Mirai Sugi no Iji
"Memories of a future past"
Chapter 3
Written by Michael "supersaiyan2mvegeta" Weiss

Trunks looked out of the window. It was a beautiful day. For the first time in ages, birds actually sang. But why was Trunks feeling such foreboding? He walked through the house. Same old house. Trunks looked from room to room, looking for something out of place. Nothing. Absolutely nothing was wrong. Trunks sighed to himself and started trudging to the door. He was restless. There was only one thing in the world that could make him feel contented. Training. Trunks put on his Capsule Corp. jacket and strapped on his sword out of habit. He opened the door and was about to fly away when Bulma snuck up on him.

"Where are you off too?" She asked with a bland expression, already guessing the answer to her question.

"I'm restless. I'm going to go train. I'll be back by dinner." Said Trunks, turning his head slightly to look at his mother, before blasting off.

"Don't overdo it." Bulma said just as blandly, as she turned back towards the house.

Trunks flew off in a random direction. He didn't feel like training in the arctic. He decided to fly and train wherever he took himself.

********

22 sat in the dirt. He had been releasing memories all day and night. He could tell he only had a couple of memories left. He dove once again into the pool. He found a memory and began it.

He was in the laboratory, his former self over at a computer along with Dr. Gero. The doctor was explaining something to his memory. 22 listened intently to what he was saying.

"Well, It has been weeks of training, but something seems to be wrong. You understand the basic instructions, but you seem to be unruly with nearly everything. You seemed savage, animalistic. My only answer to why this is happening is that somehow your main processing has been damaged along with your memory circuits. That is why I now must install MAIU. MAIU is a free form program, which will repair your processing and stay in as a 'second opinion' on things. If MAIU ever goes off-line, your processing will also go off-line. That is why it is a free form program. You'll have to go off-line while I install it." Dr. Gero said and turned a dial on the control panel. Suddenly, the entire memory went dark. 22 looked around, wondering if the memory was over. He realized that he was still in the memory. He waited ten minutes while the darkness surrounded him, before the lights returned.

"I have installed the unit. To activate it, simply say 'M-A-I-U online'." Dr. Gero stepped back allowing the old 22 stand up.

"M-A-I-U, online!" yelled out 22. The 22 straightened up, and turned toward Dr. Gero. Then in a much more calm, sophisticated, and controlled voice; he said, "Shall we resume the training, doctor?"

Dr. Gero smiled, and led both of them off into the training room. Then the memory ended.

********

Trunks flew aimlessly for a couple minutes before spotting a town. It wasn't exactly the best place to train, but he decided to take a look around. He landed outside the town, and started to walk through the streets. People walked on the sidewalk, going in from one building to another, with small children following closely behind. Some kids played games in the street, stopping only when a car would enter the street. Seeing the children play lightened Trunks' heart. He felt much better being around people. He realized how lonely he had been. It reminded him of all his friends in the past. It reminded him of the evil that had these children cowering only a couple of years later. The evil he defeated. He walked through town, his mind contented, when a large car pulled up beside him. Mr. Trundle opened the door, and jogged towards Trunks.

"Trunks! Thank goodness I found you! I have to talk to you about something."

Trunks' expression changed from confused to happy. "Hiya, Mr. Trundle! What can I do for you?" He asked, putting a hand behind his forehead, and putting a broad smile on his face. Trunks noticed that the oddity from the other day was gone from the mayor's face. Trunks still thought he saw a hint of sorrow within his kindly eyes. He kept it to himself.

"Well," started Mr. Trundle, as he walked along slowly with Trunks, motioning the limo to leave. "It involves what I was talking about with your mother. As you know, the Capsule Corporation ceased its production when the androids attacked. You, better than anyone know the androids are dead, so why must the corporation still remain closed? Simple the answer is money." Trunks listened on, he knew about business, so he could follow Mr. Trundle's speech. "The city understands how great an asset the Capsule Corporation is, and is willing to fund it, at least until it's back on its feet."

"Sounds great! It's obviously the next step in restoring things around here! But, how does it involve me? Don't tell me mother is planning to turn the factory over to me, yet!" Trunks knew he wasn't ready to run the Corporation.

"Oh, no! We were just planning the announcement ceremony. Both I and your mother thought that having you there would be a good idea."

"Oh, I see." Said Trunks, breathing out a sigh of relief. "But, why all the secrecy?"

"No secrecy, it was too early for anything definite, so we didn't feel the need to tell you, yet. In fact, we had just finalized everything, when you had returned. We were going to tell you then, but you were tired, so we let you sleep. I came to tell you this morning, but Bulma said you had left. She pointed in the direction you flew off."

"Oh, so how will this go about happening?"

********

22 was intrigued. He had no idea he was capable of this. Not even the download mentioned anything of the sort. Although, he reasoned, it was put in after the tactical information. There was only one thing to do.

"M-A-I-U, online!"

His eyes flashed white, his temples burned, his very marrow boiled. He screamed in pain. The pain subsided, and he stood up. //MAIU online// a voice within his head rang out.

"Wha!?!" 22 exclaimed in surprise.

//Evaluation of program integrity... memory cells severely damaged... Secondary processing damaged... evaluation: repair top priority// the android looked around incoherently, searching for the source of the voice. Suddenly, his head was alight with pain.

"YAA!!!"

Yet again, the pain subsided. He straightened up, again. //Repairing completed... Bringing systems back online// Suddenly; a new awareness flowed over 22. He was complete again.

"Good to have you back, MAIU." Said 22. //Good to have you back, #22//

********

End of Chapter 3