Trunks's Wish

[October 3, Age 769, I saw a strange robot at Yunze Bite Highland. The robot moved like the wind and possessed immense strength; I suspect it was a robot produced by the Red Ribbon Army.]

[March 28, Age 776, an anomaly occurred in Penguin Village; mysterious machine wreckage fell from the sky.]

[August 15, Age 778, morning, strange energy fluctuations erupted in the Great Gobi 300 kilometers north of North City.]

[July 7, Age 777, members claiming to be from the Red Ribbon Army appeared in Pasley Town, West City.]

Bulma had filtered through a total of 13 pieces of information provided by netizens.

The current population of Earth is not large to begin with.

Furthermore, before the deaths of Android 17 and Android 18, most humans lived in hiding within mountain forests, making information flow extremely restricted.

Having this many leads was already beyond expectations.

Yunze Bite Highland, Penguin Village, the North City Great Gobi, Pasley Town, Papaya Island, Jiang City, the Cloud Sea Desert...

Son Gohan and Bulma carefully deliberated and finally selected the three most suspicious locations.

They were:

Yunze Bite Highland.

The North City Great Gobi.

The Cloud Sea Desert.

On the first day, Son Gohan and Bulma headed to Yunze Bite Highland to search.

The result of a full day of searching was zero.

Yunze Bite Highland, eliminated.

When they returned to West City that evening, Trunks had already gathered the seven Dragon Balls and placed them on the table, ready to summon Shenron to make a wish at any time.

Earth's Dragon Balls are much smaller than those of Namek.

The Namekian Dragon Balls are as large as basketballs.

Meanwhile, Earth's Dragon Balls are only the size of a fist.

The seven Dragon Balls were arranged neatly in front of Trunks.

Trunks rested his chin in his hands, wondering what wish he should make.

Seeing Son Gohan and Bulma return, Trunks stood up in a flash, his face full of excitement, looking as if he were waiting for praise: "Brother Gohan, Mom, I've already gathered all the Dragon Balls. When are we going to summon Shenron to make our wish? I can't wait."

Son Gohan said: "No rush, let's wait a few more days. Let's finish checking the leads we've filtered out first."

"Oh, alright then~" Hearing this, Trunks lowered his head, his mood dampened.

Seeing this, Bulma asked curiously: "Trunks, is there a wish you want to make?"

"Mm, yes," Trunks replied.

"You aren't allowed to waste the wish, you know. Tell me, what kind of wish do you want to make?" Bulma pressed.

"This... won't it stop being effective if I say it out loud?" Trunks asked with some concern.

Bulma chuckled: "It won't. This isn't a birthday wish; it's a wish to Shenron. Even if you say it in advance and let others know, it doesn't matter."

"Alright then. I want to wish to Shenron that the three of us can live happily together forever," Trunks said.

It was a wish like that?

Bulma: "..."

Son Gohan: "..."

Both of them fell silent.

Neither of them had expected that the wish Trunks wanted to make would be something like this.

Thinking of how he had been excited all day, rushing to find the Dragon Balls.

The hearts of the two adults felt as if they had been struck by something.

The way they looked at Trunks softened significantly.

Son Gohan ruffled Trunks' hair and smiled: "Trunks, you don't need to make that wish, because we will definitely be together forever."

"Really?" the 13-year-old boy looked up.

"Of course," Son Gohan nodded firmly.

"I thought you were going to wish for world peace just now."

"I'm afraid even Shenron couldn't grant that wish, haha," Bulma said.

The next day, Bulma stayed home to calibrate the Time Machine.

Son Gohan and Trunks flew toward the Mala Great Gobi, north of North City.

The Mala Gobi is located 300 kilometers north of North City.

It covers an area of over ten million square kilometers, making it incredibly vast.

Vegetation is extremely scarce here, consisting mostly of desert and weathered rock.

While there are oases in the desert, they are few and far between.

Some shrubs grow stubbornly upon the weathered rocks, demonstrating their tenacious vitality to humanity.

Under the scorching sun, waves of heat rise from the Gobi, making it difficult for one to even breathe.

But Son Gohan and Trunks are no ordinary people.

Having endured the extreme freezing and scorching conditions of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, this heatwave is not even worth mentioning.

It is mere child's play.

The two fly high above the Great Gobi.

Son Gohan says, "Trunks, let's split up. You head that way, and I'll go this way. If you encounter anything, we'll use an increase in our ki as a signal to regroup. Understood?"

"Understood, Gohan." Trunks nods.

The two then part ways.

Both hold a circular auxiliary detector in their hands, beginning a carpet-style search.

Half a day passes in the blink of an eye.

Son Gohan is fully focused, flying mid-air while carefully observing the ground below.

After flying for a while longer, a forest of weathered stone appears ahead.

This forest of weathered stone stretches for an unknown distance, boundless and endless as far as the eye can see.

Bare-trunked trees take root upon the weathered rocks, growing with stubborn resilience.

Son Gohan frowns, gripping his sensor as he flies into the stone forest.

After venturing about ten kilometers deep.

The detector in Son Gohan's hand suddenly begins to vibrate.

"Hm?"

Son Gohan excitedly raises the detector to his eyes to check it.

A red dot on the detector's screen is flashing with a piercing light.