The jinzouningen are returning today to kill the population of the underground city.  I regret that I am not able to write more, but I will write after I finish fighting them off.  Today I will avenge my sister's death and save the lives of thousands.  One of two things will happen today, either the jinzouningen will die, or I will die fighting them.

----Tayhei's journal:  Page 73
 

Dawn broke over the horizon, back-lighting the broken cityscape and stretching across the hills and fields nearby.  What trees were left seemed to brighten at the sight of the long lost sun and the snowy scape rejoiced silently at the arrival.  Near a small cave, a girl stood tall in front of the entrance, regretting the sight of dawn.  The sun breaking out of night meant certain death and destruction of a world that she loved, and there was nothing she could do to prevent it.  If it were possible, she would fly into space and push the sun back down to it's hiding place, but problems were better fought head on.  She could hide the sun, but it would eventually become to strong for her to hold and fate would take its course.

She brought her light green eyes to the sky and spotted what she had been dreading all morning long.  Three figures, one being carried, were flying through the air at quite a fast speed towards the cave entrance.   The jinzouningen had returned as promised with Bulma.  Even from a distance, she could see that Bulma was alive, which lifted a huge weight from her shoulders.  Of course, if Bulma was alive, that meant that the access code had been given to Juunana-gou and Juuhachi-gou and they would be able to get into the underground city.

She took a deep breath and gripped the sword she held in her hands tightly.  She would rather die than let the helpless occupants of that city die at the hands of those evil twins.  They had suffered long enough, it was time to end this, whether she lived through it or not no longer mattered.  The jinzouningen had crossed the line this time and taken a woman that she valued like her own mother.

And no one messes with my Kaasan.

Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou dropped to the ground in front of her lightly, their boots barely brushing the ground.  Juunana-gou held onto Bulma by the arm, twisting it when she tried to break away.  Bulma's face registered agony, and Tayhei clenched her teeth and took a step forward, signaling that she was ready to fight.

"Release her." She commanded in a strong voice.  Juunana-gou smirked, then shoved Bulma at Tayhei with force, almost knocking both of the women to the ground.  Bulma was bruised and battered, and her eyes were red from tears that she probably couldn't have held in.  She ran into Tayhei's arms and hugged her tightly, letting more tears fall and her entire body shook with sobs.

She didn't know what the jinzouningen had done to the woman, but she hated them for it already.  What tortures had Bulma endured under their captivity?  What lengths had she gone to for protecting her precious underground city; her idea, her work for years, protection of thousands from the vicious fiends that were standing before her.

"I tried...." Bulma cried.  "I tried so hard to not tell, but....I hurt all over...."

Tayhei frowned and thought of the only senzu she had, resting and waiting in the pocket of her jacket.  Bulma coughed loudly, and she could feel the older woman's ki dropping at an alarming speed.  "Eto...Bulma-san, take this." She commanded quietly, handing her the senzu from her pocket with a shaking hand.

I hope I am not going to need that....

"Gomen nasai...." Bulma cried, almost incoherently as she swallowed the senzu in one gulp.

Tayhei looked up at Bulma and smiled warmly.  "Hai, I know Bulma-san.  You did well."  She cast a angry glance at the jinzouningen before walking the older woman over to a nearby rock.  "You stay here, ne?  I will try and save our city."

She realized it was the first time she had ever mentioned that she was a part of the city.  She had spent so much time thinking that admitting she was from the underground city was like giving up her fight with the jinzouningen.  Now, in the wake of the almost positive destruction of the city, she felt ownership over it.  It was hers, just as her family had been.

And I'll be damned if that take that away from me too.
 

Bulma watched with curiosity as Tayhei stared down the jinzouningen.  Her face looked as beautiful as always, but her delicate features were drawn into an angry scowl.  Her eyes reflected more than just anger, but something so intense and burning that she had to look away.

I know that look.  She thought to herself.  I saw it on their faces, every single one of them.  Vejiita.  Gohan.  Gokuu.  Trunks.  Yamucha.  It was the look of a warrior; that desperate and urgent need to destroy the enemy, unleash the power and fury within.  It was the look she had come to identify with death, whether it be the death of an enemy, or the death of themselves.

Tayhei was such a strong person inside, willing and ready to fight whatever stood in her way, but gentle and caring too.  She loved Trunks, and he loved her too.  He had never reacted to anyone, or looked at anyone the way he looked at that girl.  In all her years, she had never witnessed two people more in love.  It was almost as if the Kaious had blessed them with this boundless, endless affection for one another.  She remembered the words to a song she and her mother used to sing when she was a child:  "Love can move mountains, drain the oceans, make the sky fall to the ground....".  The song was right, love could do anything, if there was enough of it there to give.  And if love could move mountains, if could surely extinguish the two evils that had haunted Earth for so long.

Words were exchanged between the young girl and the jinzouningen, angry, harsh words that Bulma could not hear from a distance.  Then they attacked and disappeared from her view, becoming three small spots in the air, shooting back in forth like pinballs in a machine.  She watched with unblinking eyes, trying to see the fight, but couldn't follow the movements.

Tayhei has to win....She just has to.  If not for the lives of everyone on Earth, for the love of my son and myself.

Bulma ignored the bruises and possible broken bones in her body, jumping to her feet and cheering for Tayhei.
 

Tayhei smiled as Juunana-gou advanced, then ducked to avoid a sharp kick to the head and came up from beneath him, and fisted him on the chin with an uppercut.  She heard a loud pop as his jaw was knocked out of place and grinned in satisfaction.  The jaw was popped back into place and he phased behind her, slamming his clasped fists onto the top of her head.  She crumpled to the ground like a paper doll, then regained her composure and jumped to her feet, still dizzy from the hit.  The ground tilted and swayed before her and she blinked, trying to find her steady ground.

She was hit from the back, directly at the spine, and gasped as nerves throughout her body shivered and coursed with pain.  Baka!  You should have been ready for that!  She snapped to herself.  Tayhei whirled around to find Juuhachi-gou behind her, with her leg still extended from the kick.  Her arm whipped out and grabbed the leg, yanking as hard as she could toward her.  Juuhachi-gou flew at her, surprised, and Tayhei lifted her other arm out and held it in front of her to clothesline the cyborg.  She choked and fell to the ground with a delicious plop and a cloud of dust.

Before she could enjoy her victory over the female cyborg, she turned to see Juunana-gou flying at her both feet out and aimed at her stomach.  He impacted, and the small girl was flung backwards, skimming along the ground before flipping over and landing on her face.  Her neck screamed in pain as she pushed herself up with shaking arms.  As she sat up, she ran a hand along her lower lip, catching the blood that was running in a steady stream out of her mouth.  Her eyes flickered to Juunana-gou, who was waiting for his sister to stand up and fight again.  She crawled to her feet and dusted herself off, shooting Tayhei a murderous look.

"You are going to pay for that." Juuhachi-gou promised, her mouth twitching with anger, and probably embarrassment.  Before Tayhei could even blink, both of the jinzouningen were attacking her at once.  A maze of kicks and punches formed before her and she ducked, trying to catch any fists before they connected with her body.   Juunana-gou's kick caught her in the stomach, and she struggled to regain her breath while Juuhachi-gou slammed a fist into her jaw.   Both seemed to realize her trouble breathing and instantly backed a way a few feet, waiting for her to catch her breath before they continued.

Onore jinzouningen trash.  Playing with me like I am a damn toy.

She curled herself up into a ball, then spread out all her limbs, letting ki radiate through her entire body.  The jinzouningen shot backwards avoiding the energy, then raced at her again, Juunana-gou from the top, Juuhachi-gou from the bottom.  She tried to maneuver herself through the two of them, but when Juunana-gou came down with both fists clasped onto her head, she fell backwards, only to have Juuhachi-gou drive a kick into her spine.  The two of them began volleying her back in forth like that, laughing at the way her head was beginning to nod up and down with semi consciousness.

Juunana-gou hit her on the head a final time and Juuhachi-gou backed away, letting the fall from the ground in a broken heap, creating a large crater.  The look the jinzouningen shared with each other was clear: this fight was over.
 

"Kaasan!  Tayhei!  I'm back!" Trunks declared happily, swinging himself out of the time machine and onto the floor of Bulma's workshop.  And echoing silence was his reply, and he could see that Bulma's workshop hadn't been touched for days.  His brow furrowed.  Kaasan works in here almost every day....

Blinded by the idea of a happy homecoming, he hadn't even thought to search for their ki.  He concentrated mildly and located the two women:  right outside the entrance to the underground city.  His mother's ki was at it's normal level, perhaps a bit higher than usual; the kind of surge in ki that usually comes along with an intense adrenaline rush.  Tayhei's ki however, was lowering fast, a lot faster than it should be in any circumstance.

The jinzouningen!

He tore out of Bulma's workshop, racing through the halls of Capsule Corporation.  Several people waved as he ran past, shouting 'welcome home!' and hello at the familiar boy.  He ignored them all, shooting out the doors and into the city at his fastest speed, forgetting that many of the people in the city were likely shocked to see him fly over head, his aura ablaze.  Through the dark, damp cave he flew, ignoring the steady dripping of water and the chirping of bats at the ceiling of the cave.  Daylight appeared before him and he flew out of the cave, slowing to survey the battle.

His mother saw him and gasped in relief, running to his side.  She jumped on him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug, screaming incoherently about the jinzouningen.  He smoothed her hair back from her face and hugged her tightly, glad that she wasn't injured.

"Where is Tayhei?" He asked her, surprisingly calm.  The incoherent screaming evolved into incoherent crying, and she raised her hand, pointing to an area behind a large boulder.

He released his mother, setting her down on a rock to rest, and took off towards the boulder.  Coming around the corner, he found Tayhei lying on the ground, the jinzouningen above her.  Beating strong until then, his heart suddenly stopped; the female jinzouningen was ready to kill her, a small hand poised right above Tayhei's heart, ready to rip it out any second.

An image of Gohan, his friend and sensei unwillingly flashed into his mind:  "When you find the right trigger point, the power will come, stronger than it ever was before."  Trunks dug his heels into the ground, glaring at the jinzouningen with nothing but hatred.  He wouldn't let them kill her, no matter what, Tayhei would not die at the hands of the jinzouningen; she was too good for that, too full of life.  He was stronger now, he knew.  The fight with Cell and the jinzouningen of the future had evolved him into something more powerful than he had ever imagined.  But as he stared at the cyborgs, bending over the woman he loved, ready to kill her any second, a new strength he didn't even know he had began to surge.

The power within him stirred slightly, fluctuating before rushing into an all out tidal wave, sweeping through his body and into his outstretched limbs, feeding them with power.  His ki grew stronger, his aura blazing around him like a wildfire, as he screamed a battle cry that echoed through the area.  The jinzouningen looked up, and he could swear he saw something so foreign in their eyes.  Something he never imagined he would ever see when they looked at him: fear.

Throughout his entire life, no one had ever seriously looked at him with that kind of fear.  True, there weren't that many people in his life anyway, but those he saw on a regular basis---even on an irregular basis, had gazed at him with admiration, affection.  No one had ever looked into his eyes with fear, terrified that he would hurt them, or worse.  Not even his enemies, when he fought them with as much power and strength as he had thought he possessed.  When he was nothing but a slip of a boy, his mother had told him stories of how frightened she was when Vejiita had first come to Earth; a strange, alien man, intending to destroy all of her friends.  He too, had felt fear when he saw his father for the first time.  Vejiita didn't ask anyone to fear him; he commanded it.  No one could look that man deep into the eyes and admit that they didn't just feel the world fall out from beneath their feet.  He was frightening, even to those who supposedly knew him the best.

Trunks had always prided himself on the fact that he was nothing like his father in that area.  Pride, arrogance, things that he did inherit from Vejiita, were like tokens of the essence of the battle race of the Saiya-jins.  Fear, however, he did not want on the faces of those that he loved.  Although he was powerful, so powerful in fact that he could destroy the entire underground city with the flick of his hand, he only used his strength for the purpose of good.  Now, as he stared down the jinzouningen, all the wishes for people not to fear him washed away like sand on a beach and he understood why his mother had always remarked that he was so much like his father.  He looked at the jinzouningen and demanded and unspoken feeling of fear to arise within them.  It was their turn to die.

Chapter 18
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