A Hero's Time Warp
Well, this is a rather short chapter. I did it pretty speedily too. I made it as like a filler sort of thing, so it isn't really the most important chapter ever. Anyway, I'm sorry for any mistakes and please tell me if you see any. Thanks and, uh, well, enjoy.
Chapter 6… Krillin and Tien's talk
Gohan could tell you a little something about angst and he could also tell you what helps make you feel better when you're down. And that would be; ice-cream. Also, he was the sort of boy to take his own advice. So there he was, sitting on the high wall beside the fighting stage, eating vanilla ice-cream and waiting for the next match to begin.
It sure was nice of that man at the ice-cream truck to give me this free ice-cream! Gohan thought, licking his lips free of the strawberry sauce which topped his snack. His main focus was actually on the delicacy instead of the fight which was soon to occur.
Heck, his mind wasn't even on Cell.
Krillin turned to his friend and sighed, making sure that the young boy couldn't hear. "Hey Tien, have you seen that kid? It looks like he has no care in the world. Ya know what?" he then scowled and folded his arms, making sure his back was towards Gohan. "It really bugs me that he can be so happy in knowing what wrong he is going to commit!" Punching the air, he snarled. "Argh, why is he acting so childish?"
Tien continued to stare into the nothingness of the world, still wearing the emotionless gaze he often used. Chuckling deeply, he responded. "Perhaps it's because he is a child."
Silence.
"Well thank you, captain obvious! Besides, evil has no age."
"Don't concern yourself with the boy, Krillin. He simply isn't worth it. The main problem is Junior and what problems could arise with him." Krillin just stared, a frown edging its way onto his face. Tien, upon noticing, looked down with a serious expression. "He is a mere boy, Krillin."
"Goku was a mere boy."
"Goku was special…"
"And he isn't?!" Krillin exclaimed, pointing towards Gohan, who was still eating his dessert. "Tien, that kid knocked Yamcha out of the ring like it was nothing! Then he fought me and took it as a joke! Even Goku is a little concerned with Cyber. Don't you see him always watching the boy?"
"But Goku doesn't seem too worried about him," Tien then pointed out.
"You know what Goku's like! He would never want to worry us, but he can't help but watch Cyber like a hawk. Man, Tien, I thought you would've noticed." He then glared at Tien with an irritated gaze. However soon, Krillin sighed and rubbed his temples, before turning towards his friend properly and looking at the man dead in the eyes. "I'm sorry Tien… I guess I'm just so worried about the tournament. I mean, I don't want to be disqualified for that thing that attacked Cyber. For once I'd like to win the tournament and be the big hero, ya know? Everyone loves Goku 'cause he's the lovable hero, Yamcha's the ladies man, Chiaotzu is physic and can do some awesome stuff and you've already won a tournament, I just want my time to shine."
His friend lightly smiled. "Everyone has their time to shine; you needn't worry if you get disqualified. We would think the same of you, Krillin."
"And that's exactly the point," looking down, he sighed once more. "Everyone thinks I'm that dopey, occasionally funny, Krillin. But I just want to win for once."
"I see…" Tien stared away for a brief moment. He then turned back to his small friend and gave him the best piece of advice he could give. "Winning never comes easy. You have to fight, fight and fight just to get a fraction of what you want. But sometimes, you need to accept that perhaps some people are tougher than you and move on. There are other things which you are better at than other people, but you just have to discover those things."
Krillin nodded. "I guess you're right." A devious smirk then introduced itself onto his face. "So, did you make that advice up when you thought about Goku."
"What?"
"C'mon, we both know you can't take him on."
"Goku isn't some kind of god, you know. Yeah, he saved your life, but you still need to know he isn't invincible." Tien growled, glancing over in the direction in which Goku was standing. "Someday I'll beat him…"
"But first you have to beat Cyber," Krillin then informed him.
"Oh, so we're returning back to the subject of our mystery boy?" Tien inquired, although he knew the answer. He folded his arms and smirked. "Sure, the kid can pack a punch. But everyone slips up sometime, and as they say; everyone is as good as they're weakest spot."
"Unless, they can protect that spot." Krillin added casually, "plus, you need to find that weakest spot."
"Figured that out already," he replied, supplying Krillin with interest.
"Oh?"
"Now it's you that isn't noticing things."
"C'mon, you can tell your old bud? Can't ya?" A cheesy grin was then presented on the small fighter's face.
He smirked once more. "His identity is most precious to him."
"Yeah… and?"
"The problem is that the kid keeps slipping up with his words. Didn't you notice all the times he went to say something and then suddenly stopped? For example, some guys asked Cyber's name at the registry and then he said something that was totally random, and then changed it hoping nobody noticed." He paused. "But I did."
"What'd he say anyway?" Krillin asked, eyebrows raised.
"Go-something. I'm not too sure though, he said it pretty fast."
"That's odd…" Krillin concluded.
"Exactly." He agreed, staring out into the crowds.
"Yet, you're not cautious of him?" he then said with a puzzled tone.
"I don't let it effect me. When I fight him, it's going to be like any other fight I've had." Tien answered, nodding his head and folding his arms once again.
"We'll see. I had the same attitude before I fought the kid. Yamcha had warned me too, but I thought it was going to be alright and an easy fight. Let's just say this; he's fast." He leaned in closer to his friend for emphasis. "Very fast."
"Thanks for the heads up, Krillin. But I'll be fine. Beating him is one step closer to fighting Goku."
"Mmm…" Gohan licked his lips for the millionth time, still not wanting to waste any of that precious strawberry sauce. "Mmm…" he then repeated, this time a little more desperately once noticing his snack had completely vanished. Sometimes, instead of eating his food, he inhaled it.
"Still… so hungry…" the child spoke to himself. His stomach soon agreed with him as it replied with a loud, snarling rumble.
However, his food rant was cut short as he noticed the oh so famous announcer heading his way. Standing up straight, he greeted the man with a quick wave. The man merely nodded with a flashed smile.
"Hey there, sir!" Gohan said in his usual enthusiastic tone.
"Hello Cyber, are you feeling any better from earlier?" he asked, his deep voice holding a little concern. He smiled amusingly. "I see that Ice-cream seemed to make you feel all that so much better!"
"Yes, thank you. But if I may ask, sir, what's going to happen with the fight Krillin and I had? Has it been cancelled or something?"
"Actually," the announcer began; kneeling down to Gohan's rather short height. "I came to inform you that the attack came from out of the ring."
"Yes, I know." Gohan then informed him, nodding. "It came from the north of the crowd."
"Yes," he agreed. "But we suspect that Mr. Krillin had something to do with the arrangement of the brutal attack."
"No, no, no, no, no, no! Krillin had nothing to do with the attack, sir!"
"Do you know who attacked you?"
Ah, the question of truth. Gohan didn't know whether to answer this truthfully or not. But he had to answer soon; the guy was looking at him like it was his fault or something!
"Well," Gohan began, scratching the back of his head nervously. "There are quite a handful of people who might attack me."
"Really?" he questioned, genuinely shocked. "And you're such a young boy!"
"Please," the child pleaded him. "Don't kick Krillin out of the tournament! If anybody, please, kick me out."
Stunned, the announcer just stood there silently. "Well, that's different…" he eventually commented. "However, due to what the judges have decided, we will have to remove Krillin from the tournament. I'm sorry, Cyber. It's out of my hands."
"B-b-but… No wait!"
In spite of Gohan's pleads, his calls fell upon deaf ears…
Well, I'll try and update ASAP. Actually, that was much faster than the previous update. Perhaps I'm speeding up? Heh, don't want to jinx it now, do we?