Hey guys, sorry for the long wait... I appreciate the support and the kind words. I've just been so lazy lately that I haven't gotten around to polishing this chapter up. I'll make sure to get the next one up sooner than later xD I don't have a whole lot to say other than Gohan is growing up in a time of darkness, and things are going downhill for a while. Well, I'll end it here, I hope you all enjoy. I knocked out all the typos and errors I could see, but I intend to check back from time to time to make sure :)

DM777

Notice: The following events take place during the Future Trunks timeline. While the main plot is basically the same, some events have changed from the History of Trunks storyline. Also... this chapter contains some scenes of destruction and death...

Reader Discretion is Advised.

Dragon Ball Z: Timeline Zero

Chapter 2: Hope Remains

Seven years later…

Gohan, now Seventeen years old, never forgot the loss of the earth's greatest forces. His determination was all that kept him going since the fate of the world laid in his hands. Over the next seven years, the thriving planet became a wasteland of near extinction. Nobody was safe from their wrath, and the two killer androids left behind a path of pure destruction and despair. Billions died by their evil grip, and most of them fell victim to their vicious onslaught, but others suffered torture and torment from their evil intentions. The world became their playground, and everyone cried out for their savior, but anyone who tried to stop them suffered horrible fates. They couldn't be touched. However, someone deep in the mountains far away from the big cities devoted his life, time, and patience to become strong enough to stand against the two monsters.

During the times of their destruction, Bulma managed to remain in hiding, spending all the time she could to learn about Dr. Gero. After a long time of investigating and researching, what was the left of the Capsule Corporation staff traced Gero back to the days of the Red Ribbon Army. While Commander Red stood as the muscle and the leader behind the once tyrannical force, the one that Goku destroyed as a child, Gero was the mind behind the whole ordeal. Not only was the mad doctor enraged by his major loss, but the death of the co-founder and partner, Red set him off to the extreme. He spent such a long time in exile, secretly coming up with ways to take vengeance upon Goku for his actions. Creating several small insect drones, they watched him, and his friends over the many years; monitoring, observing, keeping tabs on every second of their lives. The flying devices tracked and calculated their energy levels into a super computer. Nobody had any clue that the ghost of the Red Ribbon army planned for vengeance. Five times, the insane genius had to relocate his lab due to the governments keeping close watch on him, so he settled far north into the wintry mountains, where his vision finally came to light. However, the two machines of terror betrayed him, killing him without remorse and leaving his lab buried into the mountains. Never was the secret base found, but Bulma and her team successfully captured three of the flying drones, and that was how they discovered all of the information they needed to know after a painstaking effort of hacking into their recording systems.

Despite putting his mother's dreams of becoming a great scholar aside, Gohan chose to stay with Chi Chi in the deep country lands. Nobody knew when the Androids would surface again, and he didn't want to risk leaving his mother defenseless. Thankfully, they were too caught up demolishing the more populated areas to pay them a visit, but he didn't want to take any chances. Since Goku wasn't there for them to hunt down, they felt that there was no need to search his family anyways. Meanwhile, it was a warm evening, and the young adult half saiyan stood in his dim lit room, with the beam of the late sun from the west illuminating the wooden floors, and upon the lone fighter who proudly wore the orange gi. Carrying on his father's legacy, he showed respect by wearing Goku's colors, to never forget what he stood for. Once he was ready, he proceeded into the living room to see his mother one more time, filled with confidence that he might have a chance against them. Chi Chi still kept a similar appearance, but the times of aging have given her a couple of grey strands of hair. During these times, she learned to let go of her strict, over protective ways regarding his education. She respected Gohan, wanting him to train to the fullest, and as each day went by, Goku's spirit burned stronger in him.

Knowing how far along he had made, she still expressed total fear that her one and only son still had a ways to go before he tried to take on the greatest horror of the world. All she had left was him, and her heart couldn't take the only part of her left if she lost him.

"Gohan, are you sure that you want to do this?" she asked him, worried, clumsily following him to the front door and into the outside world. "You still haven't been able to become a super saiyan, and Vegeta was one when they killed him."

The tall, young, and built fighter turned to face her, uttering out calmly, "I know mom, but I think fifty times Kiao-can can get job done…" He paused, only to look up at the thick blue sky, watching the golden beam of the sun into the west over the distant mountains. "I'm sorry mom, but I just can't sit here and do nothing about it. They've taken billions of lives already, and dad would still try no matter how powerful or dangerous they are." Gohan moved his gaze back to his dear mother, who held her hand closely to her heart, trying not to shed any more tears or grief.

"I… understand, but please don't get yourself killed. You narrowly escaped them seven years ago." She dropped more tears from her thick, fatigued eyes. "I've lost Goku, and my dear father, who just couldn't take the sorrow anymore… you're all I have left."

After she shared her feelings, another tear drop plummeted, splashing against the trimmed grass below, but the son of Goku remained calm, relaxed, grinning innocently. "Don't worry mom, I'll come back, I promise. At least dad taught me the Kiao-can before he left us." Months before Goku suffered the heart illness; he was able to teach him the power of King Kai's special technique. So before Gohan took off, he wanted to tell her one last thing. "Bye mom, I love you." He kindly waved goodbye to her.

"I love you too son, be careful, please." She wept as her only son took off into the skies.

Before Gohan made his pursuit for the violent cyborgs, there was one place that he needed to pay a visit to real quick, and it was somewhere just around the corner from his home. taking a quick leap, he rushed over to an open field. Taking a landing, he was surrounded by the thick lushness of the forests, gazing towards the statues carved from stone standing tall over where they buried the fallen heroes. 'I know I come down here all the time, but I wanted to see everyone one more time, in case I don't make it back.' He carefully looked at Goku's statue, seeing what was engraved below. Kneeling down to read the following words, it showed...

"Here rests Goku. Though from a world far away, he was the greatest man who ever lived. Filled with kindness, compassion, and love, he protected those who longed for peace, but when enemies opposed him, they feared his wrath, raw and merciless. Never forgotten by his family and friends; his heroic legacy will live forever."

After reading that, he stood firm facing the sculpted monument, seeing that smile from his father. "I hope you're up there watching dad. I'm going to make you proud. Same goes for every one of you guys." He said out loud, taking a glance at the other monuments to his left, the ones of Piccolo, Vegeta, Krillin, Yamcha, tien, Chaozu, and last but not least, Yajirobi, and his grandpa, formerly known as the Ox King. Lined up evenly in that order, they lied buried in hope of being avenged. Their legacy longed for the day when destruction ruled over them no longer. "Well, there's no more time to waste. I must go now." He sighed, knowing what was up ahead.

Powering into his chi, a shining light enshrouded him, leaping into the sun setting heavens above, seeing the red haze of smoke far into the horizon. Unable to sense the cyborgs, he kept his ears open for the rumbles of thunder they produced when they preyed on another city. "They must be hundreds of miles away, better be quick or I'll lose them." He made haste, in pursuit of the building smoke up ahead. Flying as fast as he could, he broke the sound barrier and beyond, hitting seven times the speed of sound on a course where he believed he'd might locate the devils. Though it didn't take long, Gohan arrived at what was once a heavily populated city. As he made it, Gohan noticed the uprising clouds over the crumbled foundations. Underneath the dark, thickened smoke of the seared city, he saw active fires cooking what was left of the city of silence. Judging from what he had just observed, they made their assault not too long ago.

'Man… how could they. What did these people do to deserve this? If only there was a way to bring them back.' His heart grew heavier than ever before. His anger and frustration started to build up inside of him. It was as if he could hear their cries, and feel their pain. 'I need to keep my cool, the last thing I want to do is draw their attention if they're still nearby.'

After carefully watching the city from above, he decided to descend carefully, and quietly land on one of the main roads in the downtown area. All that remained was ravished businesses, neighborhoods, markets, and other buildings. Many of the roads turned into cracked pits, virtually inaccessible if somebody wanted to drive through town. Treading cautiously, he roamed through the ruined streets, seeking out any signs of life, but to no avail, there were only people, countless in number, slaughtered without remorse throughout the town. Some were hunching out of their charred, ruined cars and trucks. Seeing this sank deeply into his soul.

'This is so terrible. I'm sure many of them were only trying to evacuate too. They didn't have a chance at all.' He pondered to himself, feeling sympathy towards all of them. Gohan couldn't even count how many bullet casings that remained scattered throughout the streets. The aroma of gun powder radiated everywhere. Many of those who fell were police officers and armed citizens, some still clinging to their hand guns and assault rifles. He even saw that quite a handful of weapons had some impressive modifications to them, but despite the suppressors and lock on sites, no bullet could penetrate the androids super bodies. All of these people tried in vain to stop their wrath. It was obvious that they fought valiantly, despite the fact that they had no chance against them. He approached some of them, checking to see if by some miracle that at least some of them managed to live.

'They haven't been dead for very long, so that means the androids have attacked this town recently, just as I thought.' Though on the outside, he looked calm, on the inside he felt the rage and anger that could explode at any time. 'Calm down me, I have to stay alert. They could still be in hiding somewhere, but it's strange.' He looked back upwards, scanning one end of town to the next. 'If they were still here, you'd think they would've ambushed me by now. Perhaps they've moved on already, but I need to stay on guard. It's bad enough I can't sense their power levels.'

He kept his stand, cautiously searching through every nook and cranny of the infernal crater. Slowly, he walked through the street of downtown, seeing the countless numbers of the dead, none that he could have saved. Every one of them that he looked at shared a story, seeing and feeling their last moments. It was as if their blood was on his hands. He gazed into the distance, but it was all the same as far as the eye could see. Clouds of smoke, fire, and ash that he saw and smelled in the air no matter where he went.

He kept roaming, and as far as his eyes could see, everyone, men, women, and children weren't spared from them. 'They don't even discriminate. Just heartless machines that feed on taking the life of others… I almost can't stomach this.'

He started to tense up, almost unable to contain the years of rage that was kept bottled up inside of him. 'I'll make them pay for this!' he uttered in thought, losing the will to suppress his feelings. Within the carnage, some of the people appeared so scorched in flames, that he couldn't tell what they looked like. When he finally came close to the end of the road, he noticed that a broken, flipped over eighteen wheeler was in his way. The destroyed truck blocked off what was left of the path ahead. He was going to leap over it until something to the left caught his attention. There was a ruined shopping mall over there, and he quickly leaped over there to investigate it. A part of him felt that perhaps someone was still alive over there, in dire need of his help. Taking a few steps towards the remnants of the entrance, he felt and heard cracking, and shattering of the glass under his feet. It was all that was left of the entry and exit doors to the ruins. Before he entered, he looked over next to the entrance. Gasping suddenly, he saw whom looked like a woman, young, in her mid-twenties, laying lifeless as she held on tightly to her young son, who looked like he was merely five or six years old. Close to his hands were a couple of action figures. One was that of Hercule himself. 'I'm sorry for your loss kid.' He knelt down to see him, 'They will pay for you and your mother's death, I promise.' He uttered calmly, placing his hand on his wounded forehead, just to feel a faint jolt of energy from him. 'Huh? What was that? He's still alive.' it surprised him, especially after what had just happened.

Jerking for a moment, the child's weak eyes opened up, as Gohan carefully grabbed ahold of him. "Wake up kid! Everything is gonna be okay just don't die on me, please!" he pleaded desperately for his life.

His weak eyes opened so slowly, gazing into Gohan's eyes, showing him a gentle smile. "Are you… an angel?" he asked quietly.

"An angel?" he showed a confused look. "I'm no angel kid, but I wish I was."

"But mommy said that angels shine as bright as the sun. You are so warm, so gentle, so bright." He uttered out to him.

He chose to ignore what he said for a moment, "did the androids do this?"

"I saw one… she hurt everyone… and then flew away. Is mommy okay?" he asked him.

He paused for a moment. "Yes… your mom is okay, everyone will be okay." 'He must be talking about Android Eighteen... have they split up?'

"You're an angel, everything will be okay as long as you say so..." he began to hack and cough horribly, gasping for what little air he could breathe in. "Are... you going to stop the bad guys, mister angel?" he showed a look of peace and comfort.

"Yes… I will stop them, I promise you." He replied calmly.

"I'm so sleepy… I can't stay awake." He grew weaker by the second. Gohan felt his life slipping away in his arms. Knowing what would happen next, he knew the best thing to do was to give him comfort and assurance.

"Go back to sleep kid, I'll take care of them, and when you wake up, everything will be back to normal." He calmly told him.

"I... trust..." was all young child could say, as the last hero saw the child fall asleep in his arms, never to wake up again.

"That's it, just rest kid, I promise you that your loss will not be in vain. That goes for everyone else who died by their hands." Placing him back in his mother's arms, it only hurt Gohan even more than before.

"They take the lives of children, their parents, everyone who wants to live in peace. They don't deserve this. I won't let those monsters get away with this." There he stood, in the heart of another city that he couldn't save. Keeping his eyes shut tightly, the mindless rampage of the innocence drove him into an emotional breakdown beyond what any man could bear on his own. 'I can't let this go on any longer. I have to stop them.'

His muscles bulged, jerking a bit as his power grew rapidly. Then a flash of golden light appeared out of nowhere, overtaking the half saiyan in an instant. Shining like the sun over the heavens, a glowing aura briefly flowed through him, as his hair turned bright yellow, at least until he snapped out of it.

"Where are they? I'm sick of waiting!" he shouted out loud. Then "BOOM!" echoed a couple of blocks away from him. He nearly turned a one-eighty, just to see a cloud of more smoke and fire rise into the darkening skies. 'They must still be here, but I better get a closer look to make sure so I should stick to the shadows. I think a surprise attack will work in my favor.' Suppressing his power level, he kept close to the alley down another road. Using the ruins as cover, he came closer to where the recent bang occurred at. Poking his face out of the corner, he noticed someone else standing over the carnage; a young, slender, blonde haired, and rather attractive woman blasted down another five story business with her hands. Her, bright yellow hair nearly covered her face, wearing the same black and white top with a blue vest, along with her slightly torn faded skirt and black tight pants. It seemed that androids didn't need baths, nor did they need a change of outfits either.

'That's Eighteen if I remember correctly, but how come I don't see the other guy?' he kept his ears open, eavesdropping on her angry screaming while she kicked a piece of shattered pavement across the street, flying faster than speeding bullet straight into what she just blew up.

"Ugh, that jerk… Seventeen has gotten on my nerves for the last time! Screw him. I never want to see his face again. I swear, every time I meet a really cute guy and tell my brother 'NOT' to kill him, what does he do?" She went quiet for a second, taking another stone, squeezing it so tightly that not even the most durable stress balls could sustain her grip. Fire burned in her eyes, as she got ready to throw it with all of her might. "He kills them anyway! Ugh, boys, they just don't get it." As she scoffed that out, she sent the rock towards the window, shattering the glass as more shards fell to the ground. Remaining concealed in that corner, Gohan sighed, taking a deep breath in and then out.

'Man, what got her all worked up? For an android, she complains a lot like the other girls out there.' Giving in another deep sigh, he knew what he had to do next, and boy was he dreading it. 'Time to confront her because I know I can do this.' He prepared himself. 'If he ditched her over something so stupid then maybe I have a chance of defeating her after all. Well... here goes nothing.' He left his hiding spot, but the young lady had her back turned away. She was obviously too wrapped up in her personal problems to realize that the only living hero was about to challenge her.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing here?" Gohan yelled at her, angered by what she had done.

She quickly turned around, becoming even more annoyed by somebody rudely interrupting her alone time.

"What the hell do you want punk? I'm already pissed so back off before I add you to this city's death toll!" She barked at Gohan, too blinded in frustration to see that another Z fighter was about to fight her.

"I'm going to stop you, that's what!" Gohan summed up the guts to call her out, venting his anger as he set himself ablaze in his Kiao-can. "I'll make you pay for all the suffering you've caused in my world!"

Her mood shifted from aggravation to amusement when it became obvious to whom the blazing warrior was. "Oh yeah, I remember you now. You're that kid, Goku's son." She formed a maniacal smirk, tensing her fist firmly. "You've turned into quite a cutey, but it sucks that I'm going to have to kill you, so don't take it personal okay?" She kept her mocking grin and winked at him.

"You don't have to do this… Gero may have created you guys, but that doesn't mean you have to obey him and hurt everyone!" Gohan tried to reason with her, but it was a time waster. she was in no mood to even listen to him.

"Hah! Who said I'm doing this to carry out Dr. Gero's orders? Maybe I just enjoy the suffering and death of others." She said that so wickedly, like a demon wanting to torment the helpless. Mocking him again, she readied herself for battle. "Killing you will satisfy me. I'm more of a match for you, even without Seventeen here to help me."

Gohan posed firmly in his stance of fighting, still in his ruby glow saying, "Then you leave me no choice. This is for killing of my friends! Kiao-can, times fifty!"

Exploding in rage, his blood red aura accelerated drastically. Refusing to hold anything back, the lone hero dashed forward, taking on the offensive as he kept his aim against the android, and boy, was the son of Goku in for a challenge. Would Gohan find the power to eliminate Android Eighteen, or would he too fall victim by her nearly invincible power? Find out on the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z!