Trunks simply stared across the desolate wasteland at his mortal foe.

Before him was one of the Dr. Jero's creations, perhaps the worst one yet after Cell, and at that moment was holding all the cards. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Reyna moving behind a few rocks, moving closer and closer to get to the fallen Mirai no Trunks. It was the android's turn to make a move, unfortunately Trunks didn't have to wait very long.

30 soared past him, leaving ghosted images of himself in his wake, but instead of attacking the Super Saiya-jin, he flew past him, eastward. He was heading back to his stronghold to slay the rebel soldiers, but Trunks would fight him every step of the way. Part of his was glad that the fight was moving away, so that Reyna could safely attend to Mirai no Trunks' injuries, but the warrior was severely battered.

Death was almost unavoidable at that point, Trunks knew it and so did his future counterpart.

The wind coursed through the Super Saiya-jin's golden hair as he zoomed through the air like a unstoppable missile headed towards his target. Putting more ki into his flight, was able to boost himself forward to catch up with Android 30 somewhere over the middle of the sea. The Android was clubbed in the back, when Trunks finally caught up to him, this action caused him to spiral down into the sea.

The water domed up and swelled until it exploded around the Android sending a tidal wave outward in a circular pattern. 30 yelled in anger as he collided with the younger warrior, fists struck each other, causing waves to spread across the sea. Miles away shores were being beaten by an endless supply of waves, some bigger than the ones before.

Trunks fought his heart out, just as his future self did, but he realized that he wasn't as strong his the Trunks before him. The Android wasn't as weakened as he hoped it would be, but he had to keep fighting. A punch to the face, a jab to the stomach, and a kick across the chest sent the Android backward, only to instantly come back into the fray. It was almost as if the Android loved being beaten upon.

Trunks was struck in the side of the head by a stray chop, and this broke him from his trance. If he couldn't beat the android, he could at least draw out this battle as long as possible so that the others could escape.

* * * * *

As the two warriors fought over the sea, Mirai no Trunks struggled to as least stand on his knees. This in itself took some effort, and precious energy that he simply did not have. There was movement going on around him, and he forced a smile, because he was certain who it was, "Reyna?"

"I'm here Trunks." She said calmly.
She ran from her spot behind a pile of rocks to his side, she seemed totally oblivious of the current situation, because things were happening so fast. She assessed his energies at once, and they didn't look good at all. Trunks had a severe wound to his stomach, but luckily it hadn't punctured his actual stomach organ, or else death would have surely been instantaneous. The stress of taking the ultra Super Saiya-jin form to its breaking point had ruined his muscles, and tendons. Mixed with the massive damage the Android had dealt him combined with his complete exhaustion made his case a difficult one.

"Trunks. You're blind." She said in a hushed whisper, her hand moving to touch his face.

"Tell me something I don't know... how did you get here?"
"I followed you in a hover craft, here let me help you with the bleeding."

Reyna removed the brown cloak she had dawned and began to tear away at her sleeves to form makeshift bandages to help dress his wounds. He bled rather rampantly, even though he kept sufficient pressure of the wound, blood still seeped out between his fingers. Reyna carefully placed some of the dressing over the wound, and then began to wrap make shift bandages around his waist.

"Don't worry Trunks, you're going to be okay, I think I might have some medical supplies back in the hover craft."

"Don't go Reyna, stay here." He seemed to speak in a quieter tone now.

His eyes were wide and so blank, he just seemed to stare off in the distance. Reyna nodded and began to wipe the blood off his face with the hood of his cloak. He seemed so distant now, as if he were not really there at all. Finally he did speak, "It's a desperate fight, one he knows he can not win."

"What are you talking about? The battle between Trunks and that Android?"

"Yes, the android is still more powerful then he, and its only a matter of time... before he falls like I did."

"You didn't fall Trunks, you're still alive, you can heal, and when you do you'll be stronger than ever!" Reyna couldn't help but yell at him to try and change his attitude, but it didn't seem to work.

"I can't recover from this Reyna. The best thing to do is leave me and this place behind."

"I can't do that, not without Trunks, and not with your death on my conscience."

"I don't exist any more Reyna, this whole world doesn't exist anymore, and this is the reason why I didn't want Trunks to come. Because if he dies..." he coughed up some blood, "He and you will never have a future."

Reyna looked at Mirai no Trunks with much concern now, his voice was growing more and more faint by the moment. She knew that most of the medical supplies had been unloaded from the craft, but she had to take a chance that there was something on it that could help him. She tried to get up to walk away, but the fallen warrior held her arm firmly so she could not leave.

"Reyna, don't go, not again."
He seemed delirious now in his state, but he spoke in strangulated whispers, and each word he choked out was more difficult than the last to say. Then she realized it, he wanted to die, he had lost this fight, and he wanted to end his own life.

"Trunks. Stop being stupid, let me go so I can help you. You can't throw your life away like this!"

Mirai no Trunks turned his head slightly, "My life has been a never ending struggle Reyna, and sorrow has been my companion. My childhood was cut short by the androids, and by Cell, and then when I thought I found peace, I lost you, and then the androids came again. And now they've won, they've finally beaten me."

Reyna was shocked when Mirai no Trunks said that he had lost her, "How do I die, Trunks?"

"It was a stupid accident... you were traveling by train to the university in the Southern Capital, and as it was crossing the bridge it derailed and crashed into the river... Everyone on board drowned... If only I had gone with you, it wouldn't have happened."

Reyna was shocked by this revelation. Trunks had promised to go with her on that trip, but she didn't realize that making that journey would cost her, her life. That had changed now, for certain, because she decided to alter her fate. Once again she pleaded with him to let her search the hover craft, but he hold onto her arm with a firm grasp, no doubt his last available effort that he was to achieve.

Together they stared eastward, Mirai no Trunks telling Reyna action by action what was going on, and how Trunks was faring against such impossible odds.

* * * * *

During their training together in the past, Mirai no Trunks had taught Trunks a few ki attacks to do while using a sword. Unfortunately he didn't have a sword, and Mirai no Trunks' had been dropped in the desert's soil to the east, so his only option was to figure out ways to do the same attacks without the blade. The Fujin Ra was a powerful cutting wave that was capable of slicing through just about anything, and if Trunks could only land it he could alter the course of the battle in his favor.

However Trunks wasn't able to execute this plan, because 30 wouldn't spare him a minute. Each second was occupied by ruthless assaults of kicking combinations and ki attacks that almost brought Trunks to his knees, but his rage fueled the fires of his power, and he only rallied more energy to help him fight of his foe.

Android 30 had now brought the battle over land again, and every minute they were moving closer and closer to the Red Ribbon Stronghold. Trunks fought him tooth and nail, dishing out a variety of ki attacks in cadence with strong striking combinations, that struck the android in the face and waist.

The Android retaliated with the a powerful grapple followed up with a quick slam into the ground below them, forming several craters along the surface as they flew more and more westward.

Their flight plan had become erratic, and occasionally they moved north, and then west again. Trunks was giving his all to slow his foe down, but he began to realize that there was no stopping his android. His energy was limitless, and Trunks was only getting more and more tired by the moment. He faltered and was struck mercilessly for his mistake, which only made him more determined to kill the android.

Android 30 had taken a good amount of damage to his outer armor, and even more to his internal machinations, but he didn't show it at all. Blood/fuel conduits ruptured on Android 30's head as he powered up for a ki attack. Trunks gathered ki as well to retaliate, and the two fired beams at each other almost in unison. The beams struck each other and locked together, much like Mirai no Trunks had down before.

Android 30 grinned as his foe was beginning to get pushed back by the force of the beam. The Android's wave pushed further and further backward, and he decided to expand its diameter in a way that made it impossible for him to see Trunks any longer. He could sense his opponent was falling backward due to the beam, but yet he still fought. 30 loved this, and a villainous smile came to his pure evil face, as he stared intently at the beam, waiting for Trunks to cave in and be struck by the ki beam.

Something caught the Android's eye and caused him to look upward to catch the strangest scene he had ever seen. Trunks was right above him now and was slowly descending towards him. The ki struggle was still going on, but the half Saiya-jin had bent the interlocked beams into a C shape that was rapidly closing into a loop shape. A loop that would end right on his head. 30 panicked stopped the flow of ki to the beam, an action that proved to be disastrous to him.

"Now Die!" Trunks screamed, and focused all his available power into the ki beam, making the wave curve around in a C shape, down below him, and straight into the waiting arms of the Android.

Android 30 was completely stunned as the beam struck him and exploded right before his eyes. Smoke poured out from the explosion, and the ground below shook. Trunks shielded his eyes and face from the blast, and soon there was nothing but smoke. When it cleared there was nothing left of Android 30 except a few scraps of armor.

* * * * *

As the stronghold came under attack, Buruma wasn't one for just sitting around and doing nothing. The sentries that had never before abandoned their posts, did to defend the stronghold from rebels. Several bars had shifted and weakened, and the power in the room had shorted out, making it a perfect time to escape.

She gently slipped between the fallen bars, stepping out into the main room, she tip toed towards the door. She was nervous, which was expected, because she had never done this before. Granted she had experience as a kid, sneaking out of her parents' house, but this place wasn't exactly Capsule Corp. She finally gathered up some courage, and peeked out the door.

She looked both directions, like a child crossing the street, and stepped out into the hallway. There was some sort of war going on all around, but Buruma wasn't entirely sure what was going on exactly. She didn't want to waste time thinking, so she decided to begin walking down the corridor in any direction, because either way seemed just as good as the other.

She walked a good couple of yards, before coming across an intersection, in which she decided to go straight, hoping that if she headed in one direction long enough, she would end up at an entrance or exit of some sort. She wasn't so lucky, because instead she came across another intersection, only this one wasn't empty.

She had barely avoided detection, when she came across a group of three androids coming around the corner. To avoid them, she quickly ducked into the nearest door, not caring just where it led. She had very little choice in the matter.

The androids turned around the corner, and their coming was heralded by a sudden detonation, as the group stepped on a booby trap left by the rebellion forces. The explosion was followed up by several streams of gun fire coming from the end of a certain hallway. The reason it was uncertain, is because Buruma wasn't able to determine just what was going on from inside the dark room she was in. Her fingers fumbled for a light switch, but hit only solid wall and of course door.

Almost responding to her thoughts lights flickered on, as the entire compound shook. She was a small passageway, and there was a door at the other end of it. Rather than risk getting blasted outside, she headed down the passageway for the other door. The lights flickered on and off now, making movement rather difficult, but she still managed to reach the other door safely.

Fortunately it wasn't locked in any sort of way, so she was able to successfully open it to allow herself entrance to one of the most massive rooms in the entire Red Ribbon Stronghold. It was the main generator room, and it was still pumping power to all corners of the fortress, with the exception of a few that had been damaged in the crossfire of earlier fights between androids and rebels.

The room's ceilings were high, and its floors stretched at least 50 feet below the steel grid ledge she was currently on. Ladders ran along the walls, and computer consoles dotted the grid walkways. The generators were massive columns, and they consisted of ten main ones, and a dozen smaller ones, but what was even more interesting was the numerous explosive devices attacked to them.

"Is that the last one?" Someone called from above.
Buruma looked up, "Hello?"
A face stared down from an upper grid ledge and looked straight down at Buruma, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Buruma Briefs! What's going on here?"
"Lady? We've been looking all over for you. Hey we need to get you out of here, we're going to blow this whole base sky high, starting with these generators!"

Buruma nodded, and for once she understood completely.

* * * * *

Trunks breathed in deeply, as the smoke began to clear out. There was nothing left of his foe. That is except for the armor bits, and Trunks was about to power down, before he something caught his eye. He turned sharply around, to see a red dot moving westward at an incredible speed.

"No! He survived it!" Trunks shouted as he blasted off after the android.

He was tired and worn out, but the young warrior soon caught up to his 30, and attacked him from behind again. The swift kick caused the Android to end his flight westward, and the two locked into deadly combat once again.

The two fought back and forth across the ground, kicking up dust and debris as they exchanged kicks. Trunks was struck on his upper left arm, and at the same time, Android 30's head feel victim to a vicious boot to the side of the head. Both of them spun around in the air, taking the blows, but in unison they got back up to their feet and charged each other.

They tore across the landscape towards each other, Trunks' fist impacting with the android's arm. The half Saiya-jin ruthlessly hit his foe, only to watch his every attack get deflected or blocked with little effort. Trunks ignored his fatigue and struck again, this time landing a quick jab to the Android's nose.

In retaliation, the android grabbed trunks by the back of the hand and pushed his face down into his knee, almost breaking his nose in the process. Trunks groaned after receiving a knee to the face, but the android wasn't finished with him yet. Instead of letting the Super Saiya-jin go, he swung him around by the hair and slammed his face into the ground. And he didn't stop for just a one time slam, he quickly pulls his head back up from the dirt and rock, and slammed it even further into the ground with even more force.

Trunks' head shot back up and he quickly took in another gasp of air before his head was slammed down again. Coming up again, he managed to rally his waning strength in an effort to grab hold of 30's arm and in turn slam him into the earth. This reversal worked rather well, as Trunks yanked the android by the arm over his shoulder so he'd land on his back in the soil.

On and on they fought, as the sun loomed high over their heads. The rebellion was evacuating the stronghold as fast as they could, but Trunks still needed to buy them more time, but there was nothing he could do, because in awhile he would become utterly exhausted. 30 was moving the fight closer and closer to the stronghold and each time to he Trunks failed more often than before due to his loss of ki.

Finally the Super Saiya-jin faltered so badly in an attack, that he was struck over the head. In a dazed state, Trunks pitched forward only to have his hair grabbed by Android 30's waiting hand. The Super Saiya-jin was exhausted, and instead of fighting back he was brutally beaten by the android's free fist. He was hit in the chest so harshly and quickly that he couldn't possibly block the pummeling fist, and so he was struck numerous times.

Trunks seemed to tune out the pain, and instead he stared at the horizon, his eyes focused on the large Red Ribbon Stronghold off in the distance. His hair turned purple again, and his golden aura faded to nothing at all. His body went limp, but he didn't pass out from this. Instead 30 flew through the air, dragging the half Saiya-jin along with him on the way to the stronghold.

It wasn't long before the two of them had reached the stronghold, and their coming was heralded by many shouts and panicked screams as rebel warriors pointed in terror to the sky as the cruel Android 30.

"You have me, you've won, so please let them go!" Trunks pleaded looking down at the fleeing people.

"Why spare them, when its so much fun to watch them die."
He spread out his fingers and from each tip came a separate ki beam that fired at different groups of people, exploding on impact, killing dozens at a time. The rebellion soldiers clawed their way up the mountain only to be struck down by a different ki beam, that was always followed by a cruel laugh.

Trunks watched this all, his eyes wide in horror, as the atrocity was taking place right before his eyes. He was enraged, but yet he could not do anything, his power was gone, but he still had to try. Slowly his wind picked up around him as he focused his energy to try and bring about some revival of his power. Android 30 was too caught up in the moment to notice that Trunks' power was rising again.

Finally the young warrior took the android by surprise and exploded in a burst of golden light to become a Super Saiya-jin once again. Below some people cheered, but the majority of them just continued to flee in this moment of opportunity.

The android quickly recovered from his surge of power, and stared at the Super Saiya-jin, a slight grin on his face now, "So you think you can save these people?"

"I won't let you hurt these people!" Trunks shouted in reply.
"Is that so?"
30 shot out a ki beam towards a rather large group of people, and Trunks soared in its path to deflect it into the air. He didn't get to rest as the android began to ruthless fire stray ki beams towards the fleeing army. Trunks could not possibly block them all, and to his horror, lives slipped through his fingers all because he failed to deflect a ki shot.

This horrible game might have continued, but Trunks was quickly tiring out, and the Android found a new target to prey upon. Looking down to the earth, a group of people had just made a run for it from the main entrance of the Red Ribbon Stronghold. It consisted of a few regular grunts and maybe a few warriors included, but most important was the one person who lagged behind the group.

Trunks' tired eyes drifted downward to try and see what the android was looking at, and finally he saw that specific person. It was an old woman, dressed in rather plain clothes, but she wasn't just any old woman in particular, it was Buruma, his mother.

"No!" Trunks shouted.
"Yes!" The android shouted back, "She dies!"
Trunks flew downward towards the ground to try and stop the attack, but the android had shot a ki beam with such speed, that it was impossible to stop in time. Trunks watched as the ki beam came down on Buruma. She shrieked as it did, and the ground around her shattered and broke as it exploded in a dome of destruction that flung the Super Saiya-jin skyward again.

When Trunks regained his senses and opened his eyes, he was looking at an empty crater, and Buruma had been completely vaporized.

Trunks' life was filled with hardships. When he was young, he grew up without knowing his father or heritage, and the world he lived on, was a world ruled by two evil androids. They had destroyed his childhood, by promoting world wide fear, and worse yet they had taken his friend and master Gohan from him. He had built up a resistance to pain and anguish, one that made it harder for him to be enraged enough to go Super Saiya-jin. Only death could bring it out, just like Goku, just like him, and even Gohan felt pure rage on that day of the Cell Games, but for Trunks he had endured so much, pure rage was almost unknown to him.

He spaced out, and the world seemed to turn black around him, all he could see was that empty hole in the ground. But the darkness soon faded, giving way to images from his past, the androids, a wounded Gohan, a dead Gohan, and Cell in all his forms. These images moved around him, and he could remember feeling angry in each one as he was helpless to stop these monsters of the past. His face tensed and an expression of anger came over him. Then more images flooded his mind, of dead people in the streets, ruined cities, fallen monuments, and other wastelands that the evil monsters had created. Then he saw Mirai no Trunks fall to the ground before his eyes, dying on the ground, and last he saw the tender face of his mother, only to see it replaced by the look of terror she had had on her face right before she died. These images shattered away, replaced by the evil sneer of Android 30 saying to him, "You could not save them, you have failed, and now you will die."

And with all that rage built up inside him, Trunks just snapped.

Android 30 was pushed back, as the Super Saiya-jin's golden aura surged outward in all directions. Power was building up at a frightening rate, and it wasn't slowing down at all. Trunks' ki rose to new heights as he clenched his fists and shut his eyes, tears streaming down his face in anguish. He grit his teeth, and a look of pure hatred came over his face, as he curled inward, golden aura surrounding him, "I won't let you.. hurt them!"

He opened eyes in revelation, "Just like Gohan."
With that said, Trunks threw his arms to his side and pulled his head back, and shouted a tremendous cry into the air, letting the rage and sadness take control of him. Electricity jumped from his body and his muscles grew slightly, but not by much. His hair that had previously hug to the sides of his head, stuck straight up, by the majority of it was still tied back in a tail. For a few moments his eyes went completely white, but then regained their color as he ended his scream.

His ki stopped its rapid rise, and Trunks ended his wails, and dropped his head down again to face the stunned Android. He had done it, he had ascended to the next level, just like Gohan had done in the past. He understood the power and the nature of it, and for the first time since he arrived in this future that no longer existed, he was completely calm.

"How?" 30 stammered.

"I have ascended to the next level, and now it is time for you pay."