Tales Of The Monkey Queen: The Light's Willpower

by SSVCloud

Everything changes yet everything stays the same. What was it that made Trunks and Bulma desperate enough to break the laws of the universe and return to the past? What sort of nightmare did they experience and what hope could they have left? A retelling of "The History of Trunks" that's canon to "Tales of the Monkey Queen."

The Beginning of the End

Age 764

Son Goku let out a sigh as she powered down and dropped out of her Kamehameha stance. Having to fight cyborg Freeza and his dad was certainly not on her list of things she wanted to do when she got home. Still, it was nice that the fight didn't take that long (even if Goku was secretly disappointed by Freeza's total lack of strength or skill increase) and no one died this time. If, by some quirk of fate, Freeza somehow came back, Goku really hoped that he'd actually take some time to train.

All of that was pushed from Goku's mind, however, when she was instantly tackled from behind and felt a pair of familiar, loving arms wrap around her followed immediately by another, smaller pair of arms.

"Goku!"

"Mom!"

Her wife, Son Suno, and her son, Son Gohan, both yelled as they hugged her for all their worth. Goku laughed as she hugged them both before getting showered by kisses from her wife as she tousled Gohan's red hair. Once they finally let go, Goku moved on to her other friends who had been waiting nearby. She hugged Yamcha, Launch, and Krillin and shook Tenshinhan and Chaozu's hands while Piccolo and Chi-Chi gave her a polite nod. After spending an entire year in space, it was certainly great to be back home again. Somehow, that year seemed far longer to her than the three years they spent apart between the three Tenkaichi Budoukai in the past.

"Man, that was incredible, Goku!" Krillin said excitedly after the reunion was out of the way. "So that's what a Super Saiyan looks like, huh? You looked awesome with that golden hair!"

"My hair turned gold?" Goku asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah!" Yamcha continued. "It got spiky, too. Well, y'know, more than usual. Even after all that training with Kaiou, I couldn't even see you!"

"Speaking of speed," Tenshinhan said, "How did you get here so quickly? Your ship's not even-" Just then, there was a thunderous crash that nearly threw everyone but Goku and Vegeta off balance. Several yards away, there was a now a crater where a spherical pod emblazoned with the Ginyu Force insignia could be seen.

"Oh, there it is," Goku said. "I wondered when it'd get here."

"Yes," Tenshinhan continued drily, "As I was saying, how did you get here before your ship?"

"Easy! I just used Instant Transmission!"

"Wazzat?" Krillin asked.

"It's this really cool technique I picked up while on Yardrat- that's the planet I ended up crashing on after I escaped Namek. If I focus really hard on a person's ki, I can instantly teleport to wherever they are! Well, there's a bit more to it than that but that's the gist of it."

"Oh, man, that's so cool!"

As the others continued talking, Vegeta stood off to the side, scowling at Kakarot. Kakarot had failed to kill Freeza on Namek but now she had not only succeeded in finishing him off but had also gained even more power and acquired a new technique that allowed her to travel almost anywhere in an instant. With every passing day, he could feel the gap between Kakarot and himself widening with him on the bottom and her on top. A gap that should have never existed in the first place. He was a Saiyan Super Elite, ordained from birth to become the King of all Saiyans. It should have been his destiny to become the Legendary Super Saiyan. It should have been his right to kill Freeza, the one who had enslaved his people and killed all but six of them. He hailed from the only recorded Saiyan lineage. He had the blood of the most powerful warriors to ever live on Planet Vegeta flowing through his veins. The fact that he had been surpassed at all, let alone to this degree, by some lowborn sow was simply unforgivable.

Without the others' noticing, Vegeta skulked away and took off. The next time they saw him, he would be a Super Saiyan and he would humble Kakarot and truly show her the folly of challenging the pinnacle of the Saiyan race.

OoOoOoO

As the reunion wound down, everyone steadily started going their separate ways. With the Saiyans defeated (more or less), everyone alive again, and Freeza gone for good; the group realized that, for the first time over two years, they could finally relax. Of course, that also meant that they probably wouldn't be together like this again for another five years but that was okay. Krillin had heard that there was talk of bringing back the Tenkaichi Budoukai so he suggested that they all meet up for that when it happened.

With everyone agreeing to that and making their departure; Goku, Suno, and Gohan slowly started making their way back home; Goku enjoying the sights, sounds, and feeling of being on Earth again after so long and Suno and Gohan enjoying the presence of their beloved wife and mother.

It was good to be home.

Age 766

Goku screamed in pain as she laid in a bed in West City's finest hospital. The only thing that prevented her from thrashing and potentially ripping the IVs out were the bed straps- the fact that the straps could hold her and the needles for the IVs had been able to puncture her a skin a sign of just how weak she had become.

As far as the doctors could tell, Goku had been afflicted by some sort of heart virus the likes of which they had never seen before. It was destroying her heart at an alarming rate and nothing they tried to do so much as slowed the virus down. Even when one of her friends had brought something they called a senzu, a magical bean that they claimed could heal anything, all it did was repair the damage caused and delay the inevitable. As it was, they gave her no more than 48 hours to live with every minute past 24 hours being a blessing.

Things had started innocuously enough. Over the last two years, androids created by Dr. Gero of the Red Ribbon Army had shown up and attacked Goku's friends looking for her but she wasn't too worried about that. Yamcha, Chi-Chi, Ten, Launch, and Chaozu managed to handle them well enough so anything else Gero could throw at them shouldn't be a threat. Vegeta had also apparently stolen a spaceship and flown off somewhere but that was fine, too. He'd be back eventually and, when he did, he'd be stronger than ever. Maybe even a Super Saiyan. Goku was really looking forward to that.

Goku had be working on her "garden" (what she considered a garden almost counted as a small farm), moving at a sedate (for her) pace to both enjoy it more and kill time until Suno and Gohan got back when things started going awry. At first, she just found herself far more tired than she should have been and running out of breath. She brushed it aside but then it became a strange feeling in her chest, as if some invisible hand was squeezing her heart. That strange feeling, that tightness, grew and grew until the next thing she knew, she was on the ground screaming in agony.

At the school where Suno worked, she and Gohan could feel Goku's ki start dropping. For a moment, they were somewhat confused but quickly wrote it off as Goku trying out some new kind of training. As they felt Goku's ki drop further and further, however, Suno couldn't help but have this nagging voice in the back of her head telling her that something was terribly wrong. As soon as her lesson was finished and the class was over, she told Gohan that she was going to check on Goku real quick before calmly walking out of the building. The second she was out, however, she took off towards their house, moving as fast as she could. When she heard Goku's screams, she knew something was horribly wrong.

What happened next was a blur of motion and chaos. After failing to get Goku to respond to anything, she quickly called Bulma and she rushed Goku to the hospital. The doctors Bulma hired quickly discovered the cause of Goku's pain and just as quickly learned that they had nothing that could combat it. While they worked with Bulma, who had just arrived, on a cure to the heart virus, Suno tried every possible avenue available to her. Senzu, Roshi's chakra healing, even Kami's Namekian healing; none of it worked. With only a day left, Suno contacted the others and started a desperate hunt for their last hope: the Dragon Balls.

They wouldn't make it in time.

Just mere moments from making the wish that would cure Goku, they received word from a sobbing Bulma that Goku was dead. Devastated and unable to fully process this information, the group remained silent until one of them made an inconsequential wish and the Dragon Balls were scattered once more.

Later that day, Goku contacted them through Kaiou and made her final goodbyes. Everyone grieved for her passing but the one who grieved the most was Vegeta. While Suno still had Gohan and her students, Vegeta had lost virtually everything. His race and throne were taken by a tyrant, his rightful place as the strongest of all Saiyans was taken by a low class warrior who barely even knew what a Saiyan was, and his chance at vengeance was taken by that same warrior. All he had left was his singular desire to reclaim his place at the top, as the strongest, as the best. That goal was the one thing that kept him going as he spent two years enduring the harshest training he could think of light years from all civilization. It was the singular thing that pushed him and drove him; that kept him awake at night and fueled his existence during the day. To say he was obsessed with the idea of surpassing Kakarot would be understating it to a severe degree.

Eventually, however, it paid off. He had done it. Vegeta had become the legend and had ascended to the level of a Super Saiyan, the strongest warrior in the universe. All that was left for him to do was to return to Earth and have his final confrontation with Kakarot. To show her, finally show her, the folly of challenging a super elite like himself. To grind her into the ground and make her beg for the sweet release of death and deny her the privilege of being the first to die to a true Super Saiyan. To be honest, he knew not what he would do after that but he didn't care. This was the only thing he had left.

Oh, to be Vegeta when he returned to Earth. Everything he had been building towards ever since their first fight, everything he had sacrificed on Namek, everything he had bled for the past two years all came down to this one moment.

And the target of his obsession had been dead for days with no chance of revival. The greatest warrior he had ever known other than himself had been put down by a mere virus.

When Vegeta heard the news, he immediately flew off for parts unknown. No one saw him, no one heard of him, no one even so much as sensed him for an entire week. When he finally did show up again at Capsule Corp, he was a changed man. Gone was his blustering about pride and the glory of the Saiyans, gone was the aura of power and dignity that he always carried himself with, gone was even the anger that fueled his existence. He was now a shell of a man, a man who had lost everything he considered important. He held no love for that half-breed abomination he sired when he bedded that woman on a whim nor for said woman who had birthed the child. His brother, Tarble, was no real brother, just a meek and cowardly man who happened share his blood, and Tullece would have been exiled at best for her actions- or lack thereof- after the destruction of Planet Vegeta.

As far as Vegeta was concerned, he was the last Saiyan in existence and, for the first time in his life, he knew what it felt like to truly be alone.

Shortly after Vegeta returned, the others came up with the idea to bring back Goku and cure her using Namek's Dragon Balls. However, while they knew where New Namek was, the only viable spaceship was the one Vegeta had used and it was in desperate need of repairs. It would take a week or so for the repairs to finish and then a few months to synthesize enough fuel but then they could be on New Namek in a matter of days. With that news, everyone's spirits returned as they looked forward to reuniting with Goku.

They would reunite with her shortly but not in the manner they had hoped.

The Fall of Heroes

Age 767

It's fascinating how the end of the world can come about. To the people of Earth, the end of the world seemed like a thing of fantasy; a far off possibility that no one really had to worry about. If it did happen, everyone thought that it would either be a sudden thing or an event that scientists would be able to predict long before it actually happened. No one, however, could predict that it would come about slowly, methodically, and meticulously. By the time people realized that the end of the world was upon them, it was too late to do anything about it.

Things started innocently enough. The arrival of Androids 19 and 20 marked the first serious blow against mankind. The androids' attack on Amenbo Island killed thousands before Yamcha and Krillin arrived to fight them. Together, they managed to fend them off until Piccolo and the others arrived. They were successful in destroying Android 19 but Android 20 managed to escape to his lab where he awoke Cyborgs 17 and 18, Lapis and Lazuli, who then destroyed Android 20 before awakening Android 16, Adrian.

Piccolo and the others had managed to track down Android 20 and locate his lab just as Adrian was awoken. After avoiding a confrontation with Lapis and Lazuli, the heroes managed to return to their everyday lives with two more friends in tow; Adrian having disappeared to parts unknown. With another crisis averted, everyone gathered together for a group picnic and photo as they eagerly awaited the trip to New Namek. Just one more month and the refueling would be complete.

However, things would not go as planned and the crisis was just beginning. Two weeks after the attack on Amenbo Island, the entire population of Gingertown vanished overnight. Investigations were launched but no evidence as to the cause could be found. Everyone had just vanished, leaving only their clothes behind. On his Lookout overseeing everything, Kami scowled as he tried to fight back the nameless dread that lurked in the back of his heart.

Over the next two weeks, more and more people disappeared as the entire population of several villages and even small towns were attacked. Even as Krillin, Bulma, and the others started investing time into investigating the disappearances, their intervention would not be enough. A mere two days before their planned trip to New Namek, Yamcha received an emergency call from Parsley City. He left immediately and arrived to find a monster unlike any he had ever seen before that revealed itself to be the cause of the mass disappearances. Yamcha fought the monster valiantly, desperately trying to hold out until his friends could arrive, but it was no use. By the time the others arrived, Yamcha had disappeared just like everyone else, leaving only his clothes behind, and no one knew why.

With the world now in a state of panic and Chi-Chi grieving over the loss of her husband, the heroes finally went on the initiative. They had no lead as to what the creature looked like or what its motives were but they knew one thing: When it powered up to fight Yamcha, its ki felt like that of Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Freeza, and King Cold. With nothing else to go on, they fanned out to all corners of the globe, pushing their ki sensing as far as they could to try and catch any sign of the monster.

That plan turned out to be their undoing.

Ten was the first one to sense the mass disappearance of people. He powered up and flew towards the location at top speed, hoping to at least delay the monster and save a few lives even if he couldn't actually stop it. The ensuing fight rocked the town they were in and Tenshinhan managed to hold out long enough for Launch to arrive but it wasn't enough. By the time Piccolo arrived on the scene, Launch and Tenshinhan were gone like all the others.

In the span of a little over a month, one-eighth of the world's population had disappeared. Martial law was declared and the heroes redoubled their efforts, making sure to always be in pairs to prevent another incident like with Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Launch.

Under the guidance of Bulma, King Giran ordered a general evacuation of all major cities and spread out the population as much as possible without compromising the world's champions' ability to protect them. The plan was successful in that the death rate decreased drastically but it had the unintended side effect of making it much harder to notice disappearances. Despite this, it was decided it was best for things to remain as they were as the Royal Army was assigned to work with the world's champions to increase the likelihood of success.

A month passed before disaster struck once more. By pure happenstance, Suno had been away from Krillin when he received a call from the Royal Army about an attack in his region. Krillin quickly put out a call to the others but he couldn't afford to wait. Every second he waited was another life lost and another second for the attacker to get away. Knowing he would probably vanish like the others, Krillin set out with all haste.

By the time the others arrived, Krillin was gone along with everyone else in the area. However, Krillin's sacrifice wasn't entirely in vain. Upon an inspection of the area, the heroes found two words that Krillin had inscribed before his apparent death: "Cell" and "Gero". While this wasn't much to go on, they now knew more about their enemy than before and that was better than nothing. They surmised that, whatever it was they were fighting, it was another of Dr. Gero's creations. As for the other part of the message, they could only begin to guess what it meant.

King Giran was getting desperate. After another three months, another 3% of the world's population had vanished. Unrest was rampant throughout the land and it was clear that it wouldn't take much to push the terrified people over the edge. In order to try and combat this, the plan was changed. The citizens were brought together into five cities. One hero would look after one city and the cities were close enough to where at least one of the other heroes could get there within twenty minutes at most. The remnants of the Royal Army formed barricades around the cities and were given explicit instructions that no one aside from the heroes was allowed in or out without his written orders.

For a time, this worked. For the rest of the year, there were no attacks made on the cities as their attacker seemed to vanish. A sense of normalcy returned to the people but the heroes and King Giran grew more on edge with each passing day. What was the end of a nightmare to some was simply the calm before the storm to others.

Age 768

A year had passed since the death of Krillin. A year of peace and relative prosperity. A year of renewed hope and invigorated spirits. The world would not forget the tragedy of the prior year but it would move on. The dead would be mourned and the buildings would be rebuilt and life would go on.

After all, it would only be that way for a scant few more days. Why waste such a valuable opportunity?

Terror returned to the people slowly. A missing person here and there. A strange sighting at this place. An odd presence at another place. The heroes poured all of their focus into try to sense the location of the creature but they felt nothing. Bulma used all of her resources to try and locate it through scanners and radars attuned specifically to the same technology as was in Lapis and Lazuli but she found nothing. This creature was a ghost, slipping by them and the Royal Army as often as it pleased. As word got out of the nightmare's return, people found themselves slowly swept up in a swirling, sundering state of chaos.

Eventually, after many days, a breaking point was reached. A riot formed in the streets of one of the cities and the Royal Army was brought in to combat it. Things escalated to the point where even Piccolo, that city's guardian, had to intervene. While this was going on and attentions were shifted, the nightmare struck in full force. The city was attacked and, by the time Piccolo noticed, over a third of its population was gone. While examining the attacked area, it was discovered that another friend was lost. Chi-Chi's abode had been in the epicenter of the affected area and the signs indicated that she hadn't gone down without a fight. Just as Piccolo was about to leave, he heard a sound. It was very faint but clear as crystal to the Namekian- the cry of children. Reaching out with his senses and following the sounds, Piccolo came across Ocha and Shouronpo, the children of Chi-Chi and Yamcha. Unable to care for them himself, Piccolo was left with no other option than to turn them over to the local orphanage.

The effects of the attack on that city was felt in the others. Despite the Royal Army's best efforts, news managed to spread and so the remnants of the world were engulfed in pandemonium. As the people rioted and cowered and prayed to whatever god might listen, more and more of them vanished.

King Giran was running out of options. Faith in the heroes and the Royal Army was gone. Even Giran's own faith in those who had helped saved the world time and again was running out. When faced with an angry mob outside his doors, Giran was forced to dismiss Bulma from his service and publicly sever all ties with the heroes. The people were once again rounded up and moved into three central locations to try and maintain control. With the entirety of the world's population in cities, supplies were dwindling fast. There was no one tending the fields or caring for animals. Clean water was becoming scarce as the water system was overtaxed. The economy was collapsing and any sense of infrastructure and power was collapsing with it. Even if the nightmare was ended the very next day, King Giran doubted that the world would ever return to how it was again.

While they had been publicly dismissed, the heroes continued to be vigilant and Bulma, through Capsule Corp, did everything in her power to stabilize the economy. A synthetic food was invented and water purification treatments increased in speed and efficiency. They were even looking into ways to possibly synthesize water. They managed to delay society's destruction but the only hope of a complete turnaround would be if the cause of their problems was dealt with.

Fortunately, that hope would come not a week later.

OoOoOoO

Vegeta was flying from Epicenter City to West City when something grabbed his attention. It was a ki that felt like a mixture of his own, Kakarot's, the Namekian's, Freeza's, and Cold's. It was far away from the cities and it seemed very weak; Vegeta just barely noticed it since it was at the edge of his senses. While he normally wouldn't care, the fact that he had no idea what he was sensing was enough to pi

que his curiosity and so he changed his course and flew towards it.

What Vegeta found when he got there was not something he really had words for. It was some sort of tall, bug-like creature that was varying shades of green and orange with black spots. Vegeta almost felt like apologizing to both Kakarot's spawn and his own for calling them abominations when faced with this thing.

"Ah, Vegeta. I'm glad you came," it said in a raspy voice that was already starting to annoy Vegeta.

"What in the nine Hells are you?" Vegeta asked as he crossed his arms. He really didn't care that the creature apparently let itself be discovered by him.

The creature chuckled before answering, "My name is Cell. I was created by Dr. Gero, formerly of the Red Ribbon Army, to protect the Earth from alien menaces like you."

"Cell, huh? So you're what the bald one was warning us about. Funny how you've killed more Earthlings than I ever have."

"You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. I needed to be stronger if I wanted to defeat you and the others. If I could have gotten my hands on 17 or 18, I wouldn't have had to absorb so many people but you left me with no alternatives."

"So I take it you called me out here to kill me? If you think you can do so with your pathetic power, you're more of a fool than I gave you credit for. I'm not like those pathetic whelps you've already killed. I am Saiyan Elite and I-"

Cell powered up and Vegeta barely had time for his eyes to widen before Cell appeared in front of him and drove its fist into his gut. The follow up backhand sent Vegeta flying across the plains only to be stopped when Cell slammed him into the ground. Cell then jerked him up by his hair before launching into a vicious combo. A right cross to his jaw, a left jab to his solar plexus, a snap kick to his forehead, a spinning backhand to his temple, a heel kick to his kidney. As Cell continued its barrage, Vegeta was left unable to so much as think, let alone fight back.

Cell finally ended its onslaught by whipping Vegeta's legs out from under him with a spinning kick and choke slamming him into the ground. As Vegeta struggled to get back up, Cell walked a bit away while laughing.

"A Saiyan Elite, huh? I know all about you, Prince Vegeta. You're the one I've been gunning for all this time. You don't think I would have challenged you if I didn't know I could win, do you? Honestly, you're more of a fool than I gave you credit for. It's just a shame that Goku had to die before I was ready. Maybe she would have given me an actual fight."

Vegeta slowly got to his feet as blood dripped from his mouth. "Kakarot…" he said quietly. Cell could only hear him thanks to its Namekian hearing granted by Piccolo's cells. "You really don't know what you did by dying like that. You were a Saiyan warrior, the Super Saiyan. You were supposed to die on your feet in battle, not on your back to a virus. When you died, I swore I would never fight again. Ever since our battle on Earth, I was always behind, always second best, never able to reclaim my position as the strongest Saiyan in the universe. When you died, I thought that was the end. I'd never know if I had managed to get stronger after all of my training. I'd never have that rematch I had wanted. I wouldn't even be able to find out in the afterlife since I know only Hell awaits me. But now…"

Vegeta spat out of a glob of blood and glared at Cell. He focused his senses on the part of Cell's ki that felt like Kakarot as he spoke, "Now I have a reason to fight again. Now I have a reason to show what all of my hard work has accomplished. Listen to me, Kakarot! I will surpass you no matter how long it takes! Just watch me as I prove myself to be the strongest in the universe!"

Cell chuckled, "How cute, using me to talk out your inferiority issues. If you're done speaking to the dead, it's time I-" Cell was interrupted and almost blown off of its feet as Vegeta started to power up. His hair and aura started to flicker between their usual color and gold as his eyes started to turn teal. The remaining heroes, from where they were in the cities, all stopped to look in the direction of the battle as they felt something that filled them with both great hope and despair.

With a mighty yell, Vegeta's power exploded as his hair and aura turned and stayed gold. He glared at the gobsmacked Cell with his teal eyes as, for the first time since Kakarot's death, he smirked.

"W-Wh-What are you?!" Cell shouted, panicked by the insane amount of power it was sensing from Vegeta.

"I am the last of my kind! I am the legend reborn! I am fury incarnate! I have lived my life in the shadow of others but no more! I am King Vegeta and I am a SUPER SAIYAN!"

Cell barely had time to react to that before Vegeta appeared before it and drove his fist into its gut. As it started to stagger back, Vegeta grabbed its head in his hands and drove its face into his knee before following up with a snap kick to its chin that sent it into the air. Cell regained its balance and fired off a barrage of ki blasts at Vegeta but he just plowed through them, not having to even block as they were destroyed by his battle aura, as he stalked towards Cell. Panicked, Cell turned around to try and create some distance but was stopped when it ran into Vegeta's chest. It looked up and had just enough time to catch a glimpse of Vegeta's smirking face before he sent a double axehandle blow into the crown of its head, meteoring it into the ground.

Cell quickly staggered to its feet as Vegeta calmly touched down a few feet away. "Th-This is impossible! There's no way you could be this strong!"

"I told you not to underestimate a Saiyan Elite. The fact that you think stolen power could ever surpass power that was gained naturally is truly the height of your foolishness."

"If you want to see stolen power then try this!" Cell brought its hands to the side of its head in a stance that was very familiar to Vegeta. His smirk turned into a scowl as Cell charged the attack. "Galick Gun, fire!" A large beam of purple ki shot from Cell hands towards Vegeta. Vegeta knew quite well that its attack was more than enough to destroy the planet several times over but he just held out one hand and let the beam collide harmlessly against his palm.

As Cell poured more and more power into the attack, it watched on in horror as Vegeta slowly started to walk towards it, pushing the beam back with just a single hand. It poured every last ounce of its power into it, doubling the beam in width, but Vegeta didn't even feel so much as a breeze. After what felt like an eternity to Cell, Vegeta reached out with his hand and grabbed Cell's, stopping the beam and crushing them in his grip.

"You are worse than filth," Vegeta said as he glared into Cell's terrified eyes. "That attack was created by the King of the Gods and has been handed down the Saiyan Royal Family for generations. To think that you would have the audacity to use it against the King of all Saiyans… I hope you enjoyed your life for it is now forfeit."

Cell wasn't entirely sure what happened next. The only thing it knew was that its life was now pain. Vegeta had clearly been holding back before because now he was hitting it with a speed and ferocity that was unmatched by any mortal. It knew it was going to die. If it didn't act quickly and with perfect timing, it was going to die. All of its hard work, all of its sneaking, all of its planning; it was going to have been for nothing. Cell focused the anger that came from this realization to clear its mind and wait, pouring what remained of its ki into its defense to try and survive Vegeta's onslaught. Finally, the moment came when Vegeta spiked it towards the ground. It closed its eyes and brought its hands to its face as it screamed out "Taiyoken!".

When Vegeta regained use of his senses, he looked down to see that Cell was gone. There was a tunnel dug into the earth where he had hit it but it was nowhere to be seen and he couldn't sense it, either. With a growl, Vegeta rose into the air as he thrusted his hand out, his thumb crossed over his palm. "I won't let you get away, you coward! If you won't die like a warrior then you'll follow the rest of this place into oblivion!" A large, blue ball of concentrated ki appeared in front of Vegeta's palm, growing larger and larger by the moment. When it was twice the size of a basketball, Vegeta cried out "Big Bang Attack!" and launched it. When the ball of ki struck the ground, it created an explosion far greater than even the strongest of bombs. The entire area was reduced to a crater spanning several miles in diameter in an instant. With his work done, Vegeta let himself smirk again as he dropped out of Super Saiyan and flew off.

OoOoOoO

What followed was a period of joy and celebration. Even if only the heroes had sensed the fight between Vegeta and Cell, the climax had been impossible to miss. With the government supporting the story, the people hailed Vegeta as a hero with the day of Cell's defeat being declared a national holiday. While not everyone believed what the government said right away, more and more people came to believe that the nightmare was over as time passed.

Unfortunately, the nightmare had just begun. Not even a month after Vegeta's fight with Cell, the heroes stood in front of the gathered Dragon Balls to wish back those who Cell had killed only to learn that it was beyond Shenron's power. The souls of those Cell had supposedly killed had been absorbed into Cell's being and would be trapped until Cell was killed. With confirmation of Cell's survival, the heroes steeled themselves for its inevitable return.

The years passed and the heroes poured themselves into their training as the world went on blissfully unaware. When Trunks, the son of Vegeta and Bulma, turned four, even he started training with Piccolo and Gohan, quickly taking a shine to the redheaded half-Saiyan. During this time, Vegeta found himself slowly changing his thinking. The ghosts of his past were no longer haunting him and he found that the adoration of the people was rather pleasant. He would sooner die than admit to even himself that he was going soft but a small part of him couldn't help but wish that he had actually killed Cell that day for reasons other than his own pride.

Age 773

It had been nearly five years since Vegeta's battle with Cell. The world had taken many steps towards recovery but the lingering effects of Cell's attacks could still be felt. While the population growth had finally reached an upswing and people were starting to spread out from the three cities, it would take possibly centuries before any sense of the old normality would be felt.

Lapis had been working at an animal shelter when the nightmare returned. He had been near the outskirts of Epicenter City when Cell suddenly burst from the ground. Before he would so much as blink, Cell's tail opened up and Lapis was "swallowed" whole by it. The heroes stopped what they were doing and stared in fear as they felt Cell's ki start growing with no signs of stopping. When Vegeta finally regained a hold of his senses, he quickly barked at Bulma to start evacuating West City. He had a feeling that Cell would go straight for him to get revenge for five years ago and he was going to do everything in his power to keep his city safe.

OoOoOoO

Rain was falling on West City as the emergency sirens blared. Bulma had just issued an emergency evacuation notice and the people were fleeing in terror. Even after five years, even if they didn't know why they were running, the fear of those sirens had been ingrained in each and every one of them down to their very souls and none dared to question it.

Vegeta was just starting to leave Capsule Corp after putting on his gi when he sensed Cell's ki peak. An instant later, before he even had enough time to so much as blink, Cell crashed through the wall of the building and grabbed Vegeta by the head, slamming him through the opposing wall and throwing him into the city.

Vegeta slowly got to his feet as Cell calmly walked towards him. Its appearance had changed, becoming far bulkier and vaguely human, but he didn't care about that. He could feel its power radiating off of it like the heat of the sun and he knew one thing with absolute certainty at that moment:

He was going to die.

Taking a deep breath, Vegeta soundlessly turned Super Saiyan and began to slowly walk towards Cell. When they were face to face, Vegeta scowling up at it while it smirked down at him, it spoke. "So, going to play the hero, are we, Vegeta? How noble. You know as well as I do that you're no match for me in my new form."

In place of a verbal response, Vegeta lashed out and punched Cell square in the jaw. Cell brought up a hand to massage its chin as it turned it head back to look at Vegeta, clearly unhurt by the suckerpunch. "Very well then, hero. Let's begin."

The air around them exploded, the falling rain clearing away, as Vegeta and Cell went at each other. They threw punches and kicks that were so fast, the very air threatened to catch fire. They fired ki blasts with enough power to vaporize entire cities. The ground shook and the air trembled as their attacks collided with each other but neither of them gave any ground or moved from their spot.

As they fought, Vegeta was once again made aware of the fact that he was going to die. He was giving it everything he had and yet Cell was clearly toying with him. Victory was far beyond his reach if he intended to destroy Cell but… maybe not so much if he changed his victory condition.

While Vegeta was distracted for a split second by this revelation, Cell hit him with an uppercut that sent him hurtling away, crashing through several buildings before coming to a stop near the outskirts of the city. He looked around him as he got up and saw the faces of countless people staring at him in shock and fear, the faces of those who had praised him as a hero and who had shown great pride in the fact that the mighty Vegeta lived in their city. He saw the faces of the kids who had looked up to him and wanted to be like him (even as their parents were worried about them adopting his more… unpleasant behaviors). Lastly, he saw the face of Bulma who had been directing the fleeing people. As Bulma stared at him with equal parts compassion and worry, Vegeta was sad that his son was currently with Kakarot's brat and the Namekian. It would be his last chance to see him, after all.

Looking back to where he could feel Cell waiting for him, Vegeta hardened his resolve as he powered up and took off towards Cell with a scream of rage. He smashed into Cell like a comet, shocking the smirk off of it as he sent it hurtling through the city in return with a mighty superman punch. He quickly chased after Cell and began ramming ki blasts into its chest at point blank range as they crashed through buildings and tore through streets. When Cell recovered from the shock, it instantly hit Vegeta in the chest with a snap kick that sent him rocketing into the sky before giving chase. It grabbed Vegeta by the face with its fingertips and fired off countless ki blasts as it drove Vegeta through a skyscraper and into the ground. It reared back its free hand, preparing a ki blast that would end Vegeta's life, when Vegeta forced it to let go by pulling back his legs and firing a Galick Gun from his feet that hit Cell square in the chest.

As Vegeta slowly got to his feet, his face heavily bruised and bloodied, he silently thanked Kakarot for showing him that could be done when they fought all those years ago. He spat out a gob of blood and prepared to go after Cell when explosions went of all around him and the remains of the skyscraper fell on top of him.

Cell smirked and crossed its arms as it waited patiently. It knew that a simple building wouldn't be enough to kill him but the idea just amused a previously unknown part of it that enjoyed playing with him. It didn't have to wait long until it heard Vegeta's scream of primal rage as his battle aura spiked and blew away the rubble.

"I WILL NOT BE MADE A FOOL OF!" Vegeta screamed, speaking for the first time since the fight began. "I AM THE KING OF ALL SAIYANS! THE STRONGEST WARRIOR IN THE UNIVERSE! I WILL MAKE YOU RUE THE DAY YOU WERE EVER CREATED!" Vegeta lowered his hands to the side of his face, his fingers splayed, and Cell realized what he was doing far too late. "TAIYOKEN!"

A burst of light blinded Cell and Vegeta took that chanced to rush it and drive his boot into its gut. When it opened its eyes reflexively, it saw that Vegeta still had his hands next to his face and his eyes clenched shut. "TAIYOKEN!" The second blast of light, so soon after the first one, burned Cell's retinas and rendered it blind. For once, Vegeta smirked as he hit Cell with an uppercut that sent it soaring into the air. As he gave chase, he pulled his hands back and two bright, blue spheres appeared in them. He slammed the first Big Bang Attack into Cell's gut and spun it around before launching it into the ground, away from the still escaping civilians, before immediately following it up with the second. As the combined attacks leveled half the city, Vegeta fired Big Bang Attack after Big Bang Attack, firing them as fast as he possibly could. The explosions doubled and tripled in size, stacking on top of each other as one explosion made another attack explode sooner. After several seconds of continuous fire, Vegeta stopped and let his arms drop to his side, his breathing very heavy.

As he surveyed the crater he had created, Vegeta felt a rush of movement behind him and didn't even have time to look before Cell's fist smashed into the base of his spine. Blood came flying out of his mouth as his head jerked backwards and Cell grabbed him by his hair before slamming the back of his head into its knee and following up with a punch to his face that sent him meteoring into the crater he had just created.

As Vegeta laid in the crater, coughing up blood as his body spasmed in pain, he was confronted once again with the fact that he was going to die. He was almost completely out of ki and wasn't even a Super Saiyan anymore. Even so, Vegeta gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand up. People were counting on him. They were still trying to escape. He couldn't lie down and die here. He couldn't go on to whatever afterlife awaited him knowing that he hadn't done absolutely everything in his power.

Cell touched down a few away and actually looked impressed. "My, my, Vegeta. Still alive, are we? You're made of tougher stuff than I gave you credit for. I'll tell you what: If you give up now, I promise I'll kill you painlessly. We both know you've suffered enough."

Vegeta spat out another gob of blood, ignoring the teeth that went with it. "Don't mock me," he said quietly. He could barely stand and it was taking all of his strength just to get these words out. "I am the King of all Saiyans. The leader of a proud warrior race. We don't grovel for a quick death at the hands of a stronger foe. We fight and fight and fight until we can't fight anymore and then we keep fighting anyway. To suggest that I let myself die because of a little pain… Your ignorance is insulting."

Cell chuckled and shrugged, "Very well. If that's what you really want." It began to slowly walk towards Vegeta and he, in turn, started dragging himself towards it. When they were face to face, Vegeta looked up and idly noticed that Cell's eyes were perfectly fine. He was broken and beaten and bloody and that thrice damned abomination didn't have so much as a scratch. Growling, Vegeta pulled back his arm and threw a punch. It was weak, slow, and lacked spirit but it was still a punch. As he let his arm fall to his side, he drew back his other arm and punched Cell again. Again and again, he punched Cell but Cell didn't do anything other than look down and smirk.

When Vegeta drew his arm back to punch again, Cell grunted and Vegeta was sent tumbling away as he was hit with a full-body kiai. He painfully skidded to a stop on his stomach as he groaned in pain, the rain coming down harder than before. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was the moment he could die. He could feel his consciousness slipping as his body was wracked with more pain than he had felt when Freeza had killed him all those years ago. Surely he had done enough now, right? Surely now he could rest and return to the parents and people he left behind.

Then Vegeta saw people. Not the dead from his past like what had happened on Namek but the living. He saw Bulma and Trunks and Gohan and Piccolo. He saw Suno and all of the people who had revered him as a hero. He saw the children who looked up to him and people who, at this very minute, were depending on him, praying for his safety. Praying to whatever god that would listen that their hero would save the day once again and beat back the nightmare. Vegeta's mind was boiling with pain and rage as he swore he could hear those prayers, the voices of the people crying out for his victory.

Slowly, painfully, Vegeta got his hands under him and pushed himself up. He was vaguely aware of Cell's shocked expression but he could barely see anything beyond the images of those who were waiting for him. Cell said something but he could barely hear anything over the sound of the voices supporting him. His body was screaming at him to stop but he could barely feel anything over the fire of an emotion he had no name for that burned throughout the core of his being and threatened to consume him. With a roar of defiance, Vegeta turned Super Saiyan again before running at Cell. He let his fists fly, pouring his very soul into every hit as he willed himself to go faster, to hit harder. Cell started to punch back but Vegeta didn't care. He could feel his ribs cracking and shattering, his knuckled bruising and breaking, his arms failing and fracturing; but he didn't care. He could feel blood pouring into his lungs as a rib punctured them but he didn't care. He only cared about one thing and that was-

Vegeta stopped as he felt something stab him in the stomach. He weakly looked down to see that Cell had stabbed him with its tail when he wasn't paying attention. As he felt himself slip away into nothingness, he saw one last person, heard one last voice. "Good work, Vegeta. It looks like you finally managed to beat me after all."

Vegeta smiled as he saw the image of Kakarot fade from his mind. "So this is what it was like to play the hero, eh? Not bad. Not bad at all."

The End of the Beginning

The heroes were in a blind panic. Vegeta had been the strongest among them by far and even he wasn't a match for Cell. Recalling something Vegeta had mentioned that Cell had said five years ago and the fact that there had been few disappearances, Suno had no choice but to assume that Cell had managed to absorb Lapis and that's what had caused it to become so powerful so quickly. With that in mind, she talked to Lazuli, who had been spending time with her lately, and convinced her to run away with her in order to protect everyone. She hated not being able to say goodbye to Gohan but she knew he'd be safer training with Piccolo than he'd ever be with her. With that, she left a note for Gohan when he came home and left Epicenter City with Lazuli, never to return.

As Suno and Lazuli were on the run from Cell, Piccolo and Kami came to a hard decision. While their strength wouldn't be enough to stop it, if they fused, they'd be far stronger than Vegeta was and would be that much closer to matching Cell's new form. It meant that they would no longer have any Dragon Balls but that wasn't a major concern. It's not like the Dragon Balls had been that helpful so far anyway. After they fused, the Nameless Namekian doubled down on his training of Gohan and Trunks. Gohan had managed to become a Super Saiyan but he still had a bit to go before he was even as strong as Vegeta had been. Meanwhile, Trunks had been struggling with how he felt about the death of his father but Piccolo gave him very little time to try and work through it. As much as he hated to admit it, the growth rate of the boys far exceeded his own and even exceeded that of their Saiyan parents. If he couldn't get strong enough to face Cell, he'd have no choice but to rely on them.

Five months passed since Vegeta's death and Suno and Lazuli were still on the run far away from the cities. They couldn't risk being sensed by Cell so they were forced to travel by foot or whatever vehicle they could find (Lazuli's ability to wirelessly interface with basically any electronic thanks to her enhancements had come in handy countless times). There were times when Suno regretted her decision to go with Lazuli since she was just slowing the cyborg down but Lazuli's muttered thanks for not leaving her alone coupled with the way she clung to her when they slept eased her regrets. She also sensed Gohan's power growing each day and she had to make a conscious effort to not sense it. Every time she felt Gohan's ki, she had to fight the urge to fly off as fast as she could to see her little boy again.

Everything was going pretty well for them, all things considered. It wasn't the best life by any means but they had managed to make the most of it. They had decided to take a break somewhere in the southeastern part of the continent to go skinny dipping in a lake. Suno floated on her back, her hair splayed out behind her, as she let her consciousness expand. She could feel the animals that surrounded them and the people who were living in the city tingled at the very edge of her senses. She felt, briefly, Gohan and Piccolo and Trunks, likely still training. She even felt Lazuli who was swimming not-

Suno's eyes shot open as she quickly righted herself. She could sense Lazuli. She couldn't do that before. Sure, they had done some light sparring during their travels at Lazuli's insistence and training usually made their ki go up but that didn't apply to Lazuli who had no ki to begin with, did it? Just as she started to consider what that could mean, she felt an impossibly powerful and menacing presence push down on her consciousness.

"Run!" Suno commanded Lazuli. The other woman looked confused but Suno just blasted her away with a kiai as she shot out of the water to meet Cell. She let her power flare up to its maximum and hoped maybe, just maybe, she could hold off Cell for long enough Lazuli to get away.

Of course, she knew that she'd have more luck extinguishing the sun using only the water that was dripping from her body but she was still going to try.

Half a world away, Gohan froze as he felt his mother power up. There was only one reason she would do that and he was already flying towards her at top speed before that reason even crossed his mind. He was vaguely aware of Piccolo and Trunks following him but he didn't care about that as he sensed that his mother had started fighting Cell. Gohan turned Super Saiyan and pushed himself to go as fast as possible. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that he'd never be fast enough but he pushed that voice away as he cursed the fact that he hadn't gotten his mom to teach him Instant Transmission before she died.

By the time they got to where Suno had been, she was long gone. Only Cell remained, staring up at them from the surface of the water, looking as if it was standing on it. Gohan roared in anger but, before he could charge at it, Piccolo struck the back of his neck and knocked him out. He handed Gohan's unconscious body to Trunks and told him to leave before wordlessly throwing off his cape and turban.

Trunks was halfway back to Epicenter City when he felt Piccolo's ki disappear. By the time Gohan started to stir, he felt Cell's ki grow exponentially like it had five months ago. Gohan was silent as they made their way back to the new Capsule Corp building and locked himself up in the room he had been sleeping in. Trunks tried to get him to talk but Bulma told him to give Gohan some time. He'd come out when he was ready.

Over the next few days, everything was disturbingly quiet. There we no sightings of Cell and Trunks couldn't even sense it. To make matters worse, Gohan had barely left his room, coming out only to use the bathroom. Bulma had taken to leaving food and water in front of his door and the plate and glass were always empty when Trunks checked again so at least he was eating.

After five days of this, Trunks got fed up with it and barged into Gohan's room. He had expected that he'd have to break down the door but, surprisingly, it wasn't locked. The room was… surprisingly neat and tidy. Even Gohan was surprisingly neat and tidy. Had he been taking showers while they slept? That aside, Trunks found Gohan sitting in the middle of the room in the lotus pose Piccolo had taught them, his face serene as he meditated.

At the sound of Trunks' intrusion, Gohan calmly opened his eyes to look at him. "Hey, Trunks," he said, his voice perfectly calm. "I had wondered when you or Bulma would come see what I was up to."

Trunks stared at Gohan for a moment, flabbergasted, before finding his voice, "What are you doing?"

"Meditating."

"I know what you're doing! I meant why are you doing it? Why have you been in here for so long?"

Gohan sighed and closed his eyes before answering, "When mom and Piccolo died, I was so angry that I couldn't take it. I wanted to go after Cell and make it suffer for everything it's done. But I knew that I'd just die if I tried so I had to get a hold of my anger. So I decided to meditate. I'm sorry it took me so long but it was harder than I thought it'd be. I was actually going to finish up today anyway."

Trunks blinked at Gohan as the older boy stood up and stretched. Trunks found the meditating Piccolo had made them do really boring so he couldn't imagine someone doing nothing but that for five days straight. Something about what Gohan had said also tingled something in the back of his mind but he couldn't figure out what so he chose to ignore it for now.

"So… What are you going to do now?" Trunks asked.

"We're going to keep training. We're the only ones left who have any hope of stopping Cell so we need to get stronger as fast as we can. If we can beat Cell, we can have your mom build us a ship to take us to New Namek. We can then use their Dragon Balls to wish some people back and maybe get someone to come back with us to make new Dragon Balls for us to use."

Trunks nodded somewhat dumbly. He had heard a few people mention this Namek place before but he had no idea what it was. "So are we going back to the wastelands to train?"

Gohan hummed in thought before answering, "No, I don't think so. We need someplace isolated where we won't have anything distracting us. Someplace where someone I know can easily gauge our progress and keep an eye on Cell for us."

"Is there a place like that?"

"Yeah but, once we leave, we probably won't be coming back here for a while. Are you sure want to come?"

Trunks nodded without hesitation, "Yeah! I need to kick that Cell's butt for killing dad and everyone else!"

Gohan laughed as he started walking out the room, "Alright. Go get ready, I'll go talk to Bulma. Just bring a couple spare gi and your toothbrush. I'll take care of everything else."

Although Gohan had said that, convincing Bulma to let Trunks go had been a bit of a trick. She understood that Gohan was the only one who could possibly beat Cell and that he needed Trunks to train with but letting her little boy, her only living family, go off on his own for who knows how long with a monster like Cell on the loose was a hard sell. In the end, it was the fact that he'd honestly be a lot safer with no one other than Gohan around that finally made her allow it.

With everything ready, Gohan and Trunks left Epicenter City and made for the Lookout. Aside from clothing and basic necessities, Gohan had also brought a portable, solar powered radio to help them keep up with current events and a number of manga for Trunks to read when they were relaxing. Trunks was really excited for that last one since he had already read a few and really like them.

Two days into their training, after Gohan had introduced Trunks to Korin, Cell appeared once again. Gohan had expected Cell to go after them given everything that had happened but, instead, it appeared in Purple City. It made an announcement to the world that it was Perfect Cell and that she (it was apparently a woman now) would be absorbing all of humanity and recreate the world in her Perfect image.

Needless to say, everyone panicked. People began abandoning the cities for towns, villages, and random houses all of the world, hoping against hope that Perfect Cell somehow wouldn't be able to find them. Bulma, meanwhile, got a hold of Gohan and Trunks to inform them that she'd be staying at Capsule Corp since there were a few things she needed to work on.

The years started to pass as Gohan and Trunks continued to train on the Lookout as the population of the world slowly but steadily dwindled, only rarely leaving to check in with Bulma and get more supplies. It was during one of these visits, three years after their training began, that Trunks got an idea into his head and asked him mom to make him a sword. He had noticed that the heroes in the manga Gohan had brought almost always had swords so he thought that he'd need a sword if he was going to defeat Cell.

It took two more years and Bulma moving locations a few times but she eventually managed to give her son that sword. Trunks cherished the sword and redoubled his efforts into his training with Gohan and now with it. It took him a while but he had finally become a Super Saiyan and his power, along with Gohan's, was growing at an incredible rate. He didn't say anything to Gohan but he knew that Cell's days were numbered. Just a little bit more and he'd be more than ready.

Age 782

Four years later and Trunks knew that he was ready. He could feel Cell's ki and he knew that he was stronger than her now. Gohan was even stronger than he was but, for some reason, he didn't want to fight Cell yet. Trunks didn't really know why that was but just chalked it up to Gohan being afraid or overly cautious. That monster had lived for too long, killing too many people, and it was time for a hero to save them. So, one night in September, while Gohan slept, Trunks grabbed his sword and flew off to where he could sense Cell.

Trunks found Cell in the ruins of West City, seemingly wandering aimlessly. He landed atop a ruined building and called out to it, "This is the end, Cell!"

Cell turned around to face him, somewhat annoyed, "Excuse you, it's Perfect Cell. Oh! I… don't know who you are."

"I'm Trunks, son of Bulma and Vegeta, and I'm the one who's going to destroy you!"

"Vegeta's son, huh? I didn't even know Vegeta had a son. So you're here to avenge dear old daddy, are you? How cute. Oh, and what's this? You have a sword? My, you really are the little hero."

Trunks growled. This wasn't going like he had thought it would at all. "Don't mock me!" he screamed as he began to power up. "I will defeat you here and now, Cell, and end this nightmare once and for all!" With a mighty scream, he finished powering up and turned Super Saiyan. With a very self-satisfied smirk, he drew his sword as he began the speech he had spent years preparing. "For all the people you've mercilessly killed, for all the people still alive, for my father and mother; I swear I will-" Trunks stopped as Cell suddenly appeared in front of him, an amused expression on her face. I didn't even see her move….

"A little speech. How adorable. Let's get this over with, shall we? I've got planning to get back to." Cell slammed her fist into Trunks' stomach before following up with an uppercut that sent him into the air. Before he could get too far, Cell grabbed his ankle and slammed him through the building he had been standing on and into the ground. Trunks roared in anger as the building exploded around him and he charged at Cell, swinging his sword at her with all of his might. Cell casually danced around Trunks' sword swings, moving only the bare minimum amount needed to dodge, before she caught the sword between her index and middle fingers. Trunks only had an instant to be stunned before Cell yanked the sword out of his hands and sent him flying with a kick to his stomach.

Cell looked at Trunks' sword for a moment, actually admiring the amount of craftsmanship that went into it, before casually tossing it away. As nice as it was, it was still just a child's toy and nothing she'd dirty her hands with using.

Trunks stopped himself in midair as he coughed and gasped for breath. This wasn't right. None of this was how it was supposed to go. He was fighting at full power but Cell didn't seem to be putting forth even the slightest bit of effort. Ignoring the sense of dread that was building in the back of his mind, Trunks charged back at Cell and held his hand out. Cell looked at him, clearly perplexed since he wasn't charging an attack, but a strange sound from behind made her look back in time to see Trunks' sword flying at her. She barely managed to dodge out of the way as it sailed right back into Trunks' outstretched hand and was sheathed.

"Well, that was an impressive trick," Cell admitted as Trunks held out his hands and began to move them in an overly-complicated series of motions. Cell crossed her arms and let him finish up whatever it was he was doing since he had clearly put a lot of effort into it and she wasn't going to be rude.

"Burning Attack!" Trunks called out as a ball of bright yellow ki launched from his outstretched hands. Cell reached out with one hand and effortlessly grabbed the attack out of midair, making Trunks gasp in shock as she examined it as if it was a new toy she was severely disappointed with.

"All of that fuss for this little thing? Where did you learn how to fight? A manga? You've got a lot of power but you sure don't know how to use it." Cell closed her hand and the attack exploded ineffectively. Trunks began to slowly float backwards as he suddenly found it hard to breath, hard to even think. This was impossible. This was impossible. This wasn't supposed to be happening. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this!

"I'll tell you what," Cell began. "You clearly don't understand just what you got yourself into so I'll show you my true power. A part of you would know it anyway once I absorb you but I want you to consciously realize just how terrible of an error you made first." With that, Cell smirked, her arms crossed over her chest, as her power began to rise. Trunks could do nothing but float to the ground, paralyzed in fear, as Cell's power kept rising and rising. Was this why Gohan had refused to fight Cell yet? Did he somehow know that Cell had been hiding its power? He could only think about how much of a fool he was and curse his stupidity as tears started to roll from his eyes. He was going to die and leave his mom all alone all because he had been a foolish idiot.

Cell stopped powering up, satisfied with what she was seeing from Trunks, and appeared before him in a flash. "Don't blame yourself," she said in a legitimately compassionate tone. "You had no idea what you were going up against. You were just a boy with what he thought was a noble dream that was going to save the world. I bet there are hundreds of boys out there just like you. And soon, just like you, they'll all be a part of Perfection." Cell's tail extended from her back and began to slowly make its way towards Trunks. Just before it reached him, a voice called out from behind her, making her stop.

"CELL!"

"My name is Perfect Cell, thank you very much," Cell said as she turned around. Gohan floated down to the ground a few feet away from Cell as she looked at him with curiosity. "I think I know you from somewhere. Ohhhhh! You're Son Gohan, aren't you? I was wondering when you'd show up."

"Let him go, Cell," Gohan said with a tone that a brooked no argument.

"Perfect Cell," Cell corrected, "and this little hero? Take him. He's yours." Cell's tail wrapped around Trunks' throat before he could react and he suddenly found himself flying through the air before crashing against Gohan's chest.

"Gohan, we need to get out of here!" Trunks said as Gohan put him down. "This thing is was too powerful for us!"

Gohan said nothing as he scowled at the smirking Cell. Everyone remained silent, Gohan and Cell never taking their eyes off of each other while Trunks looked nervously between the two. At length, Gohan finally spoke up. "Get out of here, Trunks. Cell's not going to let both of us leave here and it has no real interest in you."

Cell corrected Gohan about her name but they ignored her. "What?! I'm not going to leave you to fight that monster by yourself! You'll die!"

Gohan finally took his eyes off of Cell to look at Trunks with a small smile, "You're right. When you see your mom, tell her 'The time has come' for me, will you?" Before Trunks could say anything else, Gohan powered up into Super Saiyan and chopped Trunks in the back of the neck, knocking him out. He grabbed the back of Trunks' shirt before he could hit the ground and tossed him away as hard as he could, making absolutely certain he would land well outside of the city.

"How noble," Cell said mockingly. "If I recall, your mother, Son Suno, was just as noble as you. It'll end the same way for him as it did for 18, you know."

Gohan's scowl deepened, "Maybe, maybe not. Either way, he gets to live a little longer and will keep training. He will kill you, Cell."

Cell laughed at Gohan's statement as if it were the Perfect joke, "That little hero is going to kill me? Next you'll tell me that God will destroy this universe. He has less chance of defeating Perfection than an ant has defeating a flood. It's Perfect Cell, by the way."

"No one's perfect, Cell," Cell decided that was close enough and chose not to interrupt him, "And you'll see that one day. It's just a shame I won't be there to see you realize that."

"Now there's something we can agree on!" Cell said as she powered up. She and Gohan charged at each other and their fists collided in midair, the shockwave cratering the ground and blowing away the remnants of the buildings around them. Cell and Gohan started exchanging blows at a rapid pace, each one displaying absolutely perfect forms in their offence and defence, neither of them giving even the slightest bit of ground to each other. They collided in a knuckle lock and Gohan took just enough time to glare at Cell before knocking her hands away with ki blasts. He quickly followed up by kneeing her in the gut and then smashing her head between his elbow and knee before grabbing her by the face and slamming her into the ground.

"MASENKO!" A beam of ki burst from Gohan's hand and blasted Cell into the ground. He pulled his arm back to fire another one but instead spun around and caught Cell in the side of the head with a roundhouse kick that launched her through a nearby building. He followed after her but was immediately forced on the defensive as Cell came at him with a flurry of attacks that were even faster than before. It took everything Gohan had to keep his defense up but he knew he was fighting a losing a battle. He'd slip before Cell would. Knowing that, he waited patiently before he carefully, ever so subtly, started tweaking his defense and position. When the moment was perfect, Gohan redirect one of Cell's hooks rather than block and opened his mouth wide, firing off a ki blast that caught the shocked Cell right in the face. Gohan tried to follow up with a flurry of his own but was annoyed when his fist went straight through Cell's afterimage.

Gohan calmly let his mind expand and he found Cell standing a ways behind, unmoving. Gohan turned around and floated back down to the ground, curious as to why Cell wasn't attacking.

"I have to admit, you're better than I thought you'd be. You're certainly a lot more powerful than Vegeta was when I absorbed him. If I wasn't Perfect, I might actually be in trouble here."

"So you're holding back," Gohan confirmed. He knew this had been going way too well for him.

"Oh, immensely. Even though I've evolved beyond my programming, I can't help but be interested in what the last enemy of Dr. Gero was capable of. Besides," Gohan stiffened as Cell was suddenly right behind him, leaning over so she was whispering in his ear, "Fighting you guys has been surprisingly fun."

Gohan jerked away from Cell and quickly backpedaled, getting into his fighting stance again. Cell laughed. "Relax. I'm not going to absorb you yet. I haven't had nearly enough fun."

Gohan growled as he charged at Cell, deciding that he'd had enough. He attacked Cell with a flurry of punches and kicks, using every single kata and combination he knew and even coming up with a few new ones on the spot, but Cell was casually dodging everything, not putting in any more effort than was strictly required. Realizing he was getting nowhere again, he quickly broke off. "Kamehameha!" The blue beam of ki erupted from Gohan's outstretched hands but it met empty air as Cell was already behind him again. Gohan quickly canceled that attack and dodged forward in a roll, coming out of it upside down with his index and middle fingers pressed to his forehead. "Makankousappou!" The yellow beam surrounded by a purple spiral shot out from Gohan's fingertips but Cell casually batted it away. Gohan quickly righted himself and charged again, trying to think of something, anything, that'd help him turn the tide of battle.

As Gohan was busy thinking, Cell grabbed both of his arms by the wrists with one of her hands before backhanding him across the face with the other. Gohan found himself sailing through the air before Cell appeared over him, slamming her foot into the underside of his chin and using their combined momentum to dig a trench through the ruined streets with his head. When they came to a stop, Cell hopped off of Gohan's head before grabbing him by the leg and dragging him out of the ground. Gohan blinked once to regain his bearings and quickly swung his arms up to blast Cell in the legs with his ki but his attack was interrupted when Cell lightly kicked him in the face before casually tossing him away.

As Gohan got back to his feet, Cell started talking, "You know, I honestly expected more from you. You're stronger than Vegeta was but you're still so weak that it's insulting. I thought your little attacks at first were just you warming up but if this is the best you can do, I might as well end this now. You really are a disappointment, Gohan. You should consider yourself lucky that Goku died before I showed up. You wouldn't want your dear, sweet mommy to see how much of a failure you are. Oh! Wait! You have two moms! I guess you'll get to experience that anyway!"

Gohan grunted as he clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw started to hurt. He could feel his blood begin to boil as Cell's words dug at the insecurities he had been hiding for years. Every night since this nightmare began, he had stared at the ceiling or the stars wondering if his mom was proud of him, wondering if he could ever live up to her legacy. When his mother had died, those feelings of doubt only intensified, especially since he knew that his mother wouldn't be reuniting with his mom so long as that monster still lived. Somewhere in the darkest part of his soul, he knew that this entire mess was his fault. If he had just stuck to his training after his mom returned, if he had just trained as much as he could with Piccolo after she died, if he had just pushed himself to live up to his mom's legacy then he could have stopped all this before it began.

But no. He had taken it easy, doing his schoolwork, reading manga, and thinking everything would be perfect now that Freeza was gone for good. Even when Cell's presence started to be felt, he still resigned himself to sitting off to the side and letting the others handle it. They were stronger or more experienced than him, after all, and Freeza was dead so surely they didn't need him. Even as their friends started dying, he didn't start training since he knew that Piccolo or even Vegeta could handle it.

And they were dead. Everyone was dead. Bulma and himself were the only ones left who had been alive when his mom had been around and Trunks was a good kid but he didn't fully understand what he was fighting for. He didn't really remember a time before the nightmare that was Cell. He didn't remember Goku or most of the others. He didn't even really remember all that much about his own dad. He just knew that the world he was living in was the wrong one because everyone told him it was. He was an earnest kid and his heart with in the right place but he lacked the pain, the fear of loss that had motivated everyone to rise to greater heights in the past. Trunks was lucky, in a way. After all, despair wasn't knowing sorrow, despair was knowing that you couldn't return to the happiness you once had and Trunks had never really known the happiness of before.

All of these thoughts swirled in Gohan's head, fighting each other for dominance as he found himself cursing Cell, the world, and his very existence. His hatred and rage grew until it threatened to consume him and it took every ounce of his willpower to hold them back. Even with that effort, Gohan still screamed in rage as his ki spiked and his aura flared to life. In a flash, he was in front of a startled Cell and he slammed his fist into her stomach, letting all of his pain and anguish flow through his strike. Cell folded over and coughed up spittle from the impact even as the force of the blow continued behind her and obliterated the remains of the buildings for miles. Gohan then withdrew his fist and, almost as if in slow motion, brought his other fist around hit Cell with a right cross that sent her sailing clear out of the city. Gohan gave chase and the two of them clashed in midair, their colliding blows creating shockwaves that shattered the ground as the two kept flying at high speeds.

Cell had no idea where Gohan's power had come from but she didn't care. He still wasn't nearly as powerful as she was and she was determined to prove that. Her next punch was delivered at full power and she gave a satisfied smirk as her attack blew through Gohan's guard and connected squarely with his chest, sending him flying away. She gave chase and stopped Gohan with a kick to his back before grabbing him by the hair and throwing him towards the ground as hard as she could. Gohan managed to right himself in time to push off the ground the instant he landed, leaving a massive crater in his wake as he went after Cell.

Gohan wove through the air in a serpentine pattern, disappearing as he moved and appearing only as he changed direction. Cell smirked at such predictable movement and sent a punch that would surely go through his chest with Perfect timing at the spot she knew Gohan would be in. When her fist hit nothing, she only had a moment to register both this fact and Gohan's presence behind her before he sent a kick into the back of her head that shattered her horns and sent her careening over the horizon. As she righted herself, she came to the startling realization that Gohan was somehow still getting stronger and would soon been just as strong as she was.

As Gohan caught up with Cell and started unleashing a combination that was almost too fast for her to keep up with, Gohan began to talk. "I'm so sick of this! Sick of all the death and destruction! This ends here and now, Cell!" With that declaration, Gohan disappeared and Cell found herself in a hurricane of pain. Gohan was all around her at once, phasing into existence just long enough to hit her once or twice before disappearing again. As much as Cell tried to focus, she couldn't see or even sense Gohan's movement and attempting to attack blindly just led to leaving herself open for even more attacks.

Gohan finally ended his one thousand hit combo by nailing Cell square in the chest with a superman punch. Cell went flying away but Gohan was on her in an instant and grabbed her by the ankle before spinning around faster and faster. As they tore through the scenery at ultrasonic speeds, their rotation caused the wind to coalesce around them, forming a tornado greater than anything nature could possibly produce. Cell was afraid that her leg was going to be torn off but she found herself unable to do anything about it as the centrifugal forces were too much for her to fight against. Gohan released her before that happened, though, and she suddenly found herself flying through the air at blistering speeds- speeds far faster than she could have flown normally- and was stopped dead when Gohan hit her in the back with a punch that shattered her spine. She was only briefly aware of the fact that she was back in the same spot before he grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. She felt her trachea collapse and began choking before Gohan let go and began hammering her with punches so fast that she could only catch brief glimpses of a vague outline of his arms. Every punch chipped off portions of her natural armor and shattered others.

Gohan let out a cry as he pushed himself even faster and stronger, shattering Cell's internal skeleton and rupturing her organs. He could feel himself slipping into a blind rage as lightning started to crackle around him and it took everything he had to not give into it entirely. He had no idea what would happen if he gave in fully to his rage, unsure if simply killing Cell would bring him out of it, and he didn't want to find out. Instead, he pushed back his rage and focused his mind as he decided to bring this to an end. He stopped his flurry of punches and grabbed Cell by the shoulders, squeezing hard enough to break her armor, and headbutted her in the nose as hard as he could. Cell was sent staggering back, a large amount of blood trailing behind her, as Gohan brought his hands up until they were overlapping over his forehead. His hands glowed with a light brighter than the sun as the lightning that had been surrounding him came together into the palms of his hands.

"KYUUKYOKU MASENKO!" A massive beam of lightning and ki roared from Gohan's outstretched palms and tore through Cell, blasting her body into atoms before she could even so much as scream. When the light faded, Gohan let his arms drop to his sides and dropped out of Super Saiyan as he idly watched Cell's hand, the last thing that was left of her, fall to the ground. He floated down to the ground as well as he slowly began to laugh. It was a low and weak sound at first, as if he had forgotten how to laugh years ago and was only just remembering, but it quickly transformed into a loud and powerful one as Gohan felt all of his pent up emotions from over the years release in one glorious moment of catharsis. He had done it. He had done what he thought was currently impossible. He had actually killed Cell. Now all he had to do is find where he threw Trunks and they could return to Bulma and cele-

All thought for Gohan stopped as a beam of yellow ki surrounded by spiraling purple ki pierced his heart, obliterating it. He slowly looked down, his smile frozen on his face, as he saw what used to be Cell's hand had now become Cell's arm and quickly turned into all of Cell. He let out one last weak chuckle as he watched Cell's finger lift up and aim between his eyes. One last through drifted through his mind as he caught the glint of pink on her fingertip:

'I guess I really am a failure after all.'

OoOoOoO

Trunks awoke with a groan, vaguely realizing that the sun had rose at some point. He was confused, at first, as to why he wasn't in his room in the Lookout but then the memories of the previous night came flooding back and he was immediately on his feet. He reached out with his mind, desperately searching for Gohan's ki, but he felt his stomach drop as he only found Cell's, now greater than ever. Trunks sunk to his knees as the reality of the situation crashed into him.

Gohan was dead. Gohan had died and it was his fault. It was his fault. His fault.

Trunks slowly curled up until his forehead was almost touching the ground, his hands grasping at his blue hair. A torrent of unnamable feelings tore through him like a storm and he wanted to scream, cry, laugh, and destroy everything at the same time. For a moment, he even considered going to Cell and letting her end it all but he quickly threw that thought away. That would just negate Gohan's sacrifice and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

Trunks didn't know how long he remained curled up as his emotions ripped him apart but, by the time he finally started moving again, it was already past midday and his limbs had gone numb from the awkward position he had been in. With a blank face, he turned towards where his mom was currently hiding and took off towards her, keeping his power down just in case.

Age 784

Two years had passed since the death of Gohan and Trunks had changed greatly. Gone was the naive boy who thought he could actually save the world like those who had come before him and, in his place, was a cold man whose only hope was something that probably wouldn't change his current situation. After he had returned home, he told his his mom what had happened and passed on Gohan's message. Bulma made a strange face before sighing and getting to work. She had wanted to comfort her son but she knew that she didn't have any time to waste on this. If everything went as planned, she'd have all the time in the world to deal with those things later anyway.

So Bulma started working on her greatest project yet. Their absolute last hope for salvation. As she worked, she started telling Trunks more about the past than anyone had ever said before. She talked about her sister Tights, how she first met Goku, their dealings with Pilaf, the Red Ribbon Army, the various Budoukai, Piccolo Daimaou, when the Saiyans other than Goku first showed up, their trials on Namek; everything. She'd repeat some stories and occasionally ask Trunks what happened next. It was during those moments that Trunks realized that his mom was expecting him to remember all of this for some reason but he couldn't figure out why. When he finally got frustrated and asked her why all this was important, she finally revealed what she was working on.

Bulma was building a time machine. She was going to send Trunks back into the past to the day Freeza first arrived and he was going to stop Cell from ever happening. She explained a bit of the theories behind time travel but most of it went over Trunks' head. The only thing he truly understood was that, if his memories didn't start changing once he started interfering, then that meant he had just created an alternate timeline and everything he did there wouldn't change what happened here. At least he'd be able to prevent one timeline for turning into a living Hell and would have the time and opportunity to get even stronger so he could defeat Cell here.

When the day had finally come for Trunks to return to the past, he couldn't help but feel incredibly nervous. Everything about his mother's time machine was purely theoretical since they had neither the time nor the resources to truly test it. Even if it did work, they had no idea what would happen once he arrived and started changing things. Regardless of all that doubt and uncertainty, he knew that this was the last chance at salvation, their last hope.

Taking one last look at the picture of Gohan he kept in a locket, Trunks steeled himself as he entered the time machine and put the locket away. He checked all of the settings on the time machine for the millionth time and began the startup sequence. The canopy closed around him with a hiss and a gentle hum filled his ears as everything started running. Once all systems were green, Trunks began the travel sequence. The time machine slowly lifted up into the air and space-time began to warp around it. Trunks spared one last nervous glance at his mom who gave him a thumbs up. Trunks returned it with a nervous smile before the time bubble finished forming and Trunks and the time machine disappeared.

OoOoOoO

Trunks couldn't really describe what he was seeing. All around him was this strange… rift… like… thing that was somehow both every color and no color and either he was moving through it or it was moving around him. He wasn't entirely sure and looking at it was making his head hurt. Despite that, he also couldn't help but to look at it. He was the first person, at least in his timeline, to have seen what time travel actually looked like and he couldn't help being intrigued by it thanks the part of him that he attributed to his mother.

After some amount of time in this void, things started to… change somehow. It was as if everything was becoming darker and more oppressive. Warning sirens and lights started blaring and flashing all around him and, for an instant, Trunks was seized by panic before the calm words of his mother came to mind. Focusing on her voice, Trunks started checking the instrumentation to try and figure out what was going on but it turned out he didn't need to do that when a crack appeared in the canopy. Trunks went into a full blown panic as more cracks appeared in the canopy and various parts of the time machine started buckling. He had no idea what to do about this since it never once came up in any of his mother's calculations. He leaned back in his seat, breathing heavily, and clutched at the pendant as he closed his eyes and waited for the end to come.

When the end didn't come, he slowly opened an eye to see that everything had just… stopped. The void wasn't moving or changing colors, the cracks weren't spreading, the sirens had gone silent and the lights weren't flashing. It was as if time had just… stopped for everything except him. He briefly wondered if this is what happened when you died in the… timestream but those thoughts left his mind when something- someone caught his eye.

Standing in front of the time machine was the strangest looking woman Trunks had ever seen. She had light purple skin with long, pointed ears; black eyes; and pinkish-red hair. Her outfit was outlandish, consisting of a purple robes with gold trim and a red interior whose shoulders hung loosely from her arms making it uncertain what was holding it up. Her pants were a different shade of purple and were baggy until just below the knees where they became skintight and ran underneath her white, medium heeled boots. Trunks couldn't help but blush as he noticed that the outfit exposed a fair amount of cleavage, not helped by her crossed arms pushing her breasts up, and he forced himself to focus on her face. She was smiling at him very sweetly and, strangely enough, knowingly. It was almost menacing but Trunks felt strangely comforted as he felt like he knew her. There was a sense of trust in him that he wasn't sure he felt for anyone, even Gohan, and he could see both that very same trust as well as glee and expectation in her eyes.

Trunks blinked and she was gone. Everything was back to normal. There were no more cracks, no more sirens, no more lights. Everything was fine and the timestream looked perfectly normal. He started to wonder if this had all been some sort of dream and scratched at his cheek. He frowned as he felt something oily on his fingers and pulled them away to find they had some red something on them. He looked at his reflection in nearby reflective panel and saw that he had a red kiss mark on his cheek. He quickly rubbed it away and noticed something fall from his lap that hadn't been there before. He picked up what looked like a scrap of paper and opened it to find the words "See you soon" followed by a heart written on it in very pretty handwriting. Trunks found himself blushing for reasons he didn't know and shook his head. He just started wondering just what the hell had happened when a blinding light broke through the timestream and he was forced to squeeze his eyes shut.

Age 764

Trunks opened his eyes to see… a wasteland. Just like one of the ones in his time. 'Well, that's anticlimactic,' Trunks thought somewhat bitterly. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind and confirmed that it had worked. He was in the past. He could feel his mom and Piccolo and Suno and what he thought was his father and even Gohan. He let out a long sigh as he sunk into his chair and checked the chronometer. If it was right, he had about an hour before Goku showed up and that suited him just fine. As it was, it was taking a considerable effort to reign his emotions in and he wasn't sure how he'd react if he saw any of his dead friends again right now. So he leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and meditated like Piccolo had shown him all those years ago (or all those years from now, as the case may be).

Nearly forty minutes later, Trunks opened his eyes as he sensed a lot of people- his old friends- gathering at a spot near where Goku would land. He remembered his mom telling him about this so he hopped out of the time machine and capsuled it before he started to casually jog in that direction, making sure to keep his ki low so no one would notice him. When he was about halfway there, he felt two much larger, evil ki approach the others. 'Oh yeah. Mother said that Freeza showed up first before Goku appeared to fight him off,' Trunks thought. Still, he could sense who he assumed was Freeza and someone else move out of a ship surrounded by a lot of smaller ki and he could sense that Goku was still a ways away. Had he already changed the timeline just by showing up? Was this a slightly different timeline from what his mother remember? Was Goku not going to make it in time?

Regardless of all that, Trunks wasn't going to let anyone in this timeline die to any monster if he could help it. The day had finally come for him to show the world the light's willpower and he was going to make sure nobody forgot it.