Disc: I do not own DBZ. If I did, Gohan would not be the comic relief in the Buu Saga(and that's putting it nicely.) Why couldn't they have kept him as cool as he was in the Cell Saga??
Gohan and I fly over the dark landscape of decaying ruins that were once a city. Grey clouds billow in the sky with lightning flashing within. I finally decide to ask him a question that I have been thinking since we took off. "Gohan-san, will you train me?" He pauses.
"I don't know... I'll have to ask your mother."
"She'll say no."
"Then I guess I won't be able to train you. I can't say I blame her. The androids are a lot stronger than you."
"I don't care. I'll still fight them whether you train me or not and no matter how strong I am." I watch the buildings pass below me. Then, one particular building catches my eye. I remember that building. I stop as the memories come forth of that day...
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(Trunks is about chibi Trunks' age in the flashback)
I touch down in front of the ruins of a skyscraper, carrying a large bag at my side. "Supplies!" I enter.
"Konnichiwa, Trunks. It's always a pleasure to see you."
"Konnichiwa, Mr. Nomimizu." I bow in respect at the white-haired man hobbling on his cane. "How are you today?"
"As well as an old man can be in days like these. Take advantage of your youth while you still can. You won't be young forever. Remember that."
"I will, sir."
"Konnichiwa, Trunks." A tall, blonde woman about my kaasan's age walks up. "Ah, supplies. Tell your mother of our gratitude."
"I will Miss Izumi."
"How about you help me hand them out?"
"Yes'm" I walk around helping her hand out the supplies.
"God bless you my son," says a English priest as I hand him some bandages. He has several gashes that I heard he received while helping people out of a church while the androids were attacking. Not all heroes have special powers like the Z-senshi did.
"You're welcome, Father Cummings." I turn around and look at the rest of the refugees. Some children are playing tag, a group of adults are sitting around a fire, drinking coffee and telling jokes, a group of teens about my age are playing football (A/N: Soccer. I think the Japanese call it the same thing as the Brits.) There's such a feeling here. It almost makes you forget about what's going on outside. Father Cummings follows my gaze.
"It's a feeling of hope. The feeling that someday everything will be better. The Lord will provide. Evil never lasts forever. Good will always prevail."
"Someday..." I gaze at the scene a while longer, letting the feeling fill me. Suddenly, the building is filled with silence. Two shadows are in the entrance I came through not too long ago. Slowly, it dawns on me what they are. "It's the androids." My voice is barely above a whisper.
"Well, well, well. What have we found, brother?"
"I don't know, but it seems to resemble a nest of rats."
"Let's exterminate them then." With a sudden blast of energy, a little girl is disintegrated into a spray of blood. With that, the silence is suddenly broken by screams of terror. People rush about in a panic.
"Oh, good. Moving targets." More people fall to ki blasts from the androids bringing a stench of burnt flesh.
"They really resemble a swarm of scurrying rats now." The demoness smiles as she materializes behind another screaming victim and snaps their neck, the sound echoing through the structure and through my ears, louder than the screams of terror they replaced. I gag at the sound and at the sight of their loosely hanging neck at an impossible angle.
'It's a nightmare, it can't be real... Any second I'll wake up, kaasan shaking me, telling me I'm having a nightmare... Wake me up kaasan... Please wake me up...'
"Trunks! Abuna!" I am suddenly pushed aside as a blast of fiery light comes blazing towards me in an inferno of death and destruction, breaking me out of my reverie. A splatter of crimson blood sprays me in its gory warmth. At that moment, the reality of it hits me.
"It's real." I whisper. I stare down at Father Cummings' mangled remains, the flesh still smoking from that killing blast. I begin to whimper. No, I don't want it to be real. I want to wake up. Please let me wake up, please... A part of me suddenly seems to speak to me from a deep, dark part of my soul. But you can't wake up from it. You cannot awaken from a nightmare that's reality. I curl into a ball in a corner and try to block out the screams echoing around me...
After what seems like eons later, I hear the sound of the androids' voices besides me. "Look sister, just one left."
"A boy."
"Trembling like a leaf, pitiful human."
"Probably scarred for life."
"Should I put him out of his misery?"
"No, let him suffer." I hear her kneel besides me, the broken concrete crunching softly. She whispers softly into my ear as I squeeze myself tighter, "Hello, little boy. My name is Joan, and my brother's is Jon. Remember our names, we will be the ones haunting your nightmares for the rest of your life."
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"Trunks? Are you okay, Trunks?" I don't answer him. Instead I take off towards home at top speed. "Hey! Trunks! Matte!"
As soon as I reach home, I rush upstairs to my room, ignoring kaasan's queries, shutting and locking the door. Trying to shut it all out. I felt so helpless that day… It was the first time I ever saw them. Before they had seemed so unreal… I knew they were real, but… I squeeze myself tight, trying to stop the shaking. A child's naïvetè, crushed. I was so naïve... After that day I began to train, I finally realized the danger, what was happening to everyone. I wanted to stop it. So no more children would scream at night, from nightmares that weren't really nightmares, but memories floating back to the surface of their consciousness, which makes it all the more horrible... I was still naïve, though. How could I have thought that I would've been able to beat her? How could I... Suddenly it hits me, what I was thinking as I flew out to face her. I didn't care... I didn't care if I died... I... I wanted to die... No! I shouldn't think that! I'll beat them someday if... If Gohan-san trains me... But he won't unless kaasan gives her consent, and she'll never do that... So it's all hopeless... I descend into dark despair... As if in a trance, I walk over to my desk and open the drawer. Inside lies a small knife. I got it because the handle is formed in the shape of a Chinese dragon. I pick it up and sit down, balancing it in my hands, turning it over and over, entranced by it sharpness, its deadly beauty. This is my means of escape from this reality. This is how I will wake up from this nightmare... I press the blade against my wrist, above the veins beneath. I'm going to see you now, otousan... I slide the knife over my skin, so my veins will be cut and my life-force spill out of me. But they aren't cut, my life-force isn't spilled. I yell angrily and throw the knife, embedding it into the wall. I begin throwing punches at the air, still yelling in anger. Suddenly the door bursts open, torn off its hinges. Gohan takes one glance at the knife and rushes over and restrains me, pinning my arms behind my back. I struggle against him. "I just want to die!!" I close my eyes as the memories rush through my head, maddening me with the feelings of grief and lost hope. I thrash against Gohan's constrainment, my screams growing louder.
I finally stop, exhausted. I reopen my eyes, gasping for breath. As I stare at the knife embedded in the wall, it finally hits me, what I almost did. "Oh, shit..." Gohan releases me and I sink to my knees. "Shit..." Kaasan runs over and embraces me, crying, but I just stare at the knife in the wall, repeating the same word over and over. "Shit..."