gain valuable intel on us considering how much we visit their headquarters and interact with not only the daughter of the company’s founder but one of their best engineers!

  He shook his head, cursing himself for being so trusting.

  Capsule Corp has plenty of cutting edge technology that would allow him to spy on us and record our every movement and words! Piccolo thought. With access to such tech and closeness to us qi users he could potentially know everything about us! The only problem is…what does he want now that he has so much on us?

  He gritted his teeth, angry that Piccolo followed such a person with so little hesitation.

  And almost as importantly…? He wondered. How did he learn to use qi so well? Most of us have to go through long periods under the tutelage of an experienced master or figure it out with lots of trial and error. Could he have just been careful to suppress his power level while discreetly getting stronger?

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  Piccolo then glanced back at Trunks, feeling out his power more closely.

  No. He thought. With such a strong power level, this Trunks guy must have appeared on our radar at some point in time. How come I’ve never felt his energy until now?Could he have used the information he got on us to learn the secrets of qi usage to get a head start? Did he somehow train in outer space where none of us could sense him? But why would he gather so much intel about us with Capsule Corp’s surveillance technology, spy on us from afar, jump into a spaceship to train and then come back to gather us for some big event…all with Goku’s prodding?

  Thinking about all these variables only made Piccolo angrier.

  And what did he mean by Convergence War? Piccolo wondered. In my entire life I’ve never heard anything like that!

  “I noticed you guys weren’t showing your power levels before we started heading to the others,” Trunks said. “Any reason for that?”

  Should I tell him it’s because it’s not to warn the others or to hide from prying eyes? Piccolo wondered. No. In case he tries anything underhanded or is tricking us it’ll give us the element of surprise.

  “Well that’s because-” Piccolo said, trying to think of a convincing lie.

  “It’s because we don’t want the others to get worried,” Gohan said. “If we show our full power levels it’ll worry our friends who can sense qi that we’re in trouble and getting serious. If they feel we’re gathering our energy for a fight, they’ll get concerned and rush to our aid. Not to mention any one who can sense energy but is an enemy can’t find us.”

  Piccolo wanted to scold Gohan.

  Darn it! He thought. I thought I’d taught you better, Gohan! In your training, I tried to get you to be cautious! Don’t divulge information to someone you don’t trust! That’s a basic rule of battle!

  Just as Piccolo wished to correct Gohan for this misstep, he sensed something akin to an explosion. All three of them stopped in mid flight as a flash of invisible yet evil energy reverberated through the air. They all looked to the source of the disturbance to find it was west of their direction.

  If Piccolo squinted he could see the edge of a dark embankment of clouds gathering. It was only the outer fringe of the darkness but it disturbed Piccolo just how dark it was. The darkness in that direction seemed darker than the rest of the night sky. It felt pure evil, even more malicious than the qi of fiends like Vegeta or Freeza.

  “What is that?” Piccolo asked. “It feels…it feels completely wrong.”

  “Is that what you were warning of, Trunks?” Gohan asked. “That…That big huge conglomeration of evil?”

  “Yes!” Trunks shouted.

  The young man whirled around, looking like a trapped animal who was desperate for a place to flee.

  “That is the Convergence!” he shouted. “And we have no time to explain or play around!”

  He ground his teeth, clearly agitated.

  “In fact…” he said. “We don’t have any time to dawdle like we’ve been doing!”

  He looked to Piccolo and then to Gohan with a desperate, pleading look.

  “I’m the fastest among us,” Trunks said. “So I need to head to the group of warriors furthest away. One of you head to Kami’s Lookout, the Kame house, and the other to where Yamcha is celebrating his baby’s birthday to give the rings.”

  “What?!” Piccolo said. “Don’t tell me you expect us to start taking orders when you haven’t explained a single thing!”

  “But Piccolo!” Gohan shouted. “My dad said we have to trust him! He wouldn’t lie!”

  The Namekian shook his head, his skepticism softening at the sound of Gohan’s pleas. Despite how little trust he naturally gave to others, Piccolo could be easily persuaded by the boy. He felt too much pity for him.

  “Goku is the reason I’m here!” Trunks said. “He appeared to me before I traveled here! He told me who to give the rings to! Without the Time Rings, you’ll fade from existence once the Convergence encompasses the Earth!”

  “Everyone will fade away?!” Gohan shouted. “Shouldn’t we try to stop that?!”

  “There’s no stopping it,” Trunks said. “We need to gather the strongest warriors Goku chose before you all fade from existence!”

  “Fade from existence?” Piccolo asked. “How is that possible? And what relation do you have with Goku?”

  Trunks began digging into both pockets again before producing several green rings.

  “If you want to know,” he said. “Then tell me which warriors we’re closest to.”

  “Capsule Corp, where Krillin and the others are celebrating Bra’s birthday, is the furthest away,” Piccolo said. “Even after traveling towards them. And the Lookout where Kami and Mr. Popo are…well, they’re not as far away as Roshi is but still a fair distance. Question is…do you know how to get there?”

  “I have a map that has various coordinates of important places,” Trunks said. “But I know the direction to Capsule Corp since it’s roughly a straight path from here to there. I knew it was this way which is why I wanted to get there first.”

  “Fine,” Piccolo said. “You go there. But what about us?”

  “You’re faster than Gohan so head to the second furthest place,” Trunks answered. “Again, don’t slow down for anything. Maximum speed.”

  “Then I’ll head to get my mother!” Gohan said. “Give me a Time Ring for her! I’ll get it to her before going to Roshi and-!”

  “No!” Trunks shouted.

  Gohan’s expression was stricken with pain when Trunks yelled at him. It made Piccolo burn with anger at the sight. As often as he scolded Gohan, the Namekian only did it when he felt absolutely necessary for proper discipline.

  “Those Time Rings are designated only for certain people!” Trunks said. “Your mother neglected training to the extent her power has atrophied and she’s not a capable fighter! Goku specifically stated who the twelve rings are for! If I give you two rings, you have to give them to Roshi and Oolong!”

  “Oolong?” Piccolo asked. “The shapeshifting pig?”

  “His shapeshifting abilities will come in handy!” Trunks said. “I cannot emphasize enough that you give these only to those I tell you!”

  Gohan lowered his head, obviously on the verge of tears.

  “Do you hear me, Gohan?” Trunks said. “The fate of the whole universe hangs in the balance. And that is not an exaggeration.”

  “My…” he said, beginning to cry. “My mother…vanishing…”

  Trunks closed his eyes, shaking his head, clearly frustrated.

  “Darn it,” Trunks said. “We’re wasting time. The Convergence is only a few hours away and we’re dawdling.”

  Piccolo shook with frustration, agitated that he could do nothing. He felt the urge to tell Trunks off but also hated the sight of Gohan crying enough to tell him to stop. He had no way to handle this situation and was about to start yelling before Nail spoke to him.

  “You may not be able to trust this young man,” the Namekian said. “But you can trust Goku. And Goku said to trust this young man. And you’re the only one Gohan trusts.”

  He was speaking clearly to Piccolo, almost as though whispering into his ear rather than from inside him. The Namekian grit his teeth and sighed. He turned to Gohan and cleared his throat, getting the young half-Saiyan’s attention.

  “Gohan,” Piccolo said as gently as possible. “We will make sure your mother is okay. Once this is all over, I will do my best to bring your mother back. We have Dragon Balls. If she dies…I can promise you it’ll be the first thing I do.”

  Gohan looked up at him to show he was relieved before wiping the tears from his eyes. Piccolo felt better and he could sense Nail congratulate him for how he handled the situation. He turned to see Trunks was tossing down the same number of green rings to each.

  “Catch!” he said.

  Gohan caught two Time Rings, one in each hand, while Piccolo grabbed one.

  “Gohan, only to Oolong and Roshi!” Trunks said.

  “Alright!” Gohan said.

  “Piccolo, to Kami!” he said.

  “Understood,” he replied.

  “Get moving!” Trunks yelled.

  And they split off to their respective destinations.