The city was in ruins; buildings lay decimated around their previous foundations. The epic battle that had taken place here surely took its toll on the surroundings. A billboard featuring a hairy man with an afro giving a thumbs up and grinning had been damaged enough that it now read "Hell City, Enjoy!'.

Devastating. That is exactly what the fighter clad in an orange gi was thinking as he lay in a large puddle of water, his eyes wide open. This really was Hell.

They were both walking towards him; there was nothing he could do about it and they knew it. He tried to get up but realized that he was missing both arms. A significant amount of blood poured from where his arms used to be. They were the victors of this fight and they knew it; they weren't about to let him live this time. He felt truly afraid.

Finally, the fear that the fighter possessed gave him enough adrenaline to leap to his feet. He stumbled backwards a few steps before he at last gained a stable footing. To his dismay, he discovered that he could not fly, which was shocking because he had been accustomed to being able to fly for so long. The negatives just kept adding up for the fighter as he tried to escape the terror of his unnatural foes. As he backed up, more fatigue began to set in and as a result, something caught his foot. When he looked down, he saw a green man coming up from the ground, holding him back.

"Why weren't you stronger?" The alien moaned. Gohan, scared beyond belief, struggled and kicked downwards at the ghost and managed to get free. He ran down two more blocks before he made a sharp right turn. As he sprinted by he came to a dead end; walls on all sides. As he froze up ,two men came out of opposite walls at him, one had short, spiked black hair and the other was much smaller and bald. Both wore similar orange gis.

"Why haven't you avenged us?" Both men shrieked at the top of their lungs.

"I-I tried! Believe me, I have been trying ever since that day!" They continued to try and overwhelm him, but he used a Kiai that shot out from his entire body to blow them away. He heard footsteps and started to run down the alley, when he was almost all the way down, he turned around so he was back peddling. Before he saw anyone come around the corner he heard something from the wall behind him.

"Dammit boy, where is your pride?!" he whipped around to see another man emerging from the wall behind him. He had long hair that stood straight up and had no eyes.

"You don't understand, I'm the only one remaining! You all left me alone!" He cried out. The man grabbed his head and turned him to face down the alley again. The ageless teenagers were nearly halfway down the alley already.

"You let my legacy perish, I trusted you!" The man almost broke down after that last one. Green hands once again gripped his legs and the two men from before jumped out and grabbed his sides. His foes were almost upon him and he was left completely open. In the blink of an eye they both melded into one boy with lavender hair. He drew a blade from seemingly nowhere.

"You didn't save me!" He screamed.

"I'm sorry!" The man yelled back. The lavender haired boy started to run towards him at a quick pace.

"It should have been you! I shouldn't have died, you should have! You had your chance and you blew it, it's not fair! You were never a good enough teacher! You always talked about Piccolo and how good of a tutor he was…I bet he'd be ashamed at how you were of a teacher to me. If my father would have survived instead, he would have taught me and we would have won! I should have been the one to live!" He yelled as he drew nearer.

"I KNOW!" the man said as the sword tip pierced his skin and went straight through his heart. "I'M SORRY!"

Gohan woke up in a cold sweat, shaking. It wasn't the first time he had a nightmare like that and it certainly wouldn't be the last. He lifted his right arm up and traced his left shoulder, over the stump that used to be his left arm. Gohan's mind wandered back to the day that he lost his limb. He still hated himself for his failure that day and going back into the past just solidified that self-hatred. Seeing everyone that he lost in the past decade had reminded him how weak he used to be, how powerless he was before they came.

It was nearing the day that he would head back to the past. Soon, he would see them all again, he just wished it were his timeline's version of them. He couldn't wait to be around them, especially his father and mentors. Piccolo, Krillin…the half-Saiyan was anxious to see them.

He threw on his orange pants and blue boots, wiggling his toes around to make sure that it was comfortable enough. Then he glanced down at his blue under shirt, the same one that his father had worn many years prior. This was a much more difficult task than others would think, putting a shirt on with just one arm. Even after a few years of having to do it he still somewhat dreaded doing this. Somehow, he always managed to screw it up and put his good arm into the sleeve that was sewed together. Bulma had sewed them shortly after the injury, Gohan was grateful at first, but after a few days trying to get the shirts on normally he began to get irritated with it. He didn't want to mention it to Bulma; their relationship was already tense enough without her thinking he didn't appreciate her handiwork.

Finally he managed to slip the shirt on and pull his lone wristband on. He stepped into his bathroom and began to brush his teeth. He glanced up into his mirror and saw his face. He looked into his own eyes and saw what he always saw: pain, suffering, regret and hatred, not only for the androids, but for himself as well. He hated that he hadn't been stronger and let everyone down. Above all those, though, he saw hope, his hope for the future that no matter what happened the androids would never take from him.

His gaze moved across his face to the scar that ran up his left eye. He chuckled to himself slightly, if he were to copy the right side of his body over the left, he would be perfect, no scars and no missing limbs. Luckily, his vision wasn't impaired by the healing cut.

He quickly splashed some cold water on his face and spat his toothpaste out. Gohan stepped out of the beat down two-room apartment that served as his residence. The room was about two floors below ground in a bunker.

It was nice that Briefs had made the bunker underneath Capsule Corp during the Red Ribbon Army's first grab for power; it served as housing for survivors now. The bunker itself was really quite big, having five separate levels that each had about twenty rooms and large main lobby. All of the rooms on the bottom two floors were filled with families and about half on the 3rd floor from the top.

Gohan had placed himself closest to the top in case the androids ever discovered the bunker's location, he would be able to react before very many people got hurt. In addition to a lobby area, the bottom two floors also had a two-story laboratory built in that allowed Bulma to continue engineering devices that helped the survivors. Without her, everyone would be dead by now; they probably wouldn't have even lasted a month. By the graces of fate, they had not only Bulma to make life easier but also Gohan who kept the androids a fair distance away. Lucky for them, they had managed to live for almost sixteen years and began to rebuild their society.

Gohan stepped into the elevator and smacked the button for the bottom floor. He still had a couple of chores to do before he would head out for the past soon. There was no background music on the elevator, just silence. Luckily silence was something Gohan was used to, and it was also under half a minute to travel from the second floor to the fifth, not much traffic.

The doors slid open and Gohan stepped out. The fifth floor lobby wasn't huge, but it was considerably bigger than the single room Gohan slept in. There were couches around the room in a circle and a coffee table in the middle. On one wall hung a flat screen that was connected to a video player. They wanted to keep some parts of the normal life.

One person sat in the room facing away from Gohan on a couch. It was a blonde haired girl named Ayla; she was fifteen years old, born shortly after her parents arrived at the bunker. She was the first person born in their little colony and Gohan remembered it pretty well. Trunks would play with her almost everyday before Gohan took him into training. She turned her head to look at him.

"Oh, hey, Gohan! How are you today?" She asked, smiling. Her tone was cheerful as always.

"Good morning, Ayla, I'm doing pretty good so far, still kind of early to tell." He gave her a friendly smirk. "Any chance you know where Bulma is?"

"Yes, she's working in the lab and doesn't want to be disturbed. She told me to tell you that you need to go to East City."

"What?! East City? What does she need there?" Gohan was taken aback. Usually, Bulma tried to keep everyone away from where the androids had been spotted last. East City seemed to be right on their current warpath.

"Yeah, something about Plutonium for the time machine. You need about four kilos of it., the girl replied, handing him a slip of paper. "Here's where you can find it."

Vegeta's eyes shot open. He was vertical, standing in some cylinder full of light teal fluid with a tube coming down over his mouth. Despite his injuries, the Saiyan prince grinned to himself. It had been quite some time since he had been in a healing tank.

He knocked on the glass, letting whoever was outside know that he was conscious again. The prince was careful to not knock too hard because otherwise it would break. After half a minute of waiting, he knocked again, this time harder. If someone wasn't here in the next five seconds, he was going to blow the glass out and release himself!

"'Old on would you?" The fluid began to drain from the tank. As it got near his knee, the glass door swung open and Vegeta ripped off the tube from his mouth. "'Ow do you feel?"

Vegeta stepped out and turned to see who released him, though he suspected that he knew already. Standing at the controls was a short man with blue skin and yellow hair. The man, just like most aliens he had seen lately, wore a scouter.

"You," Vegeta spat, glaring at Salza intensely. His onyx eyes met the eyes of the blue-skinned being in front of him. "Why did you heal me?" Vegeta yelled as he grabbed Salza by the collar of his armor and threw him against the wall. He raised his fist in preparation to pound the alien's face in.

"So, zees is ow you treat zee man zat saved you…" The blue man chuckled. "You Saiyans are all zee same."

"What? Why did you save me?" Vegeta was shocked by the response to his initial question.

"You are stronger zan I, zere is no way I could av' beaten you. I only worked for Cooler because ee was zee strongest zat I knew of. I surrender to your rule, Prince Vegeta." As Vegeta dropped Salza the weaker of the two knelt down in front of him on one knee.

"Get up, the only people I wish to rule are the Saiyans. And that's a group of people that would be hard pressed to find nowadays." Vegeta started walking out the door.

"Where are you going?" Salza stuttered out. Vegeta looked back and gave a smirk.

"To my planet. I'll be taking one of the escape pods." Vegeta started to walk out before stopping and turning back. "You have my thanks for putting me in the healing tank, but if I ever see you again, I will put my fist straight through your non existent spine."

Salza swallowed audibly, trembling as he watched the Saiyan prince walk away.

Gohan took a step outside from the Capsule Corp building. He checked around every corner before taking off. He didn't want the androids to find the bunker and all the people in it. If they did, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Once he was sure that the area was secure, he took off into the sky.

East City was several hundred miles away from West City and he had to fly high into the mesosphere so the androids couldn't see him. Finally he got to where the mesosphere, the air was pretty thin but his lungs could take it. This was going to be a fun trip…hopefully uneventful as well.

He looked down from his flight and saw the remains of a city. His mind began racing.

Gohan flew in and landed next to Krillin. They were on the outskirts of a large prosperous city, well, not so prosperous anymore. There was a massive amount of smoke coming from the middle of the city and screams could be heard even though they were about half a mile away. They had all come for the same reason.

Suddenly, and without warning, Yamcha's ki had vanished, along with a thousand other smaller ki signatures. Piccolo was the first to arrive, followed by Tien and Chiaotzu, then Krillin and finally, Gohan. After a few moments, Vegeta landed next to them. None of them had seen the Prince of Saiyans since Goku's death almost half a year ago.

His father's death...it was something that still weighed heavy on all of them. Nervous glances were shared between the Z fighters. They weren't sure if they could handle this without Goku around…everyone except Vegeta, that is. He stood at the head of the group, looking directly into the city, right towards where the explosions were happening.

"Are we just going to stand here or are we going to do something?" Everyone turned to see Yajirobe walking up from behind them.

"We can't sense what – or who- is doing this," Tien stated bluntly. Gohan could sense the tension in the air. His father was the glue that held the group together, without him most of them were just acquaintances. Vegeta had the least ties to the Z fighters besides the fact that Gohan shared part of the same race.

"I may not be able to sense ki regardless and I may not be a warrior, but wouldn't Goku have gone in there no matter what to save those people?" Yajirobe's words were straight to the point and cut everyone to the wick. Piccolo was the first to respond. He smirked slightly before turning back to the city.

"No, Goku set the bar too high for those left to fight for Earth. Damn him." He levitated off the ground before blasting into the air and flying towards the city. Vegeta scoffed. The Namekian wasn't going to upstage him, not today. He revved his ki before launching in after the green alien. Krillin and Gohan nodded at each other and flew off after them. Finally Tien and Chiaotzu defied the laws of gravity and shot into the city under siege as well.

"Scatter! It's the only way to find whoever is doing this!" Gohan could hear Piccolo yell. The smoke was heavy and they could only see if they were on the ground. Gohan sprinted along the left side of a block as Krillin went in a parallel motion 40 yards away from him. The visibility was horrid even from the streets. Both smoke and screaming people running everywhere played a big part in it. He still couldn't sense whatever was causing all this terror. Was it possible that it was just some human terrorist cell of some kind? Suddenly there was a huge explosion a few blocks to the West of Gohan's current position. That must be it! His thoughts were confirmed a second later when he heard his mentor's voice in his head 'Found them! Get here now!'

Gohan and Krillin rushed in just in time to see Piccolo crash into a wall. He stepped up and wiped the dirt from his shoulders. Gohan caught his gaze and followed it over to two teenage looking figures step out of the smoke from a nearby explosion.

One was a boy that had jet-black hair, he wore a grey t-shirt over a long sleeved white shirt. On his left side was a symbol that looked like a red bowtie with two 'R's in it. He had blue jeans and green socks on. Gohan thought he looked a little off when compared to other teenagers he had seen, like his clothing was from a decade or two ago. His sister fit in a little bit better. She was blonde and wore a jean jacket and matching skirt. Under them she wore black leggings and a black shirt.

As off as they seemed to Gohan before, once they got closer he was even more taken aback. Their eyes were both icy blue and lifeless. Gohan got chills down his spine when he saw them. There was no question in his mind; hey were the cause of the city's demolition.

Piccolo spat out some blood and charged at the two teens again. The boy smirked and disappeared. Gohan thought for a second that he'd used the Instant Transmission technique his father had discovered, but realized that the black haired boy was just that fast. He appeared behind Piccolo and chopped him in the back of his neck. The Namekian dropped to the ground immediately. The girl raised her hand and charged up a ki attack.

"No!" Gohan screamed. Time seemed to slow down. The boy turned his head towards the half-Saiyan boy and smirked. The girl smiled as well and them pushed her hand down. The yellow energy flew and exploded on Piccolo's back. Gohan felt his mentor's ki flicker out. Tears welled up in his eyes as he fell to his knees. Beside him, Krillin got into a fighting stance, ready to duke it out with Piccolo's killers. He knew he didn't stand a chance, but he would have to try. A gloved hand appeared on the bald monk's shoulder.

"Stand down, I'll handle this." Vegeta said in his usual gruff voice. Vegeta shot off towards the duo and punched the boy in the face, to no effect. The unusual boy began to laugh as he grabbed Vegeta by the arm and flung him into the ground, still gripping the Saiyan Prince's arm. Then he picked him up again and flung him at a nearby building. Vegeta barely corrected himself in time before he smashed into the seventh floor.

He flew out, holding his bleeding right shoulder. "Alright, you've managed to really piss me off. No you're going to face my full power. The power of a Super Saiyan!" Gohan and Krillin were shocked by the prince's declaration. Could Vegeta really turn into a Super Saiyan, the same as Goku?

The Saiyan Prince gathered his ki as the air around him began to shoot out in every direction. Rocks and debris from the ground levitated up, and the ground beneath parted. His hair slowly turned a bright yellow and his eyes became teal. His expression was twice as aggressive and cocky as usual.

"Now, who's going to try their luck at fighting the great Saiyan Prince, Vegeta?" He crossed his arms and looked down at the two opponents. Krillin and Gohan were awestruck; there was no way Vegeta could lose now. He was stronger than Goku had been before he died.

The boy jumped up and got level with Vegeta. "What's your name, boy? I'd like to know what to write on your tombstone."

"My name is Seventeen. I assume I can just write 'Dumbass' on yours, correct?" 17 smirked as he saw the look off pure hate on Vegeta's face. Vegeta rushed in at 17, fists flying. The strange boy caught every single attack that Vegeta threw at him. Vegeta got more and more frustrated with each passing second. Finally 17 appeared to get bored with him and raised both his fists into the air, interweaving his fingers together and bringing them down on Vegeta's skull, sending him plummeting to the ground. 17 looked down at him and formed a huge energy ball on his palm. Vegeta just had enough time to open his eyes and look up before the blast was upon him.

The girl looked over at Krillin and Gohan after the smoke cleared away. "You ready boys?"

Krillin moved into a defensive pose a second too late. She buried her fist into his gut and brought her opposite leg up and around to kick Krillin in the head. He immediately sprawled across the ground, unconscious. She charged up some energy between her palms. Gohan wouldn't let this happen again. He charged over at her with his fists at the ready. Suddenly he stopped in place, just inches from his target. He looked back and saw 17 grabbing his leg. The black haired boy spun in place a few rotations before letting go and sending Gohan into the base of a skyscraper. It came tumbling down on the small boy who jumped up as soon as he realized what was happening. He wasn't fast enough though, he got caught on the edge of the fallen building, stuck under two slabs of cement and multiple cast iron rods. His strength failed him and he dropped into unconsciousness just as he saw Krillin get turned into shreds by an energy wave.

Krillin approached the area where Android Blue had been. He was apprehensive about his foe. So far, he had survived two of Piccolo's strongest attacks and his Kamehameha may not have been enough to finish the Aryan-like robot. The smoke cleared and there was nothing. The sun was just peaking over the horizon and the battle was finally done. The bald monk stumbled over to Gohan and lifted him onto his shoulder.

"Wha? Wha's goin' on?" Gohan slurred.

"It's alright, champ, we won." Krillin reassured his best friend's son. He hoisted Gohan up and carried him into the Capsule Corp main lobby. He laid him on a couch, his strength not letting him carry him any further. He returned outside and did the same with Yamcha, Piccolo and Dr. Briefs. Finally, after half an hour of moving people around, Krillin sat in one of the seats next to his allies and slumped down.

Luckily it was a Sunday and the main building was not going to be open, otherwise the receptionist would walk in on a bloody surprise. It wouldn't be so bad if she weren't a new employee. She was a red head and kind of cute and Krillin thought about asking her on a date before passing out.

When Gohan woke up the sun was setting over the smoldering ruins of the city. He was still pretty weak, the concrete was pushing down on his back. He could hardly sense anyone. They had either left without Gohan or they were no longer in the realm of the living. Gohan didn't want to believe either option. He maneuvered his arms so they were under his chest and pushed upwards with all his might. The slabs moved just enough to allow the young fighter to wiggle his way out. He lay on the ground for a few seconds, assessing the damage his body had taken. He could feel his left leg was in terrible shape, his left arm was bleeding somewhat badly as well, lifting the cement couldn't have helped that at all. His back felt like some one had used it as a drum, which wasn't surprising considering he had toppled a building with it. Gohan managed to stand, his leg may be damaged, but he could still put a little weight on it. He cradled his bleeding arm with his better one.

He limped around the battlefield, it was horrifying. There weren't any buildings left over two stories tall. Bodies were strewn about the ground everywhere, some still in one piece, others weren't so lucky. Gohan remembered the last sight he had before passing out, one of his best friends being blown into nothingness by those two teenagers. His eyes began to water, he wouldn't break down here though, not while the enemy may still be around. Suddenly he felt something. It wasn't strong, but there was a familiar ki signature somewhere nearby. It wasn't strong enough to determine who's it was, but it was definitely there. Gohan rushed over to where it was and saw a large pile of rubble. He had to act fast, the signature was slowly but surely fading away. He blasted away part of the debris and once it got down low enough he started to pull it off with his hands.

After nearly fifteen minutes of digging he finally uncovered the weak ki signature. A man in a blue jumpsuit and white armor lay on the ground, his hair was yellow and there was red all around him.

Gohan snapped back to reality as he came to East City. He descended into the old wreckage, scanning the surroundings for the androids. He took out the sheet of paper he had gotten from Bulma and followed the directions to an old warehouse type of building.

Vegeta sat in the escape pod that came out of Cooler's ship, taking note of his surroundings. It was much nicer than the Saiyan pods he had traveled in all his life and it was much roomier. Instead of the spherical shape of the Saiyan pods, this was more of an elongated white pyramid. There was a black strip that went across the front of the pod with a yellow fin at the top. Salza had mentioned mounting Cooler's head on the front of the pod and while Vegeta liked the sound of that, he didn't want to come off as some sort of jackass.

A head on a pod? Please, if I wanted to do that, I'd have a giant ship created for me, Vegeta thought, smirking as he heard Cooler pleading for mercy once more.

Soon, he would be back on Earth. Soon, he would have his fight with Kakarot. Now that he was a Super Saiyan, there would be no chance that he would lose against that clown now. He would finally get his revenge on that low-class warrior for humiliating him, taking his birthright! That bastard would pay!

Gohan had gotten the Plutonium with no incident, which was pretty rare. They would be surprised when he came back to the bunker with no life threatening injuries. He somewhat wanted to go find the androids, but he knew there was a chance they might end their decade long game with him and finish the half Saiyan off for good. He flew as fast as he could' he was almost halfway back now. In the satchel that hung off his side was the Plutonium, multiple batteries and a new set of tools for Bulma. He also found a relatively undamaged stuffed bear that he could give to the newest child born to their colony, Marek.

He scanned around West City before landing in front of Capsule Corp and hurrying inside. He jabbed the fifth floor button as soon as he entered into the hidden elevator. The ride down was silent and short, he stepped out to find no one in the lobby. It didn't really surprise him, and most of the families went to sleep fairly early. He walked quickly down the halls that snaked their way through the lower levels to find the lab access. He typed in the code to get in and the doors slid open.

He threw the satchel on the counter and put the Plutonium near the area where Bulma was working on the time machine. "Bulma!" he yelled out, waiting for a reply. After waiting a minute for a response, he began to look around. Finally he found a not on one of the workstation counters. 'I'm going to visit him. Be back later.'

Gohan reflected for a couple seconds. It had been a couple days since he last visited as well. Usually he would go every day, but with the second trip to the past coming up, he was busy restocking the bunker for everyone so they could safely live without him.

He decided it was time to see his old friend one last time before leaving again.

The elevator ride back to ground level was just as eventful as every other time. He stepped outside staring at the sky. The sun was falling behind the horizon. He hadn't walked anywhere in awhile, flying was just more effective, but in this case it would be easier just to walk, it was only a few blocks away anyways.

He reached his destination just a couple minutes later as he stepped in the front doors of the hospital. The doors closed behind him, they weren't the sliding doors Gohan was used to, they were hinged, which seemed like something from the distant past to him. He walked along the silent halls, thinking of all the people that had died in the rooms he was passing, most of them had done so because of the androids. He was halfway down the side hall when he heard the sound of someone crying. He quickened his pace. Even if she didn't want him there, it's where he needed to be.

He rounded the corner and kept his speed. This was going to be hard on him; he knew it was. He got to the right door and pushed the solid metal slab on its hinge and walked through it.

Forty feet away Gohan saw Bulma kneeling in the grass in front of a sword stuck in the ground. He walked over, memories flooding his mind, every time he came here this happened and it never got any easier. Bulma was the one he had heard sobbed, not that there was any question about it. He knelt down beside Bulma and she immediately buried her head in his shoulder. Gohan thought it was a little awkward, but he didn't say anything.

"Good. Thing. I was. On. Y-your. Ri-ght. Side!" Bulma managed to let out in between sobs, trying to diffuse the situation with some humor, attempting to crack a smile, but failing. Gohan let his pride go to the wayside and wrapped his arm around Bulma, warm tears began to fall down his cheeks and land on the ground in front of him. They sat there for hours just looking at the lavender haired boy's sword and remembering their fallen friend. The slab in front of the sword read "Trunks Briefs. Friend, Son, Student, Protector and Brother".

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a good week and enjoyed this installment of Ripple Effect! This really was my favorite chapter to write by far as of now. The dream sequence and the last two paragraphs had been in my head since chapter two. I was on the edge about whether Trunks would be alive and in a coma or dead and really struggled with it for the longest time. In the end though the only way to move Gohan along as a character was to have Trunks die at the hands of the androids. Sorry to any Trunks fans! I really do like Trunks and he is one of my favorite DBZ characters (Mirai not Chibi) but this was just the way it had to be.

Also, I should probably mention what I take into account as cannon up to this point.

History of Trunks obviously isn't cannon in this story, I suppose you could consider it to be canon until before Gohan grabs the senzu to save Trunks, but that is it.

Dead Zone - canon, no real reason for it not to be.

Tree of Might - non-canon, doesn't really fit into the storyline very well.

World's Strongest - canon, same as Dead Zone.

Any scene where Trunks has a flashback to the Z fighters losing against the androids - non-canon, the reason for this is that Trunks wasn't there. He just was going off of what Gohan had told him. That being said what is canon for RE in this area is going to be similar, as you could see from the flashback scene this chapter.

Alright that's all for now! Remember, drop a review by sometime and leave your opinions, criticisms, suggestions and favorite color.

Once again a big thank you to the guy that puts the finish on the chapter to make it go down really smooth like a pina colada, my beta Full Poooooooooowwwwwwweeeeeeeeerrrrrrr!1

Cya next time!