Trunks's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Trunks found Mai waiting outside the tower the next morning. She leaned against the wall, hands in her coat pockets, watching him with those sharp blue eyes. He had not told her about Cell. He did not want to. But she already knew something was wrong. "You've been gone every night," Mai said. "Fighting Kazan. Bleeding. Come back worse each time." She stepped close. "Tell me the truth." So he did. He told her about Cell, about the gold power he could not hold, about the key he had finally understood. The power came when he protected someone he loved. Mai listened without flinching. Then she said the thing he feared most. "Then I'll help you train," she said. "Put me where you need me." Kazan met them at the sealed chamber. He slapped the door, and it hissed open. Inside, a year could pass in a day. "You want control," Kazan said. "Not just one lucky burst. We drill it here. Over and over." They went in. Kazan played the threat. He grabbed Mai, twisted her arm, made her cry out. Trunks felt the heat climb his spine. His hair flickered gold. But Kazan always stopped before real harm, and the lie broke. The gold drained. Just like with the throat under the boot. "It isn't real," Kazan said, breathing hard. "Your body knows I'd never finish it. You need the real thing." Mai wiped her arm and stood straight. "Then we stop pretending," she said. "We go to the arena. We make Cell come to us." Trunks shook his head. "That's suicide." "It's the only teacher left," Kazan said. He looked at Trunks hard. "You can't fake loss. So we give him a real target and dare him to take it." They left the chamber and traveled to the Cell Games Arena. The ring stood empty under a gray sky. Trunks's hands shook. He hated this plan. He hated needing it. Cell appeared at the ring's edge, calm, smiling. "The boy returns," he said. "And he brought me new numbers to read." Trunks stepped in front of Mai. "You want my power. Fight me." "I want the power behind the trigger," Cell said. In one blink he crossed the ring. His hand drove past Trunks and struck Mai in the chest. She flew back and hit the stone. She did not move. Something in Trunks snapped. The heat did not climb this time. It exploded. Gold light tore up his spine and burst from his skin. His hair stood and blazed. The ground cracked under his boots. This was real. No trick. No stopping. Kazan charged Cell to buy a second. Cell backhanded him across the arena. Kazan crashed into the far wall and dropped, limp and still. Trunks stood golden and shaking over Mai. He had found the trigger. He had it now, burning and locked in, with two people broken on the stone behind him. "Good," Cell said. "Now we begin."