There was a moment of silence between the two timeline counterparts, as they glared at each other with matching sky blue eyes. As Mirai Trunks stared at the younger version of himself, he was suddenly filled with something that he hadn’t felt in a very long time: jealousy. It wasn’t envy in the normal sense; he was more upset that this younger Trunks had Tayhei, but just wasn’t treating her right. He had the most amazing, beautiful girl, and he acted like he hated her. It just made him seem like an unappreciative bastard, and it made Mirai Trunks burn with anger. This younger Trunks had everything that he had ever wanted, everything. And he acted as though he didn’t appreciate any of it. Not this beautiful untouched world, not his father, his sister, Tayhei….

Normally, Mirai Trunks considered himself to be somewhat tolerant and patient. But the actions and words of his younger counterpart absolutely infuriated him. As he stood, glaring into eyes that were egotistical and glinting --- yet so much like his own, he felt the anger rise up from deep in his heart and surge through his body. Like always, the moment before his transformation lasted a lifetime, as he felt the Saiya-jin blood rage through his veins. His fingertips began to tingle and his mind begin to swim, and then the power burst out of him and into a golden flame, his hair standing up straight and suddenly a shade much paler. A haze of red clouded over his vision, and then his eyes turned into a brilliant jade color, still carrying the hatred and jealousy that he had felt before.

In response, his younger counterpart transformed as well, and they glared at each other with identical jade eyes and harsh frowns, their firsts curled tight at their sides. Mirai Trunks could tell that this younger version of himself was stronger --- he had more raw power and strength. But he didn’t know how to use it or culture it, and that’s where Mirai Trunks had the advantage. He had been fighting for many years, in many tough battles. If it weren’t for his skill as a fighter, he certainly would have been killed by the jinzouningen. Fighting when you’re sure that you can win is easy, but fighting an enemy that you know is much stronger is incredibly difficult. And it’s even more difficult to make it out of that fight alive. Mirai Trunks had already escaped literally hundreds of battles just like that. A fight with his younger counterpart would not be too challenging for him.

As if to prove his point, he easily ducked out of the way of his opponent’s first attack, phasing to reappear to the left. While the younger Trunks was still in motion with the attack, he spun around and drove an elbow between his shoulder blades. The boy crumpled beneath him easily, falling to the floor the gravity chamber with an echoing thud. Mirai Trunks waited in the air for a moment, smiling to see how easy it had been to knock him off guard and take him down. He was a bit suspicious that he had fallen so easily, but perhaps there was an injury or condition that he wasn’t aware of. The only thing he knew for sure was that he had just managed to get in a devastating hit, and his opponent was on the ground. He sailed down and stepped lightly at his side, walking over to help him up.

Before he could even reach his hand out, his younger counterpart leapt up and belted him straight in the jaw. Mirai Trunks stumbled backwards in surprise, knocking into the control column in the center of the gravity chamber. Trunks followed him instantly, kicking him hard in the stomach. The future warrior blanked out for a moment when the sick feeling and the loss of air hit him. He shook it off and shot his arm around to catch the boy in the temple. The hit barely glanced off, and the younger warrior turned, only to bring his knee up high around and slam it into Mirai Trunks’s rib cage.

Angry that he was being taken advantage of by an impudent kid --- in front of Vejiita no less, Mirai Trunks narrowed his eyes. He reached down and grabbed his shoulders, pulling the boy down onto his upcoming knee, then gripped his hands together and hammered the sensitive area just beneath the crown of his head. Instead of taking him down to the ground as he hoped though, the boy only ducked and spun around to kick him in the side. Again, Mirai Trunks slammed into the center column of the gravity chamber, causing a series of sparks to go flying and the metal to crack slightly.

“Did you honestly think you could just walk in here and steal the first slut you laid your eyes on?” The younger Trunks demanded, his fist still outstretched from the hit. His mouth was bleeding, and the trail of red drizzled all the way down his chin and onto his throat.

“It’s not like that, damn it.” Mirai Trunks informed him angrily, tired of going over the same subject again and again. He hated the way that this young kid kept trying to shove his erroneous theories in everyone’s face. He honestly didn’t think the younger Trunks had a right to say anything about the ordeal. All he knew was just the bare facts, and he had totally mistaken it for something that was dirty and wrong. And it wasn’t. He was just trying to get back the most important part of his life. “You don’t know anything about the situation, so you have no right to make assumptions like that. Besides, it’s not like you should care or anything. You don’t even treat her the way that she deserves to be treated.”

“Trust me,” Trunks informed him haughtily, while lunging at him with his fists outstretched, “She deserves to be treated a lot worse.”

Mirai Trunks blocked with one arm and brought the other around to punch the boy in the temple. His knuckles barely grazed the side of his opponent’s head as he twisted around and shot out a sharp kick, aiming at the knee. The younger Trunks replied with an angry snarl and an elbow to the face, making Mirai Trunks’s head spin for just a moment. Together, the two of them flew up into the air, striking each other hard and fast, but not managing to get any hits through. For some strange reason, they both had an almost identical fighting style, and it was hard to think of something that his younger counterpart would not be expecting. Most of Mirai Trunks’s current fighting moves were things that he had learned from Vejiita --- and this boy had obviously been training with his father for years.

“If you despise her so much,” He asked while ducking from a blow to the head, “then why the hell are you fighting me for her?”

“I’m not fighting you for her, I’m fighting you for me.” Trunks snarled back in fury. He spun around and drove a knee straight for the ribcage, gripping onto Mirai Trunks’s shoulders. His words came out choppy and dripping with anger as he fought, struggling to maintain control over both his body and this thoughts. “Because I don’t like the way that you came here and decided you were going to turn Tayhei into your souvenir. It’s not fair of you to just march in and decide to take her. What’s wrong with you? You couldn’t find any younger girls in the future world to sleep with? Not that Tayhei would mind. You sure lucked out --- she’s the biggest whore in the entire city.”

Again, the white hot fury crept back into Mirai Trunks’s soul. All he could think about was the sweet, innocent Tayhei that he had known in the future world, and how shy and naïve she had been. Even after she had known him for awhile, she had still been charmingly shy at times. It made him absolutely irate to hear something so vulgar being said about her --- something that he knew wasn’t true at all. Practically seeing red, he spun out of the younger boy’s grasp and punched him hard in the jaw. He rejoiced when he saw the boy grimace in pain, and was delighted to see that amount of blood on his chin increase, now running down from his nose.

“It’s not like that, you arrogant little shit.” Mirai Trunks seethed, and flung a hand up to wrap his fingers around the boy’s throat. “You have no right to say something like that about Tayhei. You don’t even know her.”

“I don’t know her?!” Trunks howled, struggling to get out of the grasp. “You just met her less than a week ago!”

Tayhei stepped back and looked down at her identification card quizzically, wondering why the door was being so amazingly stubborn. Normally it opened on the first shot, but it seemed as though ever since Mirai Bulma had appeared and started tinkering around in the lab, everything was experiencing technical difficulties. She wasn’t even able to get past the first step of the card swipe. Every time she ran it through the slot at the side of the door, the light would flash red and it would sound out possibly the most annoying beep of alarm that she had ever heard. After hearing it nearly five times now, she felt like smashing the key pad all together and breaking the door down with her bare hands. No doubt Mirai Bulma had done something to the door to make it more secure, now that the jinzouningen were being kept in the storage room. Just the thought of it made her mouth draw up into an angry snarl.

She was already pissed off that the woman had moved all of her equipment back into the storage room. She didn’t like people touching her stuff --- especially things that had to do with work. There was a unique order to all of her things, and many of the projects that Mirai Bulma had moved should not be disturbed. She would most likely have to start over on a lot of things, which would put her even further behind. Her green eyes glared fiercely at the storage room door. And now the future woman actually had the nerve to change the identification codes on the doors so that she didn’t have full access to the lab that was rightfully hers.

Tucking the identification card back into the pocket of her lab coat, she stomped over to the nearby computer console. Because of Mirai Bulma, she now had to go into the main system and change everything back to the way it was before --- just so she could get her things out of the storage room. She would have to spend an extra five minutes just getting the damn thing to work. And who knows what else Mirai Bulma had changed while she was messing around with things. The woman had probably screwed up the entire computer system. The whole thing was just absolutely ridiculous. And as soon as she was done giving herself clearance to open up the storage room door, she was going to go find the future woman and unleash some unbelievable amounts of fury.

Trunks was thoroughly convinced that his future counterpart had gone insane. He had always thought that the future warrior was a bit strange, even when his mother used to tell him all of those stories. But now, faced with that wild-eyed, furious stare, his suspicion had been confirmed. He had never seen anyone look so absolutely infuriated, or so wild with hatred and disgust. He had seen his father pretty angry at times, and he had actually seen his mother’s eyes glow red at one point, but the look on Mirai Trunks’s face was positively maniacal. He supposed it was more the comments about Tayhei than anything, and he had meant to piss the future warrior off with those words. He suspected that his counterpart was probably that gallant type --- a gentleman that would defend any woman’s honor. And it looked as though Mirai Trunks was just exactly the way he thought he would be.

He was just about to take advantage of his opponent’s blind fury when something strange began tingling in the back of his mind.

As he stared at Mirai Trunks’s outraged face, everything in the room seemed to spin around him, all of the colors and sounds blending into one huge cyclone of warning. He had been dizzy before, but this was different, this was frightening. It was one of those moments when he just knew that something terrible was about to happen.

There had only been a few of those moments in his life, starting with the moment he first learned of Buu, and included the instant before he felt his mother’s ki disappear on Sukuashi. Those terrible moments had always made everything move by in a blur around him, his heart beating feverishly, and sweat beading along his forehead. He could almost taste the danger in his mouth, mingling in with the metallic taste of blood. His body began to get so overheated and shaky that he had trouble breathing. It was almost as if he were running; running away from whatever impending danger was at his back, even though he was standing still. It was because of this sick feeling, because of the way his hands were shaking so much that he believed a small earthquake might have started, the epicenter resting in his chest --- it was because of this that he suddenly dropped down and backed away from his opponent.

He stared at the door of the gravity chamber for a moment, his mind still reeling from the terrible, thick sense of danger. He didn’t know what it was exactly or why it started so suddenly, but he knew that he had to get out of the gravity chamber and into the laboratory of Capsule Corporation.

Because this awful feeling didn’t have a thing to do with him --- it had to do with Tayhei.

Mirai Trunks had no idea what was wrong with his younger counterpart --- why he left or why he had gotten that terrible, sick look on his face. But he had a terrible feeling that it had something to do with Tayhei. The young Trunks had flown out of the gravity chamber in a burst of white and gold light, traveling at a speed that was impressive even by his standards. Though he hadn’t had much time to think about it before the boy had left, he had seen the look of urgency and fear written on his face. His heart hammering in his chest, he shot Vejiita a worried glance, then quickly flew out the door, chasing after Trunks.

Tayhei narrowed her green eyes down into a challenging glare and held her identification card over the slot. If this didn’t work, there was going to be hell to pay. She swiped the identification card through again, and waited expectantly. Much to her relief, the light flashed green, the sign that she could enter in the five digit code need to open the door. With her fingers lightly tapping the numbers, she quickly entered in the code that she had memorized on her very first day at Capsule Corporation. Luckily, that was one thing that Mirai Bulma hadn’t thought to mess with. She heard the locks click open, and the small light beside the door flashed green again. Still furious that she had to go through such a long process just to get into the damn door, she shoved her identification card back into her pocket.

“Finally.” She said with an angry sigh. She pushed open the door with one hand, carefully swinging her long golden ponytail over her shoulder with the other. “I was beginning to doubt my technical prowess for a moment there.”

The awful scent of the room hit her before she even entered through the doorway and she grimaced, wondering what it was. It smelled more like blood and burnt flesh than the harsh chemicals stored in there, and it was much more putrid. The room was dark, as she entered, and she turned to the side to flick on the lights. It was creepy enough with the lights on --- she didn’t want to be in there with them out. Besides, she needed them to be able to find her equipment. She had no idea where Mirai Bulma had stuffed it. Hopefully no where near the jinzouningen and those damn examination tables. If she had to go anywhere near those monsters, it was just going to complete her perfect day in the laboratory.

The fluorescent lights slowly lit up one by one in a row, lighting up the room inch by inch as she confidently walked inside, hoping to get in and out as quickly as possible.

When she saw the puddle of blood on the floor, she paused.

Her heart quickly iced over with the same numbing fear she had felt when Juuhachi-gou’s attack had been hurtling at the Capsule Car. In one single instant, she took in the blood, the empty examining table, and the feeling of someone standing directly behind her.

Before she could even tell herself to react in any other way, she spun around, turning to face what she already knew was behind her. Cold, ice blue eyes glared back at her, along with a face that was twisted into an angry disgusted snarl. Half of his face had been covered by blood and burns, in a grotesque imitation of the perfect features that he had before. The glossy black hair was singed and bloody, large pieces of it missing around his face and on his temples. The male jinzouningen’s hand whipped out immediately and grabbed her by the throat; she could feel the slipperiness of his blood sliding along her skin. He picked her up off of the ground with an effortless move, and then flung her aside as if she were a piece of tissue paper.

Tayhei crashed hard into the wall of shelves on the opposite side of the room, snapping through the wood and causing a rain of beakers and test tube cases. She barely even had time to notice the pain in her back and in her neck before the broken glass came shooting down at her, slicing a thousand cuts into her skin as she ducked and covered her head. She fell to the ground brutally, skidding through the shards of glass and rolling herself into a ball on the ground. The shelves came down on her then, along with another rain of glass, and she curled up as tightly as she could, covering her head and letting out a small cry of alarm.

Juunana-gou was on top of her in seconds, kicking her out of the fetal position and turning to slam a fist into her stomach. She managed to roll away again and struggled as he tried to stay on top of her, smashing his fists into her head and stomach as she wiggled out of his grasp. He finally pinned her down flat on her back and she cried out in pain when she felt a small piece of glass pierce through her skin. He continued to pummel the side of her head, his face warping into nothing but a maniacal grin and two ice blue spots of hatred in her eyes. She struggled against him still, raising up her arms to block the majority of his hits and squirming underneath him.

It was too hard for her to think or to reason, but somehow she managed her to get a grasp on her thoughts, placing herself outside of her body and away from the pain. The shock was worn off now and she needed to fight. If she didn’t do something, he was going to kill her.

Thinking quickly, she reached one hand out to the side and felt around on the cold floor of the storage room until her fingers touched the sharp edge of glass. Ignoring the pain in her palm and fingers, she grasped onto the shard tightly and reared her arm back. As quickly as she could, she forced the piece of glass at Juunana-gou’s face, stabbing in straight in the eye.

The jinzouningen howled in pain and anger, and brought both hands up to his eye. A small shower of blood fell on her face and she kicked the android off of her, scrambling away and falling against the broken shelves on the wall. Without even stopping, she took off for the door as fast as she could run, skidding on the slippery surface of blood and broken glass. She knew that she didn’t have time --- stabbing him in the eye would only give her an instant to make it to freedom, and if she didn’t get to that door fast enough, then it was over.

She felt Juunana-gou rise up behind her, but didn’t look back, not even when she felt the rush of air at her back --- knowing that he was about to tackle her to the ground. The hard shove from behind was enough to knock the wind out of her, and they both fell to the floor with a crash, sliding through the puddle of blood and slamming into the wall next to the door. She turned just in time to see him raise a long, jagged shard of glass, an ocean of blood running down from the eye that she had just stabbed. She opened her mouth with a look of terror and her heart momentarily stopped beating in her chest.

Then all of the sudden Juunana-gou was flying through the air, and she was watching him sail to the far side of the storage room, his one good eye wide with shock.