Ch. 2

Piccolo watched silently from his position above the Son home. The wind whipped around him and his cape swept back. He ignored both the wind and Chi-chi's sobs from below. All of his attention was fixated on the boy flying away as if pursued by the very demons of Hell.

"Goku..." he uttered the name, not with the desperation that Chi-chi's voice held, but with contempt and anger. "I warned you that you were sacrificing your son. I hope it was worth it." He didn't bother to follow Gohan. He knew where the boy was heading. It was the same place he spent more and more time of late.

Instead he hovered over the Son house, debating his options. A large part of him wanted to shake some sense into Gohan, but he knew before trying that it would be futile. Gohan was capable of being as stubborn as his father had been. Just as convinced that he was right, when it was plain to Piccolo that he could not be more wrong.

Piccolo remembered that day as vividly as if it had occurred the moment before. Cell had cost them so much. He had been so powerful, so confident of his own superiority, so cruel. Piccolo had seen his share of evil, done his share of evil, but that day Piccolo had stared evil in the face. He had tried to fight it... and lost.

He shook his head. Even a year later, Piccolo still had trouble thinking about the events that followed. Gohan's power... it had been almost terrifying. That a mere boy... a child... could be so much stronger than anyone else.

When it had come down to it, when the fate of the earth stood in the balance, Gohan had come through for them. He had blown Cell away with enough force that there wasn't even the smallest of cells for the beast to regenerate himself from.

Gohan hadn't let them down. But they had all failed Gohan.

Piccolo could still feel the rage that had gripped him when Goku had given up the battle. He had watched in complete disbelief as a man for whom he had held a tremendous respect, chose instead to send his own child into battle and watch from the sidelines.

"What are you doing?!" Piccolo had demanded, only to be ignored as Goku spoke quietly to Gohan. The blind faith and trust in Gohan's eyes had cut through Picollo's gut, but he tried to trust Goku. He hadn't really believed that Goku would do something to endanger his own son...

He'd been wrong.

"You're sacrificing your son to death, if you don't step in!" Picollo had raged at Goku, his own panic nearly unbearable. "Cell will kill him!"

The screams coming off the battle ground had been gut wrenching. Even Vegeta had stared at Goku in disbelief. Mirai Trunks had watched, grimly, as the boy whom he respected as a Master was tortured at the hands of the monster.

Goku simply stood and watched, his face impassive, unreadable. If it hadn't been for the dying look in his eyes, Piccolo would have intervened. Instead he turned, forcing himself to watch as Cell mauled the boy, taunting him, deliberately causing as much pain as possible.

Goku's plan was obvious to them all at this point. He believed that Gohan was stronger than any of them. Goku knew that he wouldn't be able to defeat Cell, so he sent in the only person whom he had faith could- his son. The only problem was that Gohan didn't believe it.

Finally, tired of toying with the boy, Cell had turned on watchers. He created smaller replicas of himself, sending out Cell Juniors, each as powerful as the monster himself. It was a set up to be a massacre. None of them, not even Goku or Vegeta had been winning those battles. Piccolo had been too busy trying to stay alive, and keep the others alive, to even pay attention to Gohan at that point.

Gohan, who hadn't been able to find the anger to defend his own life, tapped into a hidden strength to defend his friends. Screaming in rage, the very earth shook as he ascended, pushing beyond any bounds. Blue lightening crackled over his form, already glowing gold.

He dispatched the Cell Juniors with ease, driving them away from his father, away from his friends. When he next turned his attention to Cell, Piccolo had no doubt that Gohan would win the battle.

After a few minutes, it was obvious to them all that Cell was loosing. Even Cell had realized that he was losing and in desperation he had brought his power level to its full capacity. The tremors that race from his form shake the earth to its core, causing earthquakes on the opposite side of the globe, but Gohan had stared him down calmly.

Gohan was far superior to Cell in strength and in speed, but the very anger that had caused the transformation, the very source of the power that was defeating Cell, had proved too much for the boy to handle. He was so trapped within his own rage that he ignored the orders peppering him from the sides to end it and kill Cell.

Reveling in his own power, Gohan forced the monster to degenerate. It wasn't until even Goku was screaming at him to end the battle and kill Cell that Gohan had turned to obey, too late. Too late... it was too late.

Piccolo had watched in horror as Cell engorged himself with energy. His destruction would rip the planet to shreds, leaving no survivors. He had focused on Gohan, watching as reality sank in, watching as the boy he loved as his own had taken the weight of the world and his failure to save it on his shoulders. He had watched as Gohan dropped to his knees, screaming out to Goku that he was sorry.

And there had been nothing he could do. The same sense of helplessness washed over Piccolo now as he watched Gohan disappear into the distance. Finally, he turned. He flew in the opposite direction that Gohan had taken. He would not fail the boy again.