Sacred World of the Kai
"Son Gohan, if I'm sensing this right, that was a… time machine he used?" Shin's gaze went oddly flat.
"Mm. That's right," Gohan said, unruffled.
"Time travel is expressly forbid " Shin stopped when he met Gohan's eyes cold enough to pin a god.
"You think your elder didn't notice? Shin, ever heard of 'doing people favors'?" Gohan's tone carried a quiet threat.
"Just… don't turn it into a cosmic incident," Shin muttered. What else could he do? He couldn't beat the kid anyway.
"Worry about yourself." With a soft whoosh, Gohan vanished.
Earth
"Gohan, how'd it go? Where'd that Saiyan run off to?" Goku asked.
"He's a traveler from another timeline. He's gone," Gohan lied without blinking.
Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa all gave him the same suspicious look.
Unable to stand the stares, Gohan blinked out again straight to Mr. Satan's place to check on Videl.
"Gohan, you're here!"
The neighbor's girl had grown up…
Future Trunks' Timeline
"Mom, I'm back!" The instant he returned, Trunks headed for Bulma.
"Trunks, you're back! Well? Did you see your father, and Uncle Goku?" Bulma asked, anxious.
"I did, but "
He laid everything out for her, start to finish.
Bulma fell silent. "So that's how it is. Vegeta… am I really never going to see you again?" She lifted her eyes to the sky, longing etched across her face.
"Mom, I have a way." Trunks' eyes lit. "You told me Namek has Dragon Balls. Once I finish the Androids, I'll take a ship to Namek and wish Dad and Uncle Goku back."
"I know but can you really handle the Androids?" Worry creased Bulma's brow.
"Trust me. Master Gohan boosted my power severalfold. I can end them." Just saying Androids made old and new hatreds boil over. His killing intent surged.
The world answered.
A violent boom rolled across the ruined city.
"Hahaha found you at last, Trunks!"
The instant his killing aura spiked, Androids 17 and 18 locked on and came in fast perfect murder machines in this timeline, Dr. Gero's flawless work: cruel, emotionless, lacking any built-in limits.
Bulma and the remnants of humanity huddled three levels underground. The first exchange up top rattled the shelter like an empty can.
"Stay put, Mom. I'll be right back!" Trunks rocketed skyward.
"You two monsters come with me if you've got guts!" He lured them out over the wasteland, away from civilians.
"Hey, 17. I'm playing first," 18 sang out, and streaked ahead.
"Fine. Seniority wins." 17's voice stayed pleasant; his eyes glittered with knives.
They chased Trunks for three thousand kilometers before
"Enough. Stop running, Trunks," 18 said and flicked a ki blast at his back.
Trunks spun, met it with a straight right. The ball detonated in a white flower of flame.
He didn't speak. He just stared at 18, eyes like ice.
"Kid, that look pisses me off," 18 said, voice dripping death.
"Pissed off? Then die." Trunks' aura detonated Super Saiyan 2 as the Brave Sword flashed from its sheath.
Steel sang.
In the ringing silence after, 18's pupils blew wide. Her torso slid from her waist.
Drip drip drip…
"Im…possible…"
" No!" 17 howled, streaking in.
Trunks didn't even glance his way. He leveled his left palm at the bisected body and fired.
BOOM. Android 18 became dust on the wind.
(…There goes the ice queen. What a waste.)
Ahem.
"Trunks you killed her? I'll tear you apart!" Rage vaporized 17's reason. He barreled in blindly.
"I killed her, and I'll kill you." Trunks' voice was arctic.
He met 17's charge head-on blade whistling for the neck.
"Not a chance!" 17's instincts saved him; he twisted, the strike missing by a hair.
"Die!"
He backflipped away and hosed the sky with ki blasts. Infinite energy meant infinite spam each shot at full output, no fear of emptying the tank.
"Tough customer. Infinite energy, huh? Then I'll crush you outright." Trunks carved a few shots apart, realized it was a losing trade, snapped the sword back into its sheath and poured it on.
His aura swelled, a golden storm that shoved 17's barrage aside.
Explosion after explosion stitched the sky.
Trunks blinked. He was behind 17.
CRACK SCRAAAPE.
His fist punched through synthetic spine and emerged from the front in a red-slick spike.
"Wh when did… you get behind me?" 17 rasped, coughing blood.
"Go pay back everyone you butchered." Trunks stayed stone-cold. No grandstanding, no wasted motion.
He flicked his arm, flinging 17 high, then brought both hands up, gold flooding his frame.
"Sky-Piercer!"
A pillar of light stabbed upward and swallowed 17 whole.
KA-BOOOOOOM!
Cloud ripped away. The sky turned a clear, innocent blue.
What drifted down of 17 was less than ash.
"Damn it…" Five hundred kilometers away, on a tiny island, an ugly, locust-like creature seethed. Its chance to evolve had been cut off.
"Master Gohan, Dad, Uncle Goku, Krillin… I did it. I avenged you." Trunks hovered in the quiet for a long time.
Underground shelter
"Trunks, are you all right?" Bulma rushed up as he returned, relief loosening her shoulders.
"I'm fine, Mom. The Androids are dead," he reported, plain and simple.
"That's wonderful wonderful!" She spun and ran to spread the word, joy tripping her tongue. For the first time in years, hope spilled into the bunker.
"Finally… it's over," Trunks exhaled.
He didn't know couldn't know that above their heads, in the open air:
"You've ruined my evolution, brat. Die for it. Ka-me-ha-me-ha!"
An obscene, insectile thing Cell, still in his imperfect shell cupped its hands and unleashed Master Roshi's signature technique straight at the bunker doors.
"Who ? No!" Trunks felt the surge too late. "Mom!"
He slammed the doors wide and shot for the sky
Too slow.
A mushroom cloud punched into the heavens.
The last survivors. Bulma. Yajirobe. Mai.
All of them, in an instant, became foam on the tide.
When a rope frays, it snaps at the thinnest strand; misfortune always hunts the already damned.
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