SailorStar9: This is Chapter 24 and the final of the Cell Games Saga, complete with a epilogue to wrap this fic up. Read and review.

Disclaimers: Only the plot is mine.

Chapter Summary: Trunks returns to the destroyed future to confront the two menacing Androids. Once there he learns they are still destroying the unprotected towns and cities. Knowing he can defeat the ruthless pair after travelling through time and raising his power level significantly, Trunks sets off and arrives without a moment to spare. He quickly distracts Android 17. The Androids appear confident, but Trunks quickly puts them in their place, and gains vengeance for his master Gohan by giving Android 18 a taste of her own medicine. Android 17 begins to realize his fate will soon reach the same outcome, and he too is destroyed. Trunks knows that despite the Androids' death, the threat is not over, there is another, Cell. Sure enough, Cell reveals himself and plans to take control of Trunks' time machine, but the young Super Saiyan is not about to stand by and let it happen. Trunks promises he will not let Goku down, and true to his word he annihilates every last cell of Cell.

Chapter 24: Free The Future

Back in Trunks' time...

The two Androids were still creating havoc in the cities.

"Mom, I'm home." Trunks declared, he and Ami returning to the future.

"Welcome back, Trunks, Ami." Bulma replied. "Hold on, now." she chided. "What's going on here?" she surveyed her son. "You're quite a bit taller, aren't you?

"Yes, Mom." Trunks nodded. "In Kami's Temple, there's this room called the 'Hyperbolic Time Chamber', and if you train in there, you can pass an entire year in just one day."

"I'm not entirely sure how that can be, but in any case, I'm glad you got back safely." Bulma noted. "So, how did it go? Judging by the looks on your faces, I'm guessing it went well."

"Yes." Trunks nodded.

"That must have been rough." Bulma stated, pouring out coffee. "I see, so Son ended up dying after all, huh? But Gohan avenged him, right?"

"Yes." Trunks confirmed. "I also fought alongside Dad."

"With Vegeta?" Bulma echoed.

"It turns out that Dad wasn't just some cold person." Trunks reminisced. "When I got killed by Cell, he got serious and became furious."

"Sure he did." Bulma snapped out of her shock. "Isn't that what I've told you?"

"Yes." Trunks nodded.

Eh? Bulma sipped her coffee. Vegeta did? So he did have that side to him.

"We interrupt this program for an Android report." the radio caster voiced. "No. 17 and No. 18 have appeared again. They are currently attacking at Point BBN- 49, Parsley City."

"That's fast." Ami blinked.

"Those miserable Androids." Trunks hissed. "This time, for sure."

"Trunks..." Bulma muttered.

"It's alright." Trunks assured. "This is the reason we went to see Goku in the past. This time for sure, I've got to avenge Gohan and all the others."

Ami blinked as she caught Trunks' jacket, the half-Saiyan powering up.

"It's not just the past." Trunks added. "I've got to being peace to this era, as well."

"Be careful, Trunks." Bulma cautioned. "Don't overdo it."

"Right." Trunks nodded and took off.

In the wrecked city...

"You're acting just like a brat." Android 17 snorted as Android 18 rained blasts at the demolished city. "To think you would get so upset over losing at some computer game."

"Shut up!" Android 18 snapped. "You keep quiet!"

"Who's there?" Android 17 demanded, dodging a blast a Trunks landed before the Android pair. "Trunks?"

"No. 17, No. 18!" Trunks barked. "This is the end of you. I'm going to put you away."

"What, you're still alive?" Android 17 shrugged. "You know, nobody can put off wasted effort the way you can."

"No. 17, I'm in a rotten mood." Android 18 retorted. "I can go ahead and polish him off, can't I? Because I'm sick of him."

"It will mean one less thing to amuse us, but okay." Android 17 shrugged. "Do as you like, No. 18."

"This will be more fun than some computer game." Android 18 smirked and released a blast to Trunks, the half-Saiyan dodging the attack easily.

"Watch out, No. 18!" Android 17 warned when Trunks manifested behind the female Android.

Android 18 turned to se Trunks hammering a punch across her face, sending her crashing into a building. "Damn it!" the Android stood up. "Now you've done it." and charged at the teen, who pulled the 'dodge-and-vanish' tech.

"What's wrong with you?" Android 17 taunted, Trunks having ducked Android 18's blast. "That was pretty sloppy, No. 18."

"Damn, you're going to pay for that!" Android 18 swore.

"You've progressed quite a bit, huh?" Android 17 noted. "Getting No. 18 genuinely angry at you, and all."

"In the past, where I went in my time machine, you were somewhat good people." Trunks remarked. "But here, in this time period, you continue to destroy cities for no reason and torment everyone. I cannot allow that to go on."

"What are you blathering about?" Android 17 snorted.

"Let's get him, No. 17." Android 18 retorted. With an unison nod, the two Androids charged.

Trunks easily avoided their attack, punching Android 17 across the face. Powering up, he deflected Android 18's blasts, before closing in on her, destroying the female Android in a single blow.

"This can't be!" Android 17 gaped in shock. "How could No. 18 be done in by the likes of you?"

"That was for all my friends you've killed." Trunks stated. "And this is to avenge Gohan. To hell with you!" he kicked Android 17 to the ground and ended the fight with a blast. It' over. He concluded. No, not yet. He corrected, remembering Cell. There's still one crucial person remaining.

Time passes...

With the Androids gone, peace has somewhat returned and reconstruction had started.

Ami had, too, returned to Kami's Lookout, reinstating her Holy Armour in place and reviving the otherwise dead Lookout, along with Korin's Tower.

"Mom, I'm going to go report to everyone that I've defeated No. 17 and No. 18." Trunks informed Bulma, the time machine's energy having been stored up.

"Trunks, be careful." Bulma cautioned. "Tell everyone I said hi, okay?"

"Okay, Mom." Trunks nodded. "Ami, get Mom inside the house." he instructed.

"What is it?" Bulma wondered. "A visitor?"

"It's him, then." Ami remarked. "Be careful." she kissed him the half-Saiyan on the cheek and retreated back to the house.

"I know you're there, Cell." Trunks barked, the two non-fighters having moved out of the way. "You're planning to kill me, turn back into an egg, get aboard my time machine, then go back in the past, and absorb No. 17 and No. 18, aren't you? All to achieve your 'Perfect Form'."

"What? "Cell demanded. "How could you know that?"

"That plan is going to fail." Trunks informed. "And then, it will be all over."

"My plan will fail, you say?" Cell echoed. "Hmph, because of the likes of you?"

"Cell, in your 'Perfect Form', you did indeed have astounding strength." Trunks admitted. "But as you are now, even I'm strong enough to defeat you."

"So, that's it." Cell snorted. "You've been to the past, haven't you? I see. That explains why you're is surprisingly informed. Be that as it may, I don't see how you could defeat me now. Trunks, I know all the data about you via the spy robot. With your power, you could not even defeat No. 17 or No. 18, let alone myself."

"Well then, why are No. 17 and No. 18 no longer around?" Trunks smirked.

"So, that's why." Cell realized his implication. "Then you're the reason why those two have disappeared, huh? Damn... you killed No. 17 and No. 18. What you've done was uncalled for. Thanks to you, I cannot achieve my 'Perfect Form' in this era. I'm going to have to kill you after all. I'll kill you, then use the time machine to go to the past, and absorb No. 17 and No. 18 there."

"It would be bad if we fought here in Metro West." Trunks noted. "The reconstruction has progressed quite a bit. We're going to change locations." and blew Cell away with his Ki, the half-Saiyan following the green Android closely behind.

"What a rookie." Cell snorted, the pair having taken the battle to a plain. "It appears you've gotten a little better. But you're making a laughing stock of yourself for trying to defeat me. I am the Ultimate Android created by Dr. Gero-sama. There's no way that anyone in the world can defeat me."

"We'll see about that." Trunks remarked and powered up, Cell following suit. "There's no chance I'm letting you go back into the past." he swore.

"Enough!" Cell snapped and charged, Trunks punching the Android away. "This isn't supposed to be." he cursed, the half-Saiyan having stuck him down to the ground easily. "Damn, I am the Ultimate Android. There's no way I'm losing to that child." and shot upwards.

Trunks slapped the Android back down to the ground. "Cell, not you..." he snapped. "For the sake of peace of Earth, I cannot permit your existence."

Cell growled and shot out his tail, which Trunks grabbed and tossed the Android into the sky.

"Why you..." Cell stopped his ascend. "If that's how you want it, you can be stunned by this technique. 'Kamehame...'!" he readied the attack, before seeing Trunks powering up one of his own.

"May you be completely obliterated, Cell!" Trunks hollered and shot his attack.

"Damn it all!" Cell cursed as the attack closed in. "Damn it all!"

Now, it's all over. Trunks powered down, having destroyed Cell. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Goku.

Omake

Anything To Help

Kakashi stared blankly at Zabuza's fallen form, trying to process what, exactly, had just happened.

"I'm sorry to intrude," the phony hunter-nin slyly dissembled. "But I have been tracking this man for several weeks. I appreciate your assistance in bringing him down."

"No problem," Kakashi drawled lazily. "Let me just confirm that he's dead."

As he reached toward Zabuza's neck, Haku smirked mockingly behind her purloined mask.

"Go ahead," she laughed confidently to herself. "With my 'False Death' technique, there will be no pulse to give us away."

Her expression turned brittle as glass, however, as the Copy Nin suddenly flared a Raikiri, lopping off the swordsman's head.

"That should do it," he said, giving a magnanimous eye-smile to the frozen girl.

SailorStar9: Oh please, Kakashi was in the ANBU for how many years? Surely he wouldn't make such a rookie mistake. It's understandable if Kakashi is simply too exhausted to engage another enemy; this is directed toward fics where -days later- he acts like some master CSI analyst cracking a case, dramatically announcing, "That hunter-nin was actually a fake!" It's like the 'Drop the genjutsu; we all know this is only the second floor' scene from the Chuunin Exams arc: some people miss the point entirely. This is the final chapter of this fic. Stay tuned for the epilogue.