"Don't dwell on the ghosts," Future Gohan’s voice echoed in his memory. "Learn from the corpse."

In his pocket, not that he needed a physical one, was the data of a thousand failures. The "Save Data."

He smiled, a tired, ancient smile on a young face. "A backup," he said, sheathing his sword. "Finally restored."

Silence.

Each failure was a brick in a wall of despair. But the new data from Attempt 99—his last run—held a tiny, crucial anomaly. Just before he was struck down, he’d seen Android 18 slip a senzu bean to a wounded Krillin. In all previous loops, she’d ignored him.

The dimensional rift shimmered like a heat haze over West City, but to Trunks, it looked like a scar on the face of reality. He tightened his grip on his sword. This was his seventh attempt.