Hey guys, Liz here. Welcome back to another chapter. You guys are awesome for coming back, or showing up if this is your first time coming by. Now, last we left off, the kids had come home from Capsule Corp and Goku and Chi-Chi came home from their date. What awaits our group as the day draws closer to the Cell games? Find out now.

The Son Squad Ch.57

F. Daichi stood in the remains of a city, one that looked like it had been just through another attack from the androids. This couldn't be right; he was just in the mountains with his family. Why was he here? What had happened? Was the time-traveling all a dream? Or was this the dream? "Hello?" He called out as he walked around the city. Why wasn't he running? Could he even run? What in the world was going on?

As he inspected the crumbling buildings some more, a slight rain began to come down from the clouds hanging above. A shiver ran down Daichi's spine as the droplets ran down his face. A feeling of dread washed over him as the rain intensified to the point where he couldn't see anything in front of him. Stumbling through the rain, Daichi tried to look for somebody, anybody really. He hated being alone.

Soon, Daichi came across the silhouette of someone standing not too far away. The closer he got to the figure, the more details started to take form. He picked up his pace as the significant figure became clearer and clearer; it was a man, from the looks of it, a bulky man. He had short hair, and it looked like his left arm was missing. But it couldn't be…could it?

Just as Daichi took a few more steps closer, the rain suddenly stopped. No more droplets of water came down from the sky. All that was left as any sign of the recent downpour was Daichi's soaked clothes and hair. He didn't care, though, as the figure before him made themselves more apparent to him: it was Gohan! Not the little Gohan of the present timeline, but HIS Gohan, the Gohan he had lost all those years ago!

Gohan was smiling at Daichi as he placed his one good hand on his hip. He was just as Daichi remembered him to be, even if he wasn't as tall as Daichi recalled. Then again, Daichi himself had grown in the years since his last encounter with his big brother. "Hey, Dai," Gohan greeted, using the nickname he had given Daichi at a young age. "I hope you haven't been causing your sisters any trouble, now."

"…Gohan…" Daichi smiled as he stared at his brother. It had been so long that he had almost forgotten what Gohan sounded like.

"Well, are you just gonna stand there or what?" Gohan asked his little brother, his smile never leaving his face.

Daichi didn't need to be told twice; he bolted right for his older brother and threw his arms around his neck without even needing to think about it. He held tightly to Gohan and did his best not to cry.

"You've gotten taller since the last time I saw you," Gohan commented, moving back to look down at Daichi. "Man, you're making me feel old, Dai."

Daichi chuckled a bit, a small smile on his face as he looked up at Gohan. However, his smile slowly faded from his face as he realized that this was all too good to be true.

Gohan picked up on this, and his expression became one of concern. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"…I miss you," Daichi finally squeaked out and looked up to Gohan. He wrapped his arms around himself and tried to hold back a sob that was rising up in his throat. "...Losing you and Chiyo was hard on all of us…"

"I know…"

"…Why did you stop us?" The young man dropped his arms from around his body, and he clenched his fists as his sadness turned to anger. "We could've helped you guys! You just had to knock us out. If we had all worked together-"

"Things happen for a reason," Gohan calmly interrupted. He then rubbed the top of the young man's head in an attempt to cool things down. "It's just how it is. You know why Chiyo and I did what we did: all we wanted to do was protect you guys."

"But you died! You and Chiyo died! How was that helpful at all?! It just made us more vulnerable!" Daichi shouted at Gohan, letting out what seemed to be years of frustration onto his brother.

"…"

"What? No reply?!"

Instead of getting upset, Gohan simply embraced Daichi in a one-armed hug. He hugged him to his chest, but he never lost his smile. "…Sorry, Dai. I wish I had a better answer for ya, but sometimes we don't have all the answers. If we had all the answers, then we wouldn't really be living, now would we?"

Daichi didn't reply. What could he say to that? Of course, he knew that Gohan and Chiyo were just trying to protect them, but that still didn't take away from the pain. It just made him feel useless. Couldn't Gohan understand that?

Then Gohan let go of Daichi, turned away from him, and began to walk away.

"No, wait, don't go!" Daichi tried reaching out to Gohan and as soon as he went to grab him by the shoulder, his hand phased through Gohan's body. Daichi gasped and looked up to Gohan and saw he was still smiling at him. He seemed to know that that would happen when Daichi went to grab him.

"You know I can't stay, Dai. Watch after your sisters and Trunks for me, all right?"

Gohan then continued walking away again and into the ruined city. "No! Wait! Gohan!" Daichi tried chasing after Gohan but found himself running in place. He tried pushing forward with all his might, but he couldn't move the slightest bit closer to his retreating brother. The young man watched as his older brother walked further and further away. However, as he got more and more out of Daichi's reach, Gohan's form shrunk down until he was the size of the Gohan from the present timeline. This Gohan was in his super saiyan form and was wearing the purple gi he had received from Piccolo. He stopped and turned to look back at Daichi. His smile had shrunk, but it remained in place as he waved to Daichi.

"See you later, Daichi."

F. Daichi shot up from his spot on the air mattress and panted as the dream played back in his head. It wasn't so much a nightmare as it was something that reminded him of what he lost. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he laid back down on the mattress and tried to stop the racing thoughts. Why had he dreamed a dream like that? It made no sense. Was Gohan trying to tell him something? Or was this caused by his brain? Stupid brain, He thought. Just let me sleep.

It's not that he didn't want to think about his older brother, but with everything going on right now, the last person Daichi wanted to think about was his brother. He already had enough emotional baggage going on with everything else to deal with unresolved issues with Gohan. And who wanted to think about that sort of thing late at night? That's right, nobody! "Ugh!" Daichi groaned as he fell back into his pillow. "Why me?" He grabbed the other pillow and put it to his face.

As he tried to fall back asleep, Daichi looked over to see that F. Chibiko wasn't lying on the couch. He expected to find her sleeping there on the sofa, but she was gone. He sat up and saw that there was a light on in the kitchen. He got up and walked inside to find his Dad in there along with him was his sister. Both were holding mugs of hot chocolate and not in the super saiyan form.

"Uh…hi?" He greeted the two in the kitchen.

"Hey, Daichi," Goku greeted his young son, giving him a tired smile.

"…What are you two doing up?" Daichi asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Couldn't sleep," Goku admitted, shrugging before sipping some of his own cocoa. "Thought I'd make some hot cocoa to help."

Daichi wasn't sure what to think of this whole thing. Something about it seemed odd. Then he recalled that Gohan and Chiyo mentioned that Goku had done stuff like this before. "All right, but what about you, Chibi? Why are you up?"

"Bad dream," F. Chibi admitted, running a hand through. "Well, I guess it was more of a confusing dream that woke me up? I got up to see that Dad was up making cocoa, so I joined in."

"Oh…" Glad I'm not the only one, Daichi thought to himself. He looked around and then sat down at the table. "Mind if I join you two?"

"Not at all," Goku replied with his tired smile. He got up from his seat and went over to the stove to get the pot off it. He then reached up into one of the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a mug for Daichi along with a bag of marshmallows. "How many marshmallows do you want?"

"A lot," Daichi replied, leaning back in his chair. "Honestly, just give me the whole bag since you're up."

Goku chuckled but didn't give the young man the whole bag. He filled the cup up and then sprinkled in the marshmallows before returning to give his son the mug he needed. "Here ya go."

Daichi took the cup and then sipped in some of the drink and was surprised that the drink actually tasted good. It wasn't the best, but it wasn't absolutely horrible, either. It was more of a shock that it tasted decent, especially considering his Father had been the one to make it. "Not bad, Pops."

"Thanks. I learned how to make it when your mother was pregnant with Gohan and Chiyo."

"Woah, woah, woah. What?" Chibiko asked. "I thought you started making hot chocolate because Gohan and Chiyo had nightmares as kids."

"Well, that's part of it. All of it really started with your Mother, though." The saiyan in question leaned back in his seat and looked up at the ceiling as if recalling a memory. "It was a few months before the twins were born," Goku began. "And Chi-Chi got a lot of cravings at night. What she really started craving, though, was hot chocolate. I couldn't figure out why, and neither could your Mother. Then your grandpa Ox-King told us that when Chi-Chi's mom was pregnant with her, she got the same craving as well. Of course, I had no idea how to even make hot cocoa, so your grandpa showed me how to do it. I had burned the first few batches of it, and your grandpa got so upset." A small laugh escaped Goku before he took in a quick swig of hot chocolate again.

"Anyway, I think I tried it for another hour or so before I got it just right. Your mom said it tasted like heaven, but I think she was trying to be nice. After that, whenever your mom got pregnant or someone woke up from a nightmare, I make hot chocolate. I don't know why, though. I'm not too big on sweets, but it's one of the few things I can cook up, other than meat, I guess, so, yeah."

This was the first time Daichi and Chibi had ever heard that story. It felt nice to know where the hot chocolate tradition all came from, and who would have guessed that it came from an act so small. The two future warriors smiled as they took in a few more sips of the warm drink.

Soon, everyone was off to bed. As Daichi rested on the air mattress, he turned to look over at Chibiko, who was lying with her back facing him and her face facing the couch's back. He just stared at her for a few moments, noticing the scar running along her back and remembering how she got it. Finally, after a few more minutes of just staring, he whispered to his sister, "You awake?"

"…I am now," Chibi groaned, turning 180 degrees to face her brother. She squinted her eyes and tiredly glared at him, trying to be angry through her tiredness. "What is it?"

Daichi chuckled and sat up until he was sitting crisscross on the mattress. He bit his lip as he tried to figure out what to say to his little sister. There had been so much going on within what was technically just days (minus the time chamber training), but the two of them hadn't really talked to each other about it. He wanted to speak to her about the dream and so much more, especially with the threat of Cell coming in just a few days. Perhaps he just wanted to get some things off his chest just in case.

"Hello? Daichi? Is there a reason you're not letting me sleep?"

"…Sis, let's just talk."

"About what?"

"Just…I wanna talk."

The next day was a beautiful, sunny day. A few clouds dotted the sky as the breeze swept over the mountain regions. It was a perfect day, and no one could deny it.

In the little house in between the mountains, Chi-Chi walked out of the kitchen and into the living room to see Chibi playing with some block toys on the floor. Next to her was Daichi, who was stacking up the blocks as high as possible for his little sister. He was floating up to get as high as he could on the tower. Chi-Chi's initial response would have been to yell at her son for doing that, but she stopped herself since she knew it was all in good fun. She looked around, expecting to see her other children and husband there, but noticed they weren't there. "Daichi, sweetie, do you know where your Father and everyone else is?" Chi-Chi asked as Daichi came down to the floor.

Daichi scratched his chin for a minute, trying to remember where his Dad and siblings were, and then tried snapping his fingers to indicate that he figured it out: "Fish!" Daichi proudly declared.

"Fish?" Chi-Chi repeated, unsure what her son had meant by that. She wished her son would use more complete sentences.

Going outside to investigate some more, Chi-Chi noticed F. Chibi was by the laundry line hanging up her and F. Daichi's clothes to dry on the line while F. Daichi sat under a tree and read a book. F. Chibi was wearing a casual blue blouse and some clean black slacks, a bit of a change from her standard attire for sure. F. Daichi was also in changed clothes, now sporting a simple green t-shirt with some jeans. Both future warriors were, however, in their super saiyan forms. There was no sign of Goku, Gohan, Chiyo, or Chinku anywhere.

"All right, that should do the trick," F. Chibi commented as she pinned up the last shirt to be dried by the sun. "These should be done in a little while."

"If the sun stays out like it is now, it'll be done in no time," F. Daichi wagered as he flipped to the next page in his book.

Walking out to her future children, Chi-Chi got straight to the point; "Daichi, Chibiko, have you seen your Father, Gohan, Chiyo, and Chinku?" She asked the two future warriors.

"I think they went fishing, right?" F. Daichi questioned, looking to his sister for reassurance on his answer.

"Right, they went down to the lake to do some fishing," F. Chibi confirmed. "They should be back by lunch, though."

"Oh, fish," Chi-Chi finally pieced together, realizing what the younger Daichi was trying to tell her.

Meanwhile, at the lake in question, Goku, Gohan, Chiyo, and Chinku were all lying out under the sun by the lake's side while four fishing poles were propped up by rocks in front of them. All four were as relaxed as anyone could be. Gohan laid to the right of Goku; Chiyo laid on Goku's left, and Chinku laid on Chiyo's left. Goku was clad in a white t-shirt with an orange jacket, khaki pants, and brown tennis shoes; Gohan wore a white top with black pants and black shoes; Chiyo was dressed in a blue top with red sleeves, black pants, and black shoes, and Chinku had on a dark blue t-shirt with black pants and black shoes. No hint of fighting clothes anywhere on these guys.

"Today turned out to be perfect," Chiyo remarked, putting her arms underneath her head to better cushion it on the ground.

"Too bad we haven't caught any fish, though," Chinku commented, sitting up to look out over the still waters of the lake. She thought they'd catch something at this point. They had been out there for almost half an hour now, and nothing was biting their fishing lines. "We could jump in and get the fish. I've seen you do it before, Daddy."

"Let's just give it more time, Chinku," Goku insisted to his little daughter. He was perfectly fine with just relaxing on the ground with his kids. "There's no reason to rush to get the fish, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy," Chinku groaned and plopped back down. She'd listen and wait, for now anyway.

Goku chuckled to himself a bit. Chinku was definitely gonna have to learn more about being patient.

"I'm just really happy that we finally got to go fishing like you promised we would, Dad," Gohan commented while looking up at the beautiful blue sky. "It took a while, but we're finally getting to do it."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Goku asked, sitting up from his spot on the ground. "When did I promise that?"

"Don't you remember, Dad?" Chiyo asked, sitting up from her spot to look her Dad in the eyes. "It was back when you showed up to fight Vegeta. You promised you'd take Gohan and me fishing."

"…I did? Are you sure?" Goku would think he would've remembered something like that. Granted, if this was true that he had said something like that around the time of Vegeta's arrival to Earth, that meant it happened about four and half years ago. (Well, a little over five years if you counted the time spent in the hyperbolic time chamber).

"I'm positive," Gohan stated, now sitting up to back his sister up. "You told us you'd take us fishing."

"Yeah, you said it for sure, Goku," a voice from the side said. Everyone looked over to find that Krillin was in casual attire- a blue t-shirt, some white shorts, and a pair of tennis shoes- coming in for a landing from the sky. He walked over as everyone looked his way. "You couldn't have seriously forgotten, right?"

Goku thought about it more. A memory was starting to come to mind; he remembered floating in the air with Gohan, Chiyo, and Krillin and telling the three to go to Master Roshi's while he'd deal with Vegeta. The more he thought about it, the clearer the memory became, and he now recalled the promise he made to his kids. "Oh yeah…I guess I did forget, huh?"

"Well, to be fair, we haven't really had much time to relax with everything that followed the fight with the saiyans," Gohan stated, trying to make it seem like Goku's forgetfulness wasn't a big deal. He and the others understood why they fishing only came up as of now.

"At least we're fishing now," Chiyo spoke up before looking out on the water. "Even if we haven't really caught much to show for it."

Sitting down on the ground, Krillin sat down right next to Goku and sighed. There was a reason he had come by to see his friend, and it wasn't for a simple hello or anything like that. No, he had come over because he felt he had to apologize; "Listen, Goku, I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for this whole mess," Krillin apologized, not being able to look Goku in the eyes as he did so. "I mean, Cell was only able to reach his perfect form because I couldn't bring myself to shut down android 18. I put all of this on you and the others."

"Hey, no need to apologize," Goku insisted, smiling at his old friend. "I'm stronger than I've ever been before, and the kids got in some good training, too."

Krillin didn't expect Goku to yell at him, but he felt that's the least he should get for screwing up so badly. "I just feel bad," Krillin stated, glancing up at Goku before looking down at the water again. "I mean, you're always saving me, Goku. You're at a level I could only dream of, and here I am practically useless in all this."

"But of course, I'd save you; we're pals," Goku remarked to Krillin, showing nothing but compassion towards his down-trodden friend. "Besides, it feels like only yesterday we were training with Master Roshi."

"Yeah, well, those days are long gone," Krillin laughed, standing to his feet.

"Oh, you're just being modest." And with a slap to the back that was a bit too hard, Goku sent Krillin tumbling into the water. Moments after going under, Krillin popped his head up and looked like he was in danger, screaming for help and flailing his arms up to indicate as much. "Sorry, Krillin!"

Just as Goku grabbed hold of Krillin, Krillin smirked and pulled Goku in, laughing as his saiyan friend popped his head out of the water after being so surprised. "You're the same ol' Goku, all right! That's one of the oldest tricks in the book!"

The kids laughed on the sidelines while Goku wiped some water off his face. He'd remember this for later, that's for sure.

Wanting to join in on the fun, an idea struck Chinku. She quietly snuck behind Gohan and Chiyo when they weren't looking and pushed the two twins into the water, splashing both Krillin and Goku in the process. "Got ya!" Chinku proclaimed, rolling on the ground in laughter as Gohan and Chiyo came up from under the water. She didn't think that would work at all.

The twins spat some water out from their quick trip below and then looked at each other before smirking and nodding.

Then, without warning, they both grabbed hold of Chinku's legs and dragged her in with them, dunking her underwater with them before popping back up with their little sister. Goku and Krillin couldn't help but laugh as Chinku popped her moppy head of hair up from the water and tried blowing her dripping bangs out of her face. "Got ya!" Gohan and Chiyo laughed before Chinku joined in on the laughter. After all, it was all in good fun.

About two hours later, the family and Krillin were out by the lake on a picnic blanket, eating up some food that Chi-Chi had made for the picnic. The weather was as fair and bright as it had been earlier, and it was shaping up to be that way for the rest of the afternoon. What could spoil such a perfect day?

After finishing his share of food, F. Daichi laid back on the ground and looked up at the sky. "Man, did that hit the spot or what?" He remarked, stretching himself out as he looked up at the sky.

Little Daichi saw this and did the same as his older counterpart, thinking he had to do it to "be cool" just like him.

"When's the last time we did something like this, Chibi?" F. Daichi asked, relaxing against the ground.

"Hmm, let's see…never," F. Chibi remarked as she stretched her arms out over her head.

"Wait, you guys seriously have never gone on a picnic before?" Krillin asked, finding this hard to believe. Surely these two had gone out to do at least one picnic before.

"None that I can recall," F. Chibi stated, scratching at her chin a bit. However, the more she mulled it over, the sooner she realized that maybe she was wrong about that. She thought on it more before she turned to her brother and said, "Wait, didn't Gohan and Chiyo take us on one? It was out in the highlands or something, right? Or did I just imagine that?"

"Did they?" F. Daichi asked, sitting up from his spot on the ground as if that would somehow help him better recall such a memory. He had a vague memory of it, but he thought on it more before he finally came to the conclusion that that indeed happened. "I think we did go on a picnic. It was…gosh, I wanna say I was ten, and you and Trunks were nine…Chinku would've been 14 or so…That meant Gohan and Chiyo were both 19, 20 around that time?"

"Wow, 20 years old?" Gohan gasped. He couldn't imagine being that old. He was only ten right now! It did make him wonder what his older self was like.

"Now I remember it," F. Chibi suddenly announced, face-palming herself. "That was the time you were trying to show off your "unique" flying technique. You got so excited that you face-planted into a tree!"

The others snickered hearing that, and F. Daichi became flustered with embarrassment.

"Yeah, well, at least I knew how to fly at that time," F. Daichi snidely remarked. "You and Trunks were too scared to go anywhere in the air!"

"Was not!" F. Chibi shouted, her face now becoming red with embarrassment.

"Was too!" F. Daichi rebutted. "You two were practically clinging onto Gohan when he took us to the spot near the beach."

F. Chibi rolled her eyes and dropped the issue. The last thing she wanted was to continue this pointless conversation. However, she did like thinking about memories like that. She missed her older brother and sister dearly. Seeing them as little kids was kind of fulfilling, but seeing the Gohan and Chiyo she knew from her own timeline would have been way more fulfilling for sure.

The others laughed before they heard something roaring overhead. Everyone looked up to find several planes flying in a V-formation overhead. Something about the whole thing seemed ominous in a way, but no one was quite sure why.

Well, this is sure to end badly, now isn't it? What awaits everyone going forward? Find out now.

I know I say this all the time, but I want to thank you all so much for the continued support. It means a whole lot to me. It really, truly does. And, since you've stuck to the end here, I'll let you in on a little secret: I'm planning a new side story staring Gohan and Chiyo! It's still in the works, but it'll be a fun one for sure, I promise. I can say it's similar in vain to the movie The Parent Trap but not really. I'll leave it at that for now. Anyway, have a good day everyone, and remember to wash your hands!