As blood drips from his head and mouth, Trunks uses everything he has to stand back up from being knocked to the ground for the fifth time in this fight, legs shaking the entire time he's on his feet. Before he can even try to focus, Mira charges in with great speed, causing Trunks eyes to widen.
"Crap! He's gotten faster!" Trunks thinks to himself.
He quickly raises his arms up to block, as Mira throws a lariat that lands head on. Trunks tries to hold his stance but is flung back by the power of Mira, being thrown through a building and into the side of a car.
While Trunks slowly tries to stand up to his feet, Mira slowly walks towards him with a cold expression on his face.
"It's pointless to keep fighting. You're already dead." Mira says.
Trunks grits his teeth, fully stands to his feet and charges up his energy.
"Not yet, I'm not!" Trunks yells.
He then raises his hands towards the artificial Demon.
"BURNING ATTACK!" Trunks yells.
The young Saiyan fires a massive Ki blast that seems to hit Mira head on. Few minutes later, when the smoke clears, Trunks sees that Mira is gone. Before he can even react, Mira appears behind him, using his great speed. He quickly wraps his arm around Trunks' body, suplexing and slamming the back of his head and neck into the already destroyed car behind them.
While Trunks is laid out on the car, he sees Mira ready slam his fist into him. Trunks quickly moves out of the way as Mira destroys what's left of the car. Trunks tries to gain distance from his opponent, but he can't get away from Mira. The artificial Demon lands multiple heavy punches, hitting Trunks in the face and body multiple times.
Trunks can't even raise his arms to defend himself anymore, each strike taking its toll on his body. Mira then grabs him by the face and throws him up, through another building, into the sky. Trunks opens his eyes slightly and sees Mira still coming at him with great speed. Trunks grits his teeth and throws a massive punch, using what little strength he has left, hitting Mira in the face. The punch doesn't even cause Mira to blink, shocking Trunks. Before he can follow up with another attack, Mira Kicks him back to the ground, into a light post nearby.
Trunks can't move, let alone stand up anymore, dropping down to his base form. The young man's vision is blurred by the blood dripping into his eyes and all the blows he's taken to the head, but he sees a towering Mira coming towards him.
Trunks tries to force himself to his feet before he makes it to him, but can't muster up the strength to. Mira then starts stomping Trunks in the head, over and over again, causing more blood to be spilled. Even when blood splatters on his face, his expression remains cold. He finally stops, as Trunks is unconscious on the ground.
Mira sees that the fight is over, and slowly walks away, leaving Trunks on the ground.
"What a waste of my time." Mira says.
While Mira is walking away, Trunks only thinks one thing.
"I'm... so weak."
His mind then drifts off to a conversation with his bestfriend, where he said the samething to him. Goten looks at Trunks with confusion.
"What are you talking about? You're one of the strongest guys I know." Goten says.
Trunks sighs.
"That's the thing, I used to be the strongest guy you knew. I used to be the best. Now, it seems like everyone has blown past me."
Goten looks at his friend for a moment.
"Trunks... why do you want to be strong?" Goten asks.
Trunks eyes widen out of being surprised by the sudden question.
"Well... I... actually, I don't really know. All I really know is that I want to be the strongest." Trunks says.
Goten nods.
"I used to not know why I wanted to train. For so long, it was just something in me that loved it, loved fighting. But then I trained with Master Krillin, I met my dad, and I fought for others. I learned that I'm like my father and my brother. I want to see how high I can go, how strong I can get, and I want to gain enough strength to protect the innocent." Goten says.
Trunks takes a minute to digest his friends words.
"What I'm saying is, if you want to get stronger- you need to find a reason for gaining strength." Goten says.
Back to present day, Trunks is still barely conscious on the ground.
"Why do I want to be strong?"
He searches his mind, searches for his reason for training, for chasing after Vegeta and Goten. Then it hits him.
"I- I don't want to be left behind. I've been trying to gain strength for others, then I got complacent. No more- No more!" Trunks thinks, as he clenches his fist.
While Mira continues to walk away, he stops when Trunks rises to his feet. He turns to the young Saiyan with the same cold expression he's had since the start of the fight.
"Foolish child. You've should've stayed down." Mira says.
"I've been an idiot. I've been focused on other people, trying to prove myself to dad, trying to be better than Goten. I should've been getting stronger because I want to... from now on- I'll gain strength for myself!"
Trunks then powers up, causing Mira to react slightly, powering up to Super Saiyan two. In a blink of an eye, Trunks charges in at his opponent, driving his knee into his face, causing him damage for the first time. Mira is shocked by this, changing his expression on his face.
"What!? How is this possible!? He was half dead a second ago! What's with this sudden improvement!?" Mira asks.
Mira tries to answer back with a punch, but Trunks blocks and lands a punch of his own to Mira's face. Mira gets angry and lands a kick to Trunks' side, but the young Saiyan takes it and lands a headbutt. While Mira is stunned, Trunks lands a gut punch, causing him to spit up blood.
Anger flares inside Mira as lands a strong right to Trunks' face. Trunks continues to push forward and lands a punch of his own to Mira's face. The two glare at each other and start landing devastating punches on one another.
"Just give it up already!" Mira says, throwing one last punch
Trunks dodges the punch then kicks Mira in the side of the neck. While Mira is knocked off balance, Trunks charges up a massive Ki blast, ready to fire it up close.
"GALICK GUN! FIRE!" Trunks yells, firing the purple blast that hits Mira head on. Mira gets destroyed, leaving nothing but spare parts.
After his victory, Trunks smirks, while dropping out of his base form and falling out of the sky.
Before Trunks hits the ground, Bulla flies in and catches her brother.
"Trunks! Are you alright? Speak to me." Bulla says, tears in her eyes.
Gohan makes it there shortly after.
"Trunks, sorry I wasn't here sooner." Gohan says.
But Trunks smiles
"Don't sweat it. I had it- covered." Trunks says, causing Gohan and Bulla to smile out of relief.