Hey guys, Liz here. Welcome back! Sorry for not updating last weekend, but with school starting up again, I've been trying to get back into the swing of things. I had a bunch of stuff to do this past week, but hopefully I won't have to take another one until the end of March. Anyway, last we left off, Chinku made a new friend and Gohan experienced an awful nightmare. What will our young heroes have to face next? Find out now!

The Son Squad Ch.53

Month Eight

Daichi was close to about two hundred by now. He had been doing finger-only push-ups for an hour straight, and sweat was falling down his face as he tried to remain concentrated on the task at hand. If he kept it up, then he'd break his record in no time. Another set, and then I'll call it quits for lunch, He thought to himself as he went up and down in a repetitious manner.

Not too far away, Chibiko was throwing out a multitude of energy blasts at an invisible enemy that was off in the distance. She was seeing how many she could produce before all her energy was gone. At this point, her hands were starting to slightly burn from overuse. Keep going, keep going, She repeated to herself with each little blast she produced.

Far from the two time travelers, Goku was sparring between Gohan and Chiyo. He jumped back as Chiyo kicked towards his face and barely avoided Gohan's incoming smack from the side. The twins were in sync, like a well-oiled machine. When one moved back from attacking, the one took their place. It was getting to the point that Goku almost couldn't tell who was who anymore. (Of course, he could see the hairstyles and instantly tell right away who was who, but that's beside the point). He kept pace with the twins and even was starting to break a sweat as they went along.

They all kept up this effort as the chamber became warmer and warmer with each passing second.

Meanwhile, at Capsule Corp, Bulma had just arrived back from Kami's Lookout to make sure her future son was okay. As soon as she saw him safe and sound, Bulma's stress lifted off her shoulders. After a little hair-pulling incident from baby Trunks, Bulma put the little boy down to play on the floor with little Chibiko. This was the first time the two young tots were meeting each other, and Chibi wasn't sure what to make of the little boy in the blue hat. She watched as he crawled up to her before reaching for a toy underneath the coffee table nearby. He pulled it out and showed it to her- a rattler- and then began shaking it in front of her. For some reason, Chibi took it as him bragging, even if that was not his intention. She picked up a nearby stuffed rabbit of hers and held it out in front of Trunks as if she were saying, "Your rattler is nothing compared to my rabbit."

Seeing this as a challenge, Trunks then followed this up by grabbing a toy plane hidden under a pillow. He moved it back and forth in the air and made a wooshing noise that seemed to be a power move on his end. "Top that," was the message he seemed to be sending.

Chibiko, despite her young age, was never one to back down from a challenge. She crawled over to the baby bag by the couch and began rummaging around inside for what she was looking for. She threw out the extra blankets, diapers, wipes, baby powder, all the boring junk to find the treasured object. Finally, she found it at the bottom of the bag. She reached her small hands inside and then pulled out a smooth orange orb with five stars on it. She held it in her left hand as she hurried back over to Trunks, holding it up proudly for him to see. This, of course, was not the real dragon ball gifted to her by her Father but a replica that her grandpa had hand-made a month after her birth. Chibi giggled as she placed it down in front of her, showing off the precious orb to her new rival. "Checkmate," She had proclaimed with the single action.

Unimpressed by this, Trunks rolled his eyes before he swatted the little orb away from Chibi, sending it rolling to the other side of the room towards the older Trunks. Upset by this disrespect, Chibi began to wail heavily, catching everyone in the living room off guard. Chi-Chi immediately got up from her seat at the small living room table and rushed over to her little girl, picking her up and bouncing her in her arms. "There there," Chi-Chi cooed while the young child continued to cry. However, it did not soothe the little girl, and she continued to cry despite her Mother's best efforts. "It's okay, sweetie. Don't cry. Trunks was just playing with you."

Someone shut that brat up, Vegeta thought to himself as Chibiko continued her crying. This is why he hated children. Back on planet Vegeta, any child that cried so much would've been beaten until they stopped. There would be none of this coddling. Good thing he never had to deal with any of this. (He says that now, but we all know where this is going later on).

Noticing the little orb by his feet, Future Trunks picked up the 5-star ball and quickly put together that that was the cause of Chibiko's tears. He walked over to Chi-Chi as she continued to bounce her daughter over and over again. He smiled and bent down to be at eye level with Chibiko before handing the crying baby her dragon ball back. "I think this belongs to you," He told the baby.

The young child in question momentarily stopped crying to see her precious orb being handed over to her. She looked up at the one who brought it over to her and immediately noticed the similarities between him and the one who swatted it away in the first place. Instead of being grateful for Future Trunks bringing her the precious sphere, she glared at him and then turned her attention back to the orb in her hands.

Trunks, taken back by the sudden glare, wasn't sure what to make of that. Okay then, Trunks thought to himself. She's definitely Chibi, that's for sure.

A little while later, toddler Daichi was sitting on the couch bored out of his mind as Master Roshi insisted on watching the same workout channel he often watched back on the island. It was so boring for the young boy. The women on TV never did anything interesting. They just did the same exercises over and over again. Nothing excited ever happened. He needed stimulation, not repetitiveness. Where were the explosions? The action?

Having enough of this, Daichi walked over to Master Roshi, who was awfully close to the TV, and tapped the old man on the shoulder to get his attention. "Cartoons?" Daichi asked his Father's former teacher as he pointed to the TV.

"Oh, uh, not right now, Daichi," Master Roshi said to the boy. "We, uh, gotta keep it on this channel in case Cell shows up."

"But cartoons," Daichi whined, pouting and then looking to the girls exercising. He pointed at the TV once more, glaring a bit at Master Roshi as he stomped his foot down. "Boring."

"You'll understand when you get older," Roshi chuckled to himself as he turned his attention back to the TV. He was lucky Chi-Chi and Bulma didn't hear him, otherwise, it would've been lights out for the old Turtle Hermit.

Before Daichi could try and get another word in, something on the TV caught his attention: as one of the women bent down, something appeared beneath her and started rising from the floor. It soon revealed itself to be Cell rising through the floor, not saying a single word as he did so! Roshi jumped back while Daichi curiously watched the screen. This was his first time seeing Cell, and he had to admit that this seemed more exciting than the dumb exercises.

Seeing what was going down on TV, the others soon rushed over to the screen and started flipping through channels to see where Cell would end up next. After doing this a few more times, the bio-android ended up on some news show and blasted the news anchor on duty before turning and smirking at the camera. "Good morning, people of the world," Cell announced to the viewers and onlookers of the planet. "We interrupt this program to bring you an important announcement. Or rather, I interrupt this program to bring you an important announcement, especially for those of you tired of peace."

Cell's message was broadcasted on every TV around the globe, meaning he had the attention of the entire planet. People listened as Cell told them who he was, confirming he was the creature who had been taking out entire towns and cities to reach his perfected form. He even temporarily changed his face to the one reporter he killed in Gingertown just to prove a point of sorts. After that, though, he switched back to tell the people of the world of his intentions for interrupting everyone's day: he was announcing a tournament for everyone and anyone to participate in. The rules followed those of the famous world martial arts tournament, except this tournament was a "team tournament" of sorts, with Cell proclaiming he would fight with competitors one-on-one until either he was defeated or all the other competitors were. As he finished out his proclamation of a tournament to the world, Cell made sure to emphasize that if he was left undefeated, then everyone on Earth would die by his hands; no one would be spared. And to make sure everyone knew he was serious, he blew up half the city before leaving the news station entirely.

Just as everyone was taking this all in, Chinku ran up from Dr. Briefs' lab after watching the entire broadcast down there. She thought that the others were unaware of what just went down on the TV and made sure the others knew what she saw. "Guys, did you see what happened on TV?" The little girl asked as soon as she ran into the living room.

"We saw," Krillin replied through gritted teeth. He clenched his fists as he thought about this whole thing being his fault. If he had just destroyed 18 when he had had the chance, then the entire planet wouldn't be at stake. He just had to let his feelings get in the way of Earth's protection, didn't he? This is all my fault.

Letting it all sink in, Chinku felt her stomach drop to the floor. She knew very well how serious Cell had been in his announcement to the world, which made her worry. This wasn't fun and games anymore- not like the previous times had been fun or anything, but this was the fate of everyone on Earth hanging in the balance. She looked up to the ceiling and hugged herself as she thought about her Father training with her siblings. I hope you guys will be ready for this, She thought to herself. We need you.

Month Nine

Today was a day off. At least, that's what Goku had declared to his kids. Everyone had been working so hard, and with some months still left to go before exiting, he suggested that everyone take a break for the day and just relax. The kids all tried to argue against this since they thought it was wasting precious training time, but their Father was having none of that. "Besides," he said. "Resting as super saiyans is just as important as training as super saiyans. You guys can stand to take a break after all the hard work you've put in."

Deciding that one day of slacking off wouldn't be so bad, Daichi, Chibi, Gohan, and Chiyo all took it easy around the time chamber. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to do in the ways of relaxing. No one expected to take breaks that much, so none of the quartet had much to do in the forms of entertainment. No books, no TV, no games to play, etc. All they had was empty space to look out towards. At least it was an average day in the chamber. It wasn't too hot, nor was it too cold; it was the perfect temperature to lazy about in.

While Goku was busy tidying the place up, much to everyone's utter shock, the four Son kids decided to lie out on the chamber floor and stare up at the endless white sky above. They laid in a circle and said nothing as they looked up above. All that was up there was infinite space. Staring too long almost seemed too trippy for their vision.

"I wonder how things are going out there," Gohan finally spoke after about ten minutes of silence.

"If I had to guess, there are two possibilities," Daichi proclaimed from his spot diagonal from Gohan. "One; Vegeta and Trunks either took out Cell or the androids, and the world is saved until some other bad guy shows up."

"And option two?" Chiyo looks over and questions after Daichi lays out option one.

"Vegeta let his ego get in the way, allowing Cell to absorb 18 or something, and now the world is royally screwed," Chibi jumps in, crossing her legs as she tries to make herself more comfortable.

"Come on; that's thinking a little too badly of Vegeta, don't you think, Chibiko?" Chiyo points out to her sister.

Chibi rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but even though I've only known the dude for a little bit, I have his whole attitude figured out; he thinks he's better than everyone else and has no qualms about putting others in danger or threatening them to prove he's the best there is." The young woman blew at a strand of unruly hair that covered her eyes for a moment as she ranted. "I've been on the receiving end of his threats; he's an asshole."

"Well, no one is denying that," Gohan states after Chibi is finished. "But he's not so bad."

Daichi, who is a bit surprised by Gohan's response, now turns to the boy. "How can you defend him?" Daichi asked. "I mean, he tried killing you guys when you were younger and stuff."

"I think he's not as bad as he tries to make himself out to be," Chiyo answered Daichi. "He just…I don't know, seems lonely. Don't get me wrong: he can be a jerk, that's for sure, but I don't think he's as bad as everyone thinks he is. He acts like he's pure evil and stuff, but he's just trying to figure out everything going on around him. He's gone from being an evil planet killer to someone adjusting to life on Earth."

Chibiko didn't buy it. Sure, Vegeta was on their side now, but she had a feeling once everything was settled, he'd just go off to train or something and then come back to fight her Dad to finally prove himself to be the best. "Well, I'm glad you're optimistic, Chiyo. I just don't get how someone like him could be Trunks' Father."

Gohan shrugged. "I don't know; Trunks kinda acts like him a bit. Remember how he wanted to go off on his own to Gingertown without anyone else? He acts like a loner like Vegeta does."

"That's a bit different, though, don't you think, bro?" Daichi posed to his brother. "Vegeta's a loner because he wants to prove he doesn't need anyone; Trunks is a loner because he wants to make sure no one else gets hurt."

"That's still acting like a loner."

"Touché."

"Well, either way, I hope everyone is okay," Chiyo admitted after Gohan and Daichi were done with their side conversation. "I actually had a bad dream the other night that we walked out of the chamber, and everyone was….well…."

"Had that bad dream when we first got in here," Daichi sighed. "I had one the other night where I was pinned down by 17 and 18 while Cell was walking towards me wearing Dad's face."

"That's nothing," Chibi jumped in. "I had one a few months back with 17 and 18 blowing up Capsule Corp right in front of me while teasing me about destroying the time machine. And to add insult to injury, they made me watch the whole place burn until it was ashes." Chibi then turned her attention to Gohan, who had been listening to the others speak. "What about you, Gohan? Any terrible nightmares you would like to add to the conversation?"

Gohan stiffened up a bit when Chibi asked for some input from him. He wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of telling everyone all about his bad dreams, especially the one from a couple of months back. He preferred keeping that one to himself. "….I think you guys kind of hit it on the head with the bad dreams. It's too bad we don't have any hot cocoa for Dad to make."

"Huh? What on Earth are you talking about?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right!" Daichi suddenly realized, a flash of remembrance coming to him. "You guys used to tell us that Dad would make you hot chocolate after you had nightmares."

"Yep," Chiyo confirmed with a nod. "It's his way of helping us feel better after having bad dreams. It's really helpful, especially on stormy nights."

"Dad's always trying to be helpful, though," Gohan chimes back in. He turns his head to the side a bit as he thinks more and more about his Father's acts of kindness, putting his troubled mind at ease. "He's always looking out for people. I think that's why he trains so much. I mean, yeah, he loves training, but he also really cares about protecting everyone, too, you know?" A small smile came to his face after he finished.

"Too bad he can be kinda dense sometimes," Chibi quipped, earning a few giggles from everyone else. There was no denying that Goku could be a bit goofy, to put it nicely. "But….oh geez; I'm about to sound so corny saying this, but I'm glad that I've gotten to know him. He's always been like, an enigma. Everyone else has had some memory of him, while I didn't have a single memory of him at all. I mean, I was born a month after he died, so, you know, I was never going to have any actual memories with him anyway, but having one before all this would've been nice, I guess."

Everyone remained silent after hearing Chibi's small confession. They didn't expect her to go that deep with her emotions. Chibi seemed like the type of person who preferred to bottle up her true feelings and act tough to hide them from others.

Feeling awkward about steering the conversation that way, Chibi immediately tried to remedy the situation; "S-Sorry. I didn't mean to make everyone all depressed and stuff-"

"Hey, no worries, sis," Daichi assured his little sister, giving her a small smile. He let out a deep sigh before he continued, "You were just saying what was on your mind. To be honest, I don't have too many memories of Dad before coming back in time and all. There's like…blotches of him in my head? Does that make sense? Like, I remember a few snapshot memories, or something, of him, but nothing too vivid. So, yeah, being able to hang out with him here is nice."

This just became a venting session, huh? How had a conversation insulting Vegeta become one of self-reflection?

"Well, it's good that you guys now have memories of him," Gohan said after hearing that from his siblings. "Now you know for sure what he's like." It meant that the two were comfortable talking to them about what they were feeling and that they had something more than just grief and pain associated with their Father. Maybe they could make a few more good ones with them before they had to go back.

Looking over at the four kids, Goku had a small smile come to his face. He couldn't tell what they were saying based on how far away they were from him, but he could see just the pure ease they were all radiating. He decided then and there that it was time to tell them the next plan of action.

Waiting outside the chamber, Vegeta was growing frustrated and restless. He wanted to get in there now to begin his training to take Cell down once and for all. Now Vegeta could care less about the world; it could burn for all he cared. No, what he cared about was putting that asshole of an android in his place and proving he was truly superior. Meanwhile, the other Z-fighters just cared about living. (Can you blame them?)

"How much longer until they're out of the chamber?" Trunks asked Mr. Popo as he sat on the steps leading towards the chamber. It felt weird having short hair again, considering he had come to live with it for what he experienced to be months. Still, his mother had insisted upon cutting it before he went back in to train.

"They have three more hours until their day is complete," Mr. Popo reported to the son of Vegeta.

Vegeta scoffed after hearing this. "No reason to assume they'll be out by then," He states with his back turned to the others. "Knowing that brood, they'll stay in there longer. Kakarot won't see a year as being enough time."

"Far as I'm concerned, they can stay in there as long as they need," Piccolo chimed in. "We've got nine full days left, Vegeta. And besides, you just came out of there. You should be resting. I'm going in next."

"Oh please," Vegeta said, rolling his eyes at Piccolo's words. As if he was going to listen to a slug. "And what do you think you'll be able to do against Cell? Only a saiyan will be capable of beating Cell."

Piccolo didn't reply. He simply glanced to the side.

"But if you prefer wasting your time, go ahead," Vegeta continued. "The chamber is mine for the remaining eight days."

Piccolo smirked after hearing this, realizing he could have a moment to one-up Vegeta. "Afraid that's not how it works, Vegeta," He said. "You see, the chamber has a limit on how many days a person can go in. You're allotted 48 hours and not a minute more. Otherwise, the chamber door disappears. Guess you'll have to rethink that little plan of yours." (Having Kami's knowledge was coming in handy in more ways than one).

Vegeta gritted his teeth after hearing this. He only had about a day's worth of training he could do in there?! He wanted more time to push himself to the point where he could surpass everyone for good. Eight years of training would have solidified his lead over Kakarot, Cell, and everyone else for sure.

"Hey, no reason to get bent out of shape," Trunks told Vegeta, trying to defuse the tension between his Father and Piccolo. He was grateful to hear that his Dad wouldn't spend eight years in isolation just training. Besides, Trunks wanted to try and get in some training before Cell's tournament anyway. He didn't like where things had ended off between himself and Cell and was hoping that the last allotted time he had left training would be enough to prepare him for a rematch. "Everyone will get the time they need in the chamber. We still have plenty of time before we gotta face Cell."

Just then, intense energy came from the direction of the time chamber. Everyone turned towards the chamber's corridor entrance as they felt a familiar presence appear out of nowhere. They all knew right away who it was; it was Goku!

"They're done already?" Tien mumbled to himself. Much like Vegeta, he too assumed that Goku and the others would have gone over the three hours and into a new day. Instead, they were coming out early? Had something happened to cause Goku and his kids to leave the chamber early? And if so, what could it be?

Everyone waited in silence as several pairs of footsteps could be heard heading their way. No one was sure what to expect from the group coming out of the chamber. They all had a vague idea of seeing the Father and his four children come out in tattered clothing and looking older, but other than that, it was a guess as to what else would be there.

The first glimpse of the group came with Gohan coming and standing in the doorway of the corridor, his spandex torn from his left knee up and up to his elbow on his left arm. His chest plate was cracked in a few places, showing off battle damage, and his right glove was a few strands away from being nothing but string at this point. However, what was most striking about Goku's eldest son was that he was in super saiyan form, but it looked so natural for him. He showed no signs of struggling as he stood there without saying a word to anyone as if he were taking in the world he had left behind.

Following him, a millisecond later, was Chiyo who also displayed training damage. Unlike Gohan, her spandex was only torn from her left elbow down, but she no longer wore gloves as her brother did, and her chest plate was missing its left strap. She, too, was in super saiyan form, and she was looking out over a world that had only changed- at least on the outside- by a day.

Then came Daichi and Chibiko three seconds after Chiyo. Daichi's spandex was covered in holes, with some being bigger than others. The lower-left corner of his chest plate was missing, and his right glove was missing a few of its fingers. Then there was Chibiko, who had tears from both her knees downward on her spandex. Her right shoulder strap looked ready to snap at any moment, and her chest plate had cracks at the topper two corners of it. Both future warriors were also in super saiyan forms, just like Gohan and Chiyo.

Finally, rounding up the group was Goku, who came up behind the four kids. He was the most battle-torn out of the rest of them. Part of the upper portion of his spandex was torn, along with his left sleeve, and his armor was gone where his spandex was ripped. And just like his kids, he was in a super saiyan form. "So that was Vegeta and Trunks' energy I sensed," He stated as he looked around. "And Cell's still hanging around too."

"Anyone want to fill us in on what's going on?" Daichi questioned the group.

No one spoke. They were all blown away by what they were seeing. The four fighters and the attendant of the Lookout weren't sure of what to make of this. All five were in super saiyan form, but they weren't tired or anything. In fact, they seemed utterly natural.

Piccolo was blown away at seeing his two pupils in this state. He had always seen this potential within them, but he would never have thought he could feel such power coming from them. They both had grown during their time in the chamber, almost to the point that Piccolo couldn't recognize them as the scared little kids he trained to fight the saiyans.

Trunks was completely floored when he saw his two best friends standing at the chamber corridor entrance. Their energy was off the charts, and yet they both seemed so calm. Chibi seemed less tense than before, while Daichi seemed slightly tenser as if the two had come to a happy medium of the right amount of tenseness. This was entirely different from his training in the time chamber.

"Hello? Guys?" Chibiko spoke as she and the others came over to the stunned onlookers. The way she spoke was full of attitude they had all come to expect from the young woman. "Can somebody please fill us in on what's going on? Who screwed everything up?"

Welp, the Son family is finally out of the time chamber. (It's been what? Six chapters now? Lol) How will they react to Cell and his announcement for the Cell games? Find out next time on the Son Squad!

Thank you all so much for the continued support. You all seriously don't know how much this means to me. Next month, on the 19th to be precise, it will be the one year anniversary of the Son Squad! Crazy, right? I can't believe it'll be coming up on a year soon. I'm not sure what I should do to celebrate. If you have some suggestions, let me know in the reviews below. I can never thank you all so much for coming back to read. You all are awesome! Anyway, have a good day, guys, and remember to wash your hands!