Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 7 - Hope

Bulma stared at her mate in disbelief.

"Gone?" she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "S-she can't be!" Vegeta looked into her eyes and nodded his head. He was actually being considerate of her tender emotions.

"It's my fault." Trunks said, his voice low and dangerous.

"Trunks don't blame yourself." Goten said, putting his hand on Trunks' shoulder in support.

"I said it was my fault God DAMNIT!" he cried. Everyone took a few steps back in alarm. "I did this to her...and now she's gone." Trunks looked down at his hands again and a tear splashed in his palm.

"Trunks we'll bring her back...somehow." Bulma said comfortingly.

"No...we won't. I got her into this so I'm going to get her out." Trunks said. He looked at his mother with an obstinate look on his face. "Kaasan you have to find her."

"I'm trying, Trunks-kun." She said. Vegeta turned to Trunks and began to say something, but he began to fade out as well. Bulma's eyes widened and she reached out for him, but her hand went through him. "Vegeta!" Bulma cried. She tried to grip her arms around him but it proved to be worthless. His body finally came to a standstill and he collapsed in the water. Bulma dove under the surface of the water, frantically probing the water for his body. She finally managed to grab him by the arm and drag him to the surface where Goku took him into his arms and flew him back to the shore. Bulma, who was now out of breath, was having trouble swimming back to the shore. Goten and the very distraught Trunks headed inward as well. As Goku landed on the beach with Vegeta in tow, Bulma raced over to him.

"Bulma, calm down." Goku said, feeling Vegeta's neck for a pulse.

"Goku, is he okay!? Is he going to make it?" Bulma cried. A panic-stricken Chi-Chi swiftly ran towards the scene.

"What's happening now!?" she wailed. Bulma looked at Chi-Chi angrily.

"Chi-Chi you're in the way!' Bulma cried. "Just back off." Chi-Chi stepped back and looked at Bulma with a hurt expression on her face.

"Chi-Chi, honey, what Bulma means is that there are too many people over here." Goku said. Chi-Chi nodded and returned to the towel where Videl was talking to Gohan.

"Goku, is he breathing? Is he okay? What happened?" Bulma said, shooting a series of questions at him before he could begin to answer.

"Bulma, you would know better than I would." Goku said. Suddenly there was an explosion from where Trunks and Goten were standing near the shore. Goku and Bulma spun around to see Trunks in super Saiya-jin form with his fists up, glaring at a very confused Goten. Bulma looked desperately at Goku.

"This is starting to fall apart." She said. "If we don't do something now, our world as we know it will fade from existence and we will be helpless to stop it." Goku looked at Bulma with a stern expression on his face. "I think...." Bulma trailed off as a tear ran down her face and landed in the warm sand. "That it's out of our control."

"Bulma!" Goku said, shaking her. "Listen to yourself! That isn't you talking." Bulma continued to cry. "If anyone can get us out of this mess, it's you."

"NO...I can't do any more than the next person." Bulma said in between sobs.

"Bulma-san...don't give up. I believe in you. Vegeta is counting on you." Goku continued, trying to convince her than she was wrong. Bulma looked down at Vegeta's body resting on the sand.

"It's funny..." she started. "You never really realize how much you have until you lose it." She turned back to Goku. "It wasn't until now that I truly appreciated how much I loved him."

"Than you need to do this...for him." Goku said. Bulma nodded. "You still have a chance." They suddenly heard a cry and turned back to Trunks, who now had Goten pinned against the sand, his teeth clenched. Goku rushed over and pried the delirious Saiya-jin boy off of his son. "Trunks! What in Kami's name do you think you are doing?"

"That low class bastard doesn't deserve to live." Trunks growled, trying to break free of Goku's grip.

"Trunks snap out of it." Goku shouted. "Goten is your best friend!" Trunks glared at Goten, threatening him with his lethal glare and his bright aura, but he knew that he didn't stand a chance against Goku as well. He finally lowered his ki and powered down. "What's gotten into you?" Goku asked, still keeping hold of Trunks' wrists.

"Kakarotto you know I've never liked your brat." Trunks answered. Goku looked stunned. Trunks never called him "Kakarotto", and he didn't refer to his kids as "brats". Only Vegeta did that.

<This isn't Trunks. The time shift is doing this to him.> Goku thought to himself as he stared into Trunks blue eyes, which had a coldness about them. <Somehow Natalie's disappearance from our timeline has caused a change in his character.>

"Goku-san, is everything alright?" Bulma asked. Goku looked at her and shook his head.

"Iie, it's getting worse by the minute." He replied. Bulma looked over at the towel where Chi-Chi and Videl sat, watching them. "Trunks...he's acting very strange."

"Oh no." Bulma said. "I have to get to work on trying to create a piece of equipment to block the time shift from affecting the present, even if it's only temporary." Bulma said. Goku looked at her, confused.

"Well, I don't know what you just said, but good luck." He said. Bulma nodded her head and smiled at him.

"Take your third class hands off of me!" Trunks said, tearing away from Goku's grip. Vegeta started to awaken and looked around confusedly. He could see Trunks' blurry figure and make out what he was saying. "Don't you know how to treat a prince of Saiya-jin?" Trunks hissed. "If my father were here he'd teach you some respect!" Vegeta blinked his eyes, not believing what he saw. Trunks, his son, was acting just like...him. And he didn't like it. Vegeta stood up.

"Stop this, boy." He ordered. Bulma happily embraced Vegeta while he stood, unfazed. Trunks looked at Vegeta with wide-eyed shock written all over his face.

"T-tousan?" he said. "No...you're not him. My tousan wouldn't associate with these low class fools!"

"Trunks!" Vegeta shouted. "What are you doing!? You've never thought of Kakarotto or his offspring as low class!" Trunks stared intently at his father for a few seconds before grabbing his head and falling to the ground. He looked as if someone was cutting off his oxygen supply and he was struggling to breathe. Vegeta and Bulma rushed over to him as Bra and Pan walked towards Chi-Chi and Videl.

"Kaasan, what's wrong with Trunks-san?" Pan asked her mother. Videl was transfixed on the scene and didn't hear her daughter's question. "Kaasan?" Pan continued.

"Nani? Oh, Pan-chan. Did you seed something?" Videl said.

"Hai. What's wrong with Trunks-san?" Pan asked again.

"I don't know, Pan-chan. But we should stay out of the way, okay?" Videl replied. Pan and Bra nodded their heads happily.

Meanwhile, Bulma was hovering over the body of her son, trying to help him.

"Trunks...Trunks can you hear me?" she said, shaking him. He was still holding his head and clenching his teeth in pain. Vegeta pushed her aside.

"You go work on your equipment. I'll take care of him." He said. Bulma looked at him and then turned away to get her resources. Vegeta shook his son, more violently than Bulma had. "Hey, boy. Trunks." Vegeta said. "Say something, boy." Trunks opened his eyes and looked around. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead and onto his nose.

"T-tousan..." he said through his compressed jaw. "Nat-chan..."

"Hey, boy. Get a grip on yourself. Just relax." Vegeta said, trying to calm the boy down. Finally after a few minutes, Trunks managed to relax for the most part. He never fell unconscious, which was never decided to be good or bad. Trunks sat down on a beach towel and brought his knees to his chest. Goten and Goku tried to talk to him, but all he would do was stare down at the ground. He couldn't bring himself to accept what he had done. Bulma suddenly rushed over to where Goku and Vegeta were standing.

"I think I've done it!" she cried happily. Goku and Vegeta turned around to face her. "Check this out." Bulma said, and pulled up the time chart on her screen again. "Basically, I took the data used in the Hope time machine, and applied their concepts to the present." She explained. "If it works, it should neutralize the effects of the time shift, and prevent it from taking affect in the present time." Goku and Vegeta stared at her with perplexed expressions on their faces. Bulma then realized that they had no idea of what she was talking about. "In layman's terms, I have found a solution to the time problem." Goku and Vegeta snapped out of their stupors and laughed nervously as Bulma stared at them with a dull expression on her face. <I guess it's what I get for being a genius> she thought to herself. "Now I need to put this theory into action. I'm almost positive that it will work." She said.

"And what if it doesn't" Vegeta protested. Bulma looked nervous.

"Well...there's a slight chance that it will backfire. If it does..." she trailed off, biting her lower lip.

"Well what, woman?" Vegeta demanded.

"If it does than there's a possibility that we would be erased from this timeframe and/or dimension." She said, looking down at the ground. She was almost afraid to look up at Vegeta for what his reaction would be. After a long pause, she stole a glance at him. Much to her surprise, she saw a crooked smile on his face. She tilted her head back up to face him and was about to speak, when she was cut off.

"You're a genius." He said, kissing her forehead. Bulma's jaw fell open in surprise. "Just make sure you test it on Kakarotto." He continued, sneering. Bulma's mouth formed an ecstatic smile and she jumped into his arms.

"Veggie-chan dai suki." She whispered into his ear. Vegeta blushed slightly and looked around to make sure that nobody was looking. She finally let him free of her grip and grabbed her laptop, tucking it under her arm.

"I need Goku to teleport me back home so I can get to work on this immediately." She said, heading over to Goku, who was comforting a very distraught Chi-Chi. She passed Trunks on the way and she almost stopped in her tracks. She hardly ever saw Trunks so torn up. Her heart ached for her little boy, an ache that gave her new determination. <I'm going to do this for you too, Trunks-kun.> Bulma thought to herself. She was so focused on Trunks that she almost smacked straight into Goku. Fortunately for her, he anticipated her move and reached out to stop her.

"Careful there, Bulma." He said. She jumped back in surprise.

"Gomen nasai Goku." She apologized. "I need your help."

"Mine? Sure, what can I do for you?" he asked, standing up and brushing the sand off of his body.

"I need to teleport me back to Capsule Corp." she answered. "I'm going to build this contrivance if it's the last thing I do." Goku smiled at her.

"I never lost faith in you, Bulma-san." He said.

"Arigatou." She said. Goku placed his hand on her shoulder and used the other to place his two forefingers on his forehead. He closed his eyes and concentrated, and within a few seconds, he and Bulma were gone.

No more than a few seconds later, the duo appeared in the dark lab of Capsule Corporation. Bulma walked over to the door and flipped on the light, and the low hum of the UV bulbs started up. She set her laptop down on the counter forcibly and started to type. She pulled up the time graph again and studied it.

"Alright. I need to program this baby to counterbalance the affects of this shift, therefore, preventing it from taking it's toll on us." Bulma said. She ran over to a pile of scraps in the corner and grabbed a microchip. "I was planning on using this for the new Hope time machine I was building, but I guess this is more important." She continued. Goku, however, just looked confounded.

"Is...there anything I can do to help?" he asked. Bulma was using a microscope and an array of infinitesimal tools to program information and statistics into the chip.

"Did you say something?" Bulma said, looking up from the microscope temporarily.

"Nevermind." Goku said. Bulma shrugged and turned back to her work. Goku decided to help himself to something to eat, and left the lab. Bulma paid him no attention and continued to work. Goku worked his way through the many halls and corridors of Capsule Corp., and finally reached the main living quarters. He headed for the kitchen, and then to the refrigerator. As he dug through the contents, he heard a loud cry from the area where Bulma was. Alarmed, he dropped his food and raced back to her. When he arrived on the scene, he saw Bulma, grinning from ear to ear, holding the microchip in her hands. She looked up at Goku and exclaimed.

"I've done it!"