When Trunks was a still an infant (in his dimension, not the regular Dragonball Z world) Goku devleoped a heart disease and, consequently died. Not knowing this, Dr. Gero still created Androids 17 and 18. Without a purpose the Androids turned on Gero and killed him then went on a Rampage killing hundreds. The Z-Fighters attempted to defeat them but without Goku, stood no chance and fell to the Androids power.

About 13 years later, the Androids were still unstopped and Trunks finally went off to fight them on his own. When he arrived on scene the Androids were already gone but Gohan was there. Trunks asked Gohan to train him so he can help him defeat the murderous Androids. Gohan agreed and started training him. But before too long they met up with the Andriods. During the battle Gohan lost his arm and gain a scar on his face. This did not stop him from wanting to stop the Androids or train Trunks.

Later, the Androids struck again. This time Gohan faught him on his own and with his condition lost to them. The Andriods had killed him and Trunks showed up too late. Seein the dead body of his cloest friend, it made Trunks angry enough to go Super Sayian for the first time.

3 years later, Trunks's mom, Bulma, had finished the time machine she had been working on. Trunks used this Time Machine to go back to the past when Freiza was on Earth and before Goku had died. Showing up before Goku came back to Earth, Trunks easily defeated Friza and his father, King Cold. When Goku showed up he told him that was the son of Vegeta and Bulma from the future. He told him about how he would get sick and gave him a cure for it that was developed in the future. He also warned him about the Andriods. After this Trunks returned to his own time.

Trunks later showed up to help the Z-Fighters defeat the Androids. Although when they showed up he was suprised to find that they were not the ones from his time. After defeating the Andriods, Andriod 17, 18, and 16 were released. They easily defeated the Z-Fighters and went to find Goku. It was at this time a being called Cell appeared. He had also came from the future and wanted to absorb Andriod 17 and 18 so he could reach his perfect form. The Z-Fighters trained in the Chamber of Spirit and Time, so they could train for a long time but would only seem like a few hours on Earth. After this training Trunks was able to match Cell's power, even in his perfect form, although he had to change to a form that made him too slow to win.

Cell ended up defeating him but let him win so that he could warn the Z-Fighters about a tournament he was going to hold. During the tournament, Trunks was hit by one of Cell's blast and killed but was later revived with the Dragonballs. He then returned to his time where he was powerful enough to defeat the Androids and Cell on his own.