Chapter 7

Things had changed... and yet they had staid the same.

For many years Gohan had been the last of the group known as the Z-fighters, a lonely warrior. This however had changed roughly a year ago. It was at that time that he had started to train Trunks earnestly.

More than once Gohan had wished he could have left Trunks out of all this, at least for some time longer. But he could not, not anymore.

Not since the Androids had switched from `just´ causing mass-destruction from time to time, to slowly destroying humanity as a whole.

They could no longer effort to leave any potential fighter out.

And even less after Gohan had lost an arm and received other deep injuries during one of the last fights and he had used the last existing Senzu Bean to save Trunks.

He knew that Trunks had the potential to become a Super Saiyan as well.

Now that he had been crippled, he probably had a greater chance to ever defeat the Androids than Gohan himself.

One day the fate of this world and the entire human race might depend on Trunks and that day might be sooner than any of them expected or wanted to.

Still Gohan wished things were different.

xxx

But that was not the only change.

There was the group of human `accomplices´ that the Androids had raised themselves, who came to calling themselves The Reapers.

At first nobody even knew that they existed. Until they and the Androids began to spare individual people, always only one from any of their attacks. So that they could tell others how the reapers and their `masters´ had killed their friends or families.

That however had also changed after a few weeks. By now they were back to killing basically everybody. It was obviously only to get them introduced.

In the first months after they had first appeared, they had already killed many hundreds of people under the direction of the Androids.

This was of course nothing against the billions who had died by the hands of the Androids themselves, but...

xxxxxxx

13 years after the appearance of the Androids

It was the first time that Gohan and Trunks saw the Reapers in person.

It were just three normal humans, standing side by side with the killer machines.

Two men in leather clothes, one of them looked more or less like a biker, the other like a stereotypical bodyguard or hitman, wearing black clothes and sun-glasses and a young woman in a black dress ressembling a `gothic lolita´.

The three were now standing before a group of a few dozen people that were running away from them and just fired into the crowd with automatic weapons they had aquired somewhere. They were simply gunning them down one by one in a matter of split seconds, as if it didn´t mean anything to them at all.

A few meters from them stood the Androids, watching with smiles on their faces.

Only if one of their victims should get far away enough that they might have a chance to escape, they would get themselves involved.

Or simply if one of them should get bored.

"I admit I would have never thought that it would be so amusing to watch humans kill each other," Eighteen said to Seventeen. "And it doesn´t hurt to have someone to keep me company at shopping, even if her taste is certainly not the same as mine," she stated.

"It just feels like their is not enough left for us anymore."

"Oh Eighteen - you know perfectly well that there are still more than enough humans left for us. I mean, sure our `friends´ kill a few, but that are less than a percent of our possible targets. I mean we two could just blow away entire cities at once if we wanted.

It is only that we have to spend part of our time watching over them. But we won´t have to do this for much longer, you know," he said to her.

"See how `good´ they have become," he told her a bit louder.

The massacre had stopped for the moment as the three human murderers were now instead listening in at their conversation.

"Hey Jake, how many did you kill this month?" 17 asked.

The three Reapers now took their guns down as they saw that Seventeen wanted to talk to them.

"This ones included? about 32."

"And you Sera?" Seventeen asked the woman.

"I think 27, maybe 28," she answered. "I admit I am not quite sure if that guy had survived."

"Oh yes," Seventeen replied. "I remember, but it was amusing, wasn´t it?" Both she and the Android shared an a bit wicked smile with each other as they thought of the incident she had mentioned.

"Haugh."

"19, before today," he told him. "With today 26."

"You see Eighteen, together not even hundred this month. It is not as if they are taking our targets from us," Seventeen explained.

"Now, why don´t you continue," he addressed the three.

At his word they resumed their positions, ready to start again.

"So Sera, I think these two left on the side are yours," Haugh said to her. He was gesturing to a few people who had survived the initial rain of bullets.

"Oh, so you just leave them to me," she responded.

"I just decided to be a gentlemen," he stated.

"I am surprised that you even know what this word means Haugh," she taunted him, before she took aim with her weapon.

But before she could fire, Gohan suddenly appeared.

"Stop it!" he shouted.

xxx

He had just arrived a minute earlier while the Androids and the Reapers were talking.

At the sight of just one more massacre where he was trying to save as many people as possible.

Much to his luck the Androids and their three human henchmen had their faces turned in the opposite direction, where the dozens of humans were trying to run away. Which allowed Gohan to land behind them unnoticed behind the broken remains of a house.

Seeing that neither the Androids or the Reapers were killing someone at the moment, he decided to wait a bit longer to show himself, to try to get closer and give the few still living fleeing humans time to get further away.

That also meant that he overheard most of their sick conversation. But he was holding himself back.

xxx

But now that time was up and Gohan moved in, trying to intervene.

But before he could he was himself charged by Seventeen.

"Gohan, how nice to see you again. So you have actually survived our last meeting, even if you are missing something," he said with a side-glance to his missing arm. "Now, why don´t you let them play by themselves?" the Android told him.

"This is not a game," Gohan replied angrily. "None of this ever was."

"And here you are wrong," Eighteen replied, "it is a game. You just don´t want to understand it."

It was just this moment when Trunk suddenly appeared.

He was not meant to be. Gohan had asked him to stay behind this time. He was not ready yet. The last time proved that.

"What are you doing here Trunks?" Gohan shouted at him. "I told you to stay. Get way from here quickly."

"I fear it is too late for that," Eighteen commented.

One moment later she was floating right in front of Trunks.

She was landing a punch at the side of his head that send him flying and hitting the ground hard.

At the same time Gohan was more and more loosing to Seventeen.

Trunks, who was now struggling to stand up again, saw in horror what state his master was in.

He was still fighting yes, but the Android was now landing one his after the other. It was obvious to him now, Gohan had not fully recovered from his injuries yet.

So why, why in the world did he have to fight them? Trunks thought.

As soon as he looked at the dead people around them he had his answer.

Seventeen seemed to have noticed it as well.

"Oh Gohan, what is only going on with you? You are truly not the man you used to be." He landed another vicious hit on him. "Ah I see, the injuries from the last time are still getting to you. That you even dare to face us in this state, you truly are a `hero´," he mocked him.

"You know something, maybe I should take you out of your misery," he said while he slammed the Saiyajin into the ground.

It was over... far quicker than it should have been.

xxx

Meanwhile the young woman named Sera, who had become a mass murderer in her own right during this last months, was taking her latest victim.

She was just gunning down a middle aged man who was trying to get away from her, but could not through a leg injury.

Then she took aim at one of the last remaining targets. She saw that it was only a little boy, maybe five years old, a child.

And for a few moments she hesitated. Like she had before.

Then she raised her weapon again.

But before she could even fire, the decision was taken out of her hand.

Eighteen had appeared next to her and killed the boy herself with a blast of ki. She had just finished `dealing with´ Trunks and had nothing else to do for now.

The none Super Saiyajin had not even been much of a real opponent for her. Finished off with one blow.

"Now Sera," he said to her, "you just seemed a little bit inconfident, didn´t you?"

"I...I don´t know what you mean," she answered.

"Have we not been talking about this? On this world there are only two sorts of beings, targets and the ones who are targeting them and you don´t want to be a target don´t you?"

"No Eighteen, I won´t disappoint you."

"Good, now show me what you got," she said.

Sera now aimed at the last remaining victim, a teenage girl who had until just now been shouting at the boy to run, and fired.

"Very good," 18 told her as she looked at the dead body.

It was over. All humans in this area were dead, except their three of course. Gohan and that boy named Trunks were down.

In this moment they heard another ki attack.

Eighteen realized that Seventeen had just blasted Haugh, one of her own comrades.

Then he turned around and killed Jake as well.

`What?´ she thought in horror.

What else did she expect? a small part in the back of her mind thought.

Obviously Seventeen had just decided to end the game, Eighteen understood.

She saw that Sera was looking horrified at the place where Seventeen had just murdered her two partners.

Eighteen just shrugged with her shoulders.

Then she took aim and blasted her right through the chest. For a second she saw the look of shock and horror at the human girls face, before she sank to the ground.

"Game over," Eighteen said to Seventeen.

It had been a good time, but everything had to end some day. And it was not as if they would keep a group of humans around for good.

They would just find other ways to entertain themselves.

And besides, the look of shock and betrayal on the faces of their human `friends´ when they finally got rid of them had always been part of the game.

"I told you, we won´t have to watch over them for any longer," Seventeen reminded her.

"I see you have decided to end it here," she stated.

"Yeah, it was slowly starting to get boring to me," he said. "I mean it was something new for the time being, but now we should return to killing humans all by ourselves."

"But it was fun, you have to admit," Eighteen told him. "Imagine these humans," out of her mouth the mere word sounded like an insult, "had actually thought we would keep them along for good, can you believe it?" She started to laugh.

They realized that Trunks was starring at them angrily, while a badly damaged Gohan was still trying to get up.

"Well, you don´t look so happy boy," Eighteen said to him. "What do you want to do about it? You are too weak to even lay a hand on us."

Trunks growled in anger now. The last time, when Gohan had lost his arm, he had at least been able to hold himself for a short time. But it was clear that she had just been toying with him.

"Now, what shall we do about you two?" Seventeen addressed Gohan.

"I think it would not very sporting from us to kill you now, as weakened as you had already been. Where is the fun in defeating you like that? On the other hand you have been a thorn in our side for very long and you two have disturbed our fun more than once.

Well - decisions, decisions," Seventeen commented.

"I tell you something. We will let you go now. You can leave... that means if you can. In the state you two are in I am not so sure about that. But in two minutes you should better be gone. Because then we will blow up the city," he told them grinning. "If you survive is on you. See it as a game of chance."

"You should better hurry up, time is running," Eighteen commented.

xxxxxxx

But the greatest and worst change was still to come.

It was six months later.

Gohan and Trunks had made it out alive back then. They had seen the explosion covering the entire area right behind them.

In the following months Gohan had actually taken his time to recover. Even if it had meant that he had missed several more Android attacks. And that he had not been able to do anything for the thousands of people who died during these attacks and could not save a single soul. But if he ever wanted to have the slightest chance to stop them for good, he had no choice.

He and Trunks started to train together seriously again. Over this time Gohan regained most if not all of his old strength and adapted his fighting style to make up for the lost arm.

Trunks however was getting stronger and stronger in an incredible speed now. More than strong enough to transform into Super Saiyan if he found the right trigger.

But then...

Then they suddenly saw a couple large explosions in the distance. The Androids, again.

And now here, at one of the few areas that had not been directly attacked by them till now.

But it seemed they were bent to lay waste to really every single habitated place on the planet.

This time he would not just stand aside and do nothing.

"Gohan..." Trunks begged him to let him come with him.

But he remembered what happened the last time... and the time before.

"Alright," Gohan said.

But as soon as Trunks back was turned to him, he knocked Trunks out instead with a precise strike to his neck.

`I am sorry Trunks,´ he thought, `but I can not take the risk of you follow me again. You nearly died the last time and the time before. And you are the one who needs to live. Some dayyou will be the one to beat them.´

A great part of this chapter is a remake of a similar scene in the story Dragon Ball: Alternates.

One Note: This version of the story goes by the idea that Gohan had not just lost his arm, but also sustained other deep injuries that never fully healed and that contributed to his choice to bank on Trunks to be the one to beat the Androids instead.

The next chapter will probably also be the last of this story. I have however also already another one in mind.

xxc

Powerlevels:

Future Gohan (13 years after the Android´s Arrival): 4.600.000 - SSJ: 230.000.000 - weakened/unrecovered injuries: 210.000.000

Future Trunks (13 years old): 1.200.000 - After six months: 2.200.000

Future Android 17: 280.000.000

Future Android 18: 270.000.000