"You must do the things you think you cannot do."

Eleanor Roosevelt

"I surrender!" Goku said loudly. "I know how strong you are now. I'm going to quit!"

The admission brought a cacophony of protest from his fellow warriors; their shouts of alarm and bewilderment drowned each other out. Goku remained calm, and when the clamour died down, Cell spoke.

"Son Goku, do you know the meaning of what you just said? If there's nobody left to fight in the Cell Game, then all of the people on Earth will die."

Goku smiled. "Don't mistake me. There's somebody left to fight."

"It'll wind up the same. I know Vegeta and Trunks are stronger, but they're still weaker than you."

Papa had something up his sleeve.

Chiyo stepped away from Gohan and towards the cliff edge, her hands clenched into fists. She studied Goku's face furiously, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"Can I choose who gets to fight next?" Goku said.

Cell frowned. "You're really planning on surrendering, aren't you?"

"Shit," Vegeta swore. "What is he doing? No-one can beat Cell!"

"The next match will probably decide the outcome of the Cell Game," Goku continued. "If the next guy can't beat you, probably no-one can."

Okay, so it's not me, Chiyo thought. I couldn't beat Cell anyway, no matter how hard I tried. But who is it?

"However, after fighting you, I'm pretty sure he can beat you. That's why I left everything to him."

Cell laughed. "Are you trying to say that you think he's stronger than I am?"

"Yeah."

"Then tell me the name of this person!"

Chiyo threw a quick glance at the rest of the group. Could it be Piccolo? No, he was strong - way stronger than her - but not on the same level as Goku. Vegeta maybe, or Trunks? Someone who was Super Saiyan, that was for sure.

"It's your turn...Gohan!"

Chiyo didn't register the name Goku had called out until the rest of the group had fallen silent.

"Did he say Gohan?" she asked Kuririn, who said nothing. "But …"

Goku returned to the cliff they were on. He seemed calm still, even cheerful. The others were silent, their expressions ranging from incredulous to confused to angry.

"Do you think you can do it?" he said.

Gohan stared up at him, blinking. "You want me to fight Cell?"

"Impossible, Son!" Piccolo snapped. "I know he's gotten much stronger, but you want him to fight Cell!"

Goku glanced at him. "Gohan is a lot stronger than we've ever imagined. He's been fighting alongside us since he was little. When I was his age I wasn't anything special at all!"

"He is a Super Saiyan," Kuririn said. "But he couldn't have gotten that much stronger!"

"Should we ask Gohan what he thinks?"

Chiyo turned a white face to her brother. Gohan was pale and sweating, but his expression remained carefully neutral. She knew he'd accept - he had no choice but to take up the fight, or the rest of the Earth was done for. It was what she would have done in his place.

Chiyo wished more than anything that she was the one agreeing to fight Cell. The thought terrified her, but it paled in comparison to seeing Gohan die in front of her.

"Gohan," Goku said, "when you were watching me fight Cell, did you think it was too hard or that you wouldn't be able to keep up?"

"No," Gohan admitted. "Neither of you were fighting all out though."

"Well, I don't know about Cell...but I was fighting as hard as I could. Did it seem to you that I was holding back?"

So that's why he was looking so weird before, Chiyo thought. The pieces of the puzzle seemed to be fitting together now. Gohan with his hair cut short, his tallness and his Super Saiyan transformation - something had happened to him in the Room of Spirit and Time, or maybe it was something he'd had in him all along. It was hard to equate Gohan the fighter with Gohan her big brother. All she saw was the boy she'd known her whole life.

"Do it, Gohan!" Goku said cheerfully, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Bring back peace to the world. Don't you want to become a scientist?"

Gohan looked up at him. He was still sweating, but his expression was determined. "Okay. I'll do my best."

Chiyo blinked rapidly to conceal her tears of fright, and stared at Gohan as he landed in the crater Cell's energy made previously.

"Kuririn, do you have the senzu seeds?" Goku said. "Give me one."

"Okay."

"Thanks." Goku took the senzu seed and stood up. But he didn't eat it. To Chiyo's surprise, he threw the senzu seed to Cell. "That's a senzu seed. Eat it!"

"You idiot!" Kuririn shouted. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"He's lost a lot of strength," Goku said. "I want this to be a fair fight."

Cell began to laugh.

"Fool!" it shouted. "This is going to cost you your life."

Seconds later Cell's chi surged; Chiyo felt the renewal of his energy in vibrations through the rocks. Her shoulders drooped, and she inched closer to Goku. He glanced at her, smiled, and gave her shoulder a pat. Far from being reassured, she turned her attention back to the battlefield.

Gohan was standing there, a tiny speck against the barren scenery. Then he screamed, and for the third time that day a gust of wind blew from the power of his chi, showering the watching fighters with rocks and dust.

"That can't be Gohan's chi," she shouted against the noise. "He - his chi is like yours, Papa!"

"I know," Goku said, and she glanced at him again. She felt slightly reassured - just slightly.

At last the wind died down, and Gohan was left standing in the middle of a small crater, surrounded by the golden aura of a Super Saiyan. Chiyo was struck by how much he looked like Goku - the same stance, the same power, the same look of determination on his face. She also realized she had never really seen her brother fight except during training, and wondered what it would be like.

"Is that really Gohan?" Piccolo said. "Is Gohan that grown up?"

Chiyo closed her eyes, and for the first time wondered just how Goku and Gohan's training had gone in the Room of Spirit and Time. She only had Piccolo's training to compare it to - brutal, cold, exhausting and always frustrating. She doubted Gohan had the same treatment.

Goku was soft, Piccolo said - 'you haven't been trained by him,' Chiyo had retorted, and received a smack on the ear for her trouble - and surely Papa wouldn't have done the same things Piccolo had. Sure, she'd learned new tricks. She was faster, stronger and had precise control over her chi. But maybe she didn't have it in her to be a real Super Saiyan. Maybe that time in the Room was a unique event. The product of a harsh environment and being homesick...

A small surge in Cell's chi broke Chiyo from her reverie. She looked up in time to see Cell aim a vicious kick at Gohan, who blocked it with his elbow almost effortlessly. Cell leapt away and came at him again, but Gohan dodged the attack and landed again.

The battle had begun - but what would be the outcome?